The beginning of my life: Phase ll

Justine Akbari
Aug 22, 2017 · 4 min read

I did the college thing — I graduated with a B.A. from the University of Minnesota and stuck around for a year post-grad trying to figure the whole life thing out and what I wanted to do with it. Then I decided to move across the country. Four days ago I arrived in NYC — and I’m not broke yet.

I did it. Sigh. Breath in. I am here. I have arrived, settled in, and am just beginning to explore my whereabouts in the surprisingly friendly and furnished neighborhood I get to call my new home.

The feeling is…overwhelming? Mixed with exhilaration, exponential potential, and sensory overload — but above all, satisfaction. Moving to NYC is no longer that distant dream or an “I wish…”; it’s no longer the city I devour articles reading about or the one I always make excuses for visiting; it’s no longer the unattainable, over-actively imagined life I wish I had all along.

Gone are the excuses, the rationing, the explaining, the reasoning. Here. Here is my life now, and I’m ready to embrace it.

Welcome to Ridgewood: the neighborhood bordering that of Bushwick in Brooklyn, and an ethnically diverse, dining-and-discount-store oasis on the west side of Queens. Caught in the midst of gentrification and home to a large population of Hispanic families and an eclectic smattering of other children-of-immigrants like me, Ridgewood is the perfect blend of a residential and small business clad urban space. With a bodega on nearly every corner supplying convenience items like beer and ice cream, to a liquor store, grocery store, pharmacy, hardware store, minimum two coffee shops, at least ten restaurants and a generous selection of beauty salons within a quarter mile radius, Ridgewood is turning out to be the little slice of heaven I’ve always dreamed of. And it’s only day one.

I wake up savoring the time I have now (you know, being unemployed and all) to explore the local coffee shops and neighborhood hangouts. Those sweet, virgin moments of scouting out everything new and exciting around me has given me a sense of purpose and newfound belonging that I never found in Minneapolis post college.

The identity of Brooklyn-ers and Queens-residers is comparable to none. There are people who are born here, raised here, live here, and have families here — and then there are transplants like me. Or Upstate-ers and neighborhood-crossers and wannabe hipsters and forced-to-relocate-ers that have all found a place in this area.

Everyone has a story, and everyone is someone I want to meet.

My living situation is like one from a witty millennial TV show or a blog post I’ve read about NYC living. So far, it encompasses all the things I find intriguing and amicable about being a roommate — and a young, twenty-something one at that.

We bond over long work days and hour subway commutes (well, eventually I’ll be able to participate in this aspect of work/life balance), over weird people or strange happenings on the subway and ordering take-out way more than we should, over being a young professional trying to make a name for ourselves in industries that are cut throat, competitive, and oftentimes demoralizing, over probably-needing-one-but-not-having an excuse for drinking a glass of wine or beer every night of the week, and over expenses that are asking to be grumbled about but not enough for us to seriously reconsider our life choices. And my personal favorite: The rent is too damn high! (Funny because all things considered, my roommates and I have quite the steal of a place and yet we still find solace in complaining about this topic).

I am comforted by the fact that the people I now surround myself with are going through the same experiences I am in regards to being a confused, adventurous, educated, and passion-seeking millennial. The struggle of job searching and going near broke, of finding a place you actually enjoy working at, of making friends in a city where nobody has a reason to trust one another and yet to get by and lead that fulfilling life you want, you just have to once in a while.

I already know I have a support network I can lean on to get me through the tough times. These same people are the ones who are already inviting me into their extended networks and showing me around the city. I have learned so much in a short period of time, and yet there’s an infinite amount of knowledge of this amazing city to be gained. I’m eager to learn it all at once.

I want to attend all the free film showings and poetry readings, restaurant openings and street festival gatherings. There’s already a list of local eccentric bars I want to visit and neighborhoods I want to check out sitting on my computer screen. Give yourself time, they told me. Ha. Clearly they don’t know me well yet.

In the meantime, the job search continues. Surprisingly, I’m not freaking out yet. I’ve attained this exceptionally odd sense of calm through my transition here, and simply residing in a city of organized chaos. For the first time in a very long time, I feel hopeful. Hopeful that I’ll discover something important about myself and where I fit in in the world.

New York City’s got a lot of pressure on her now. But I have a feeling she wont let me down.

)

Justine Akbari

Written by

New York City resident in training. Aspiring pantomath. I write what I know.

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