NYC, New York - 1980's

"NY in the 80s was... different," my grandmother likes to say.

She came to NY as a student from Korea. She didn't speak English very well and was shocked to find a city that was so busy and chaotic at every corner.

One of the biggest challenges was navigating the subway system. There were paper maps that she could use, but the labyrinth of tunnels and alleyways made getting from point A to B much more challenging.

"There was no Google maps," she'd say with a laugh.

She wanted to go downtown but took the wrong train uptown one evening. She didn't know where to get off or what to do. Eventually, she found herself alone in the car with a menacing-looking man. She was already well aware of the dangers of NYC at the time and said that she started running through horrific scenarios in her mind.

She panicked and decided that getting out onto the streets would put her at ease.

When she got out at a random station in what she knows now as Harlem, the man followed her out.

She was sure at that point that she'd appear in the next day's newspaper headlines: "Woman Killed in NYC"

My grandmother quickly ran into the nearest bodega. After buying a bottle of water to kill some time, she went out of the store cautiously only to find the man waiting for her around the corner of the block.

She tried to stay calm and started to walk briskly in the opposite direction when she felt a hand nudge her shoulder.

She screamed. The man held up both of his hands to show that he meant no harm. He then slowly explained that the neighborhood she's in is no place for someone like her. He explained that it's dangerous with simple words like "bad" and "no good."

As he escorted her to the train station downtown, he explained that he had gotten out of the station with her when he realized that she was lost. He knew this neighborhood wasn't the safest, so he wanted to ensure that she got to where she wanted to go.

My grandmother said that NY was very dangerous in the 80s, much more so than it is today. However, after that day, she knew she'd stay. She'd found her new home.