There's a blue film covering the glass door leading into the actual sauna. You can more of less make out what it'll look like in the end.
My take on the NYU guys may sound odd but, they are bros....but also they don't go to Columbia or Fordham, so they're not actually pricks in the way that some pre-finance college bros can be. I read them more as playing with their confidence for the first time through working out and their body responding quickly. So, they're fit, but terrified of being seen naked, probably not very sexual in their interactions. They go into the sauna fully clothed and don't shower after they work out. They're just lame, but will also figure it out
I've been around this school for a long time. This is a great take on a lot of the younger guys but there is nuance to the lack of sexuality.
NYU guys (myself included) are trying to be polite and do everything by the book. That's pretty much how they got into NYU. They've been taught their whole life to suck up emotions and play by the rules. I was a bit older when I started so I had more confidence than a lot of them but this is a generalization. When students come to New York City to study, it challenges them to think outside the box.
Many of the NYU guys at TMPL are paying for a second gym on top of the one the school already gives them in their tuition so these guys are either the wealthiest international students on campus and/or they are gay and desperate to explore gay culture. It should be noted that the new NYU gym is opening in a month and that may affect our gym a bit because it's really close by.
Either way, the gay students are definitely joining to explore being gym guys... A lot of the undergrads in general are at an age where they are learning they are attractive but are testing the limits of what they can get away with. It's a really fun and beautiful time in their life.
Some guys just don't know what they are doing yet. I had an interaction with one boy in the steam room who was afraid his experimenting with a muscle daddy made me uncomfortable.
He followed after me almost in tears and apologized because I left the steam room during their play. As hot as they were to observe I had to meet a friend at Eagle and was on a time crunch.
What can I say, I had other men to play with?
I told him: "I don't mind
conversation in the steam room darling. I may not always
talk but I never mind conversation." Then I sort of winked and he smiled.
But yeah I had to hit the point home to him that I wasn't going to snitch and he was safe around me.
The good news for him was he studied abroad in Amsterdam for a semester and returned with some new confidence!!! He carried himself differently and I could tell he'd done some practicing.
Another story...
Ten years ago, that very gym (when it was NYSC) taught a friend of mine how to experiment. We were 20 at the time and too young to go to the bars. I remember thinking he was exaggerating when he told me the stories of the steam room. Had I realized then it was actually true, I would've joined ten years ago!! XD
So yeah, when I did join last year people started telling me more stories about it. My boss wanted to know how the action was there. Then my straight male co-workers were making fun of me until they realized there were hot girls there too...
But yeah I joined it to escape the NYU gyms and running into people I know. That is the biggest benefit for me and that helps me get better workouts in. I have never played there. Maybe one day when I feel brave enough, I will play... I tend to get in my own head around so many fit naked men.
I love my body but it's not sculpted to perfection. I shower and I use the steam room but this is something I actively have to fight in my head in the locker room. That locker room is the inverse of my high school trauma. I had jock bullies growing up and looking at their massive bodies was taboo permission for more bullying. I'm learning to look and let myself be looked at in whatever state my body is in. When boys walk through the aisle of the locker room in just a towel as though they are on a runway it makes my heart flutter.
So in short if NYU guys like me don't make a move that doesn't mean we're not enjoying the conversation. We're just works in progress.
