Now You’re in New York: What I’ve Learned Since Moving to Brooklyn (And a Goodbye to Medium)

But seriously, avoid Times Square.

I’ve wanted to live in New York City since I was a wee babe.

I remember one of my first visits, with my eighth grade teacher and a ton of classmates, walking through Times Square and just being *astonished* that this place could really exist.

With time I realized that Times Square really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…but New York still held my heart.

In January, I was fortunate enough to visit for the first time in years, by taking a mini-vacation to see an old friend (she’s in her 80s — jokes) and do some informational interviews with journalists in the area. It was then that the love and hope and dream I once had of living in the Big Apple came rushing back…and sparked my desire to move here.

So, once I had finished up my master’s program at Northwestern, I hightailed it out of Chicago bound for Brooklyn. I’ve only been here for a month, but I really can’t imagine being anywhere else at this point in my life — and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to move here and live here.

Here’s what I’ve learned in my first month here.

The MTA is *actually* pretty decent.

I preface this statement with “actually” since the vast majority of my peers warned me of the system’s pitfalls — late trains, crowded trains, no trains. Yet, from my experience thus far, things have been really — dare I say— perfect.

See, you can find art nearly everywhere, even in the subway.

The trains and buses in Brooklyn and Manhattan have been (for the most part) clean, on-time, and always running — which is not something I can say about Chicago transit.

Personally, if I were to live anywhere and need to use public transportation, I think New York City has it down to a science (minus the whole debacle of the L train shutting down in May 2019, which is going to massively affect north Brooklyn and all of its residents).

Humidity is something we all are dealing with, so don’t be too worried about looking gross.

Obviously, you’re going to want to shower and do your general upkeep of personal hygiene, but New York humidity is a beast that no one can really escape from. Seriously, when I entered my sublet and realized that there was no A/C, I thought I would be okay — BOY WAS I WRONG.

I’m nearly constantly frizzy (especially with the bangs), dripping sweat off my face, and needing to reapply deodorant and/or perfume almost as often as sunscreen.

My hair isn’t *this* frizzy…but it’s pretty frizzy.

But, luckily, I’m not the only one suffering! We all are…which means that we just have to adjust our perceptions of how sticky and icky we are bound to be when entering the social sphere.

There’s A LOT to explore.

Although I am currently unemployed and have all the time in the world (ACK), I still have not been able to explore *that much* of New York. What I have explored, though, has been terrific: the New York Public Library at 42nd, a Broadway show, Williamsburg, Alphabet City, Tuesday night trivia, happy hour, rooftop parties…the list goes on!

How I feel nearly every morning — plus, it’s always good to get those 20,000 steps in, you feel?

One of the best things I can recommend for each and every one who chooses to visit New York City (and why wouldn’t you) is to get a good pair of walking shoes and do just that — walk. I have had a ton of my meetings up near Columbus Circle, and with that have decided many a time to walk from that area — 57th or 59th — all the way down to Canal. It doesn’t take too much time (it’s only about 3 miles) but gives you a look at a lot of Lower Manhattan, at least!

But there is a cost to everything.

Now, although I have a great deal of time to explore, that doesn’t mean I need to explore NY into debt, you know?

New York is not a cheap place to live (one thing that Chicago has over it) and it is very easy to spend $15 just by leaving your door. So, how do you deal?

Just keep telling yourself this in the mirror every morning and you will be fine.

Well, there are a lot of things you can do. Shop at Trader Joe’s for cheap(er) groceries. Visit your local park with friends for some after-work/weekend hangs. You can even frequent sites like Brokelyn to give you insight on what fun things you can do while also saving some dough.

Don’t let the price tags get you down. Just make sure to really figure out what you actually need to buy (a Metra Card) versus want to buy (a $6 iced coffee everyday? Really?).

You can find work fairly easily, even if it’s not necessarily in your field.

I came to New York City with the intention of getting a journalism job within the first few months and living off of savings. When I arrived, I got bored and worried pretty quickly, so applied for a bunch of temp jobs — babysitting/nannying, dogsitting, hostessing, et cetera. Of the jobs I applied to in these realms, I heard back from most mere hours after applying (journalism HR people, please be quicker) and got offers to start almost immediately from a lot of roles.

So much work to do, so little time.

I’m still trying to freelance copyedit/fact-check/write to hone up my journalism skills as I wait for a full-time position in my field, but in the interim are doing a mixture of temp freelance work (which included making boxes with beer and confetti for three hours today) and potentially hostessing! If you out there have other ideas, please send them my way :)

You’re going to make so many new friends.

Also, I NEED TO MEET ABBI AND ILANA.

Already, I have met so many amazing people here in New York that I would not have had any other chance to meet before now. One of them even made my birthday one of the most special birthdays of all time!

Truly, the people in New York are friendly and open and honest, and I have absolutely no idea why there’s such a stereotype surrounding New York people being standoffish or rude. Yes, there are a lot of people in New York (like yours truly) who aren’t from here, but I have not had bad experiences thus far (well, some guy did tell me I needed to watch where I was going, b****, from 300 feet away) that have made me want to leave. Especially after being in a graduate program that wasn’t all peaches and cream, being in New York feels like a complete 180 for the better, and makes me feel that much better about my choice to live here.

You’re seriously not going to want to live anywhere else.

In my 25 years, I have now lived in five major cities and been lucky enough to travel to more. While the Bay Area will always hold a very very special place in my heart, New York City has already felt more like home than any of those other cities I’ve lived in — in fact, it felt more like home within a week of me moving here.

And, with that, now you know a little bit more about what my life is like now. I have had the great pleasure of writing articles and reading articles on Medium over the last few years, and I am so glad to have written some funny, some serious, and some inspiring pieces for you all.

Enjoy my work if you must, and please keep in touch if you’d like. I’ll be coming out in the future with new websites relating to my more generalized work as well as my film criticism, and I certainly hope you all enjoy them as much as you enjoyed my work here.

Take care, and have a great 2018 everyone!

Me if I were cuter and royal.