On my move to: New York, New York

When I look back on how I got to New York... I am just baffled.

I was applying to jobs like crazy (aka crazy stressed every day). I was very fortunate to have three amazing friends in NY who opened their homes and apartments to me several times as I traveled in and out of the city for interviews. Now, I wasn't set on NY. I was applying for jobs in several different cities, but NY by far had the most job openings. It was a great way to be able to slowly get to know the city.

When Tori would get done work, she would be my tour guide in midtown. 

I would explore the Upper West Side with Glenn and Brooklyn with Mallory.

I know there are not a lot of people that have the opportunity to slowly explore their options like I did. I was in a situation where when I didn't like a job, I could just say "no" to the job offer.

That is what made it possible for me to end up with a job that I look forward to every morning. Little did I know that finding a job was only half the battle. I was so focused on finding a job that I had completely pushed aside the other main factor that needs to be considered when moving to a new city: Where am I going to live?

Upon getting the job, I took to several different housing and roommate sites, learning firsthand how creepy they all can be. You'll never guess which one ended up working the best: Craigslist. I shied away from it at first, but the more people I talked to, the more they said that was the most successful way to find a place to live.

So for the first two weeks of my job I would spend an hour or two after work each day on these sites messaging people regarding their apartments. It was a very taxing experience. It was hard to focus on the excitement of a new job with the reality of being a vagabond setting in.

I began averaging at least two apartment showings a day. You would think that would mean that I could just snatch one of those up. If only it were that simple. The reasons for them not working out were all different. One would end up being too far away. The other would be looking for a thirty-year-old male. Then I'd be considering one, give my brother a call, and immediately be informed that I have to raise my budget because I would get killed in the neighborhood I was considering. Thank God for having a brother and sister-in-law that lived here for years!

And just as I was coming to terms with the fact that I would be apartment searching for eternity, I caught a breakthrough. Someone posted that they were looking for someone to move in ASAP into their living room that had been converted into a bedroom. Long story short, I moved in the next day.

Well, I carried my suitcase up the six floors and slept on her air mattress, I mean. I went home that weekend, packed up absolutely everything I own, went on a shopping spree and then headed back to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Thankfully, Julia came with me and assisted in carrying everything from tubs of clothes to my futon up the six flights of stairs.

It is a tiny apartment. But it's my apartment. There are so many people that don't understand what is so alluring about moving to the big city. I'm not here to try to convince you. Either you love it or you don't.

I think we all have those times in our lives where we get so focused on working toward something that by the time we reach it, we are unimpressed and want to move on. That is certainly not the case here.

People will ask me several times a week if I still like my job and STILL like living in the city. My answer? It gets better each week.

Metro Musings (1)

It seems whenever I feel like I finally know a city or am at least starting to understand it, something very, shall we say humbling, occurs.

I have been working in New York City for a month and a half and living here for a month. I was just thinking about how well I've been doing with the metro system. I haven't gone the wrong way in like... at least a week!

And then, just now, I was reminded of how large this city is, and that I will probably never conquer it. I am headed to Brooklyn Heights to have drinks with a friend. I have never been to this area of the city (this is true of about 95% of NYC).

My app tells me that I need to take the two line or three line. So I stick my headphones in, see number three planted on a train and get in and sit down with my magazine. After being in my own world for at least ten minutes, I look up and OOPS. I've just gone 60 streets in the wrong direction.

Not only is this city ginormous, but I am an over-confident, oblivious individual who will always get lost. It's as simple as that. I have had some friends visit me and, being the resident of this great city, I am expected to take the lead (which of course I do without hesitation). What I'm really trying to do the whole time is cover up directional mistakes that I make along the way.

I'm reminded of my third visit to Amsterdam. When I got my map of the city, I felt as if I was gazing at an old friend, and I was right -- in part. I know my way from Amsterdam Centraal to Museumplein and back like the back of my hand. I even know most of the side streets on the way! But, as I was forced to learn from wondering lost for hours in the middle of the night, there is so, so much more to the city than that.

I need to apply the lesson I learned in a city of 850K to this city that I have moved to with 8.5 million inhabitants.

A quick recap of our Thanksgiving El Salvador trip

If this wasn’t a whirlwind trip, then I don’t know what is. I was originally supposed to be there for a week but… then I got a job. Unfortunately, new priorities were created.

I was originally just going to go to Texas for a 20 hour layover, so I called Courtney and told her to meet me in Houston! And then we were both like… OR we could meet in El Salvador!! Tickets were obnoxiously cheap, so within an hour she had bought one and our plan was set! Don’t ever let go of friends like that.

Julia and Courtney arrived on Tuesday night, and I followed with a 1pm arrival the following day. I flew American Airlines. Annoying thing about them… You now have to pay if you don’t want a middle seat! What kind of BS is that??? I obviously didn’t do that. Which sucks when you have a 6am flight.

If the guys on either side of me are reading this, I apologize if I leaned on you at any point in the flight. I HAD to sleep on both flights so that I would be wide awake for my first of only four days in El Salvador! I bought a sleeping mask earlier this year, which I will say was an investment that has really paid off. Instead of being pissed off when they turn the lights on an hour before landing, I just continue to sleep J

When Lois, Julia and Courtney picked me up from the airport, they greeted me with a delicious turkey sandwich. Lois said, “Sorry, but this is as close to Thanksgiving as you’re gonna get here.” My response? “Um, fine by me! It’s 85 degrees here!”

We went to an awesome brewery, Cadejo, where we received a really cool tour in Englsh, followed by flights of all of their beer! Delicious.

After going to my nephew, Atsushi’s soccer practice, we had some delicious tacos. We had talked about just ordering pizza, but then Taka had the wonderful idea of eating tacos. So. Freakin. Good. Thank you, Taka.

We then went to Republica – a bar with live music. The band that Lois manages, was supposed to play, but they decided they didn’t feel like playing sooo we just hung out with them and their friends instead, which was fun!

After a great night’s sleep, we went to breakfast on a volcano. The view was exquisite. Courtney and Atsushi really enjoyed exploring too :P

Next? The beach! It was Thanksgiving, and we couldn’t think of a better way to spend it then to go to a resort for a couple of days.

Day one was spent in the pool. So relaxing. I’m in a bar drinking a Corona right now and just pretending that I am there again…

We had a wonderful taco lunch as our Thanksgiving dinner, paired with delicious Pilsners, of course. Well for me. Julia went for the Suprema, and Courtney went for the Sex on the Beach. Later on in the week I introduced her to Suprema, which she actually liked (or so she said… she only drank half of it).

The next day was our beach day. Courtney decided to tackle surfing. When I asked her if she had ever been surfing before, she said, “Yeah! Well, I’ve tried to stand up on a boogie board.” Because that is obviously the same thing.

Instead of taking lessons, Courtney grabbed a surfboard from our resort and went for the waves. I mean I thought she did great. But, then again, I’ve only ever boogie-boarded.

The water was perfect. None of us wanted to leave. But alas, all good things must come to an end.

We got pupusas that night. They’re a Salvadoran specialty, which Courtney just had to try (and well, we all wanted them too)!

After Courtney and I fell asleep talking to each other (definitely not the first time that has happened), we took her to the airport. We then had a wonderful morning on Saturday, I made sure that I woke up early to be able to play Wii with my nephew. Pretty sure he beat me… again.

I went back to New York that afternoon. So no, I didn’t get lost once, but it was definitely still a trip worth blogging about!