I moved to New York City from Rochester, NY after a friend suggested that I should look at colleges in the area. Some might say it was a spur of the moment decision, but I say it was a way for me to feel unstuck from the zip code that I felt superglued to. I felt deadlocked to the place I grew up in and I knew that in order to grow up, I needed to leave it, I needed to make a change. That change came in the form of a 400 mile move. As it turns out, one can learn a lot about themselves and their surroundings when they make a big change. Here are seven of them.

1) It’s okay to not love it.

I moved here in January of 2015 and I knew two people: my roommates (and in the spirit of full disclosure, I barely knew one of them). I had to finish up some paperwork for school - a school in which I didn’t know anyone - which meant that I had to move a week and a half earlier than originally planned. I felt like a newbie, an outsider. I just moved to a city of 8.5 million people and I knew two of them. I was lost and sad and overwhelmed. I didn’t love it, I didn't know how to.

2) Brooklyn has the best coffee shops.

I have been able to determine through no scientific or medical research that my veins are half blood and half coffee. Without coffee, my head partially explodes and cannot be put back together without an aforementioned cup of coffee. In my fifteen months in New York City, I have had a lot of coffee. But I’ve been able to determine, through extensive fieldwork, that Brooklyn wins the top prize for excellent coffee. Grab a book, grab a laptop, grab a friend. Go to Brooklyn. Feel free to thank me later.

3) Not having a TV in your bedroom is a gift.

I have read an incredible amount of books since the move. Oscar Wilde and Hunter S. Thompson and J.K. Rowling; people I want to thank for making my world full of new worlds. I also want to take a moment to thank myself for not paying for cable to be in my room. Not having a TV in your bedroom turns it into a space designated for other activities, like reading, and maybe even a little sleep every now and again.

4) It’s important to call/text your parents.

I remember reading a quote somewhere (who am I kidding, I probably heard it on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy) about how we - as kids - focus on ourselves and how we are growing up. But we forget that our parents are too. I miss my parents, I miss their laughs, I miss being only a short drive away from them and I miss being able to take food and beverages from their fridges and pantries. So, call them, text them, FaceTime them, and email them. They made you, and they are why you’re here. You have time to read a Harry Potter book a second time around, so you have time to call your parents (and to thank them for the gallon of milk you took out of their fridge that one time).

5) It’s okay to have a cocktail of feelings when you do visit home.

Visiting the place you called home for so long, the place where your family and friends are, the place where your favorite bar is and the place where you’ve memorized the entire menu of the best coffee shop in town, can be a very strange mix of feelings. You may feel like you don’t belong there anymore while simultaneously feeling like you’ve never left like a part of the place you came from, which is, forever, fastened deep inside your soul. All of these things are okay to feel. Another quote I remember reading (fine, I probably heard it on an episode of One Tree Hill) is about how you only come from one place and that no one can take that place away from you. I’ve discovered that visiting home, if you’re lucky, is good for the soul.

6) The Strand Book Store is where magic lives.

You will lose hours of time when you walk in the front door of the Strand, I swear there’s some sort of time warp located at 828 Broadway. 18 miles worth of used and new books in one building, 18 miles worth of words and sentences and thoughts that you can hold in your own two hands. Thousands upon thousands of adventures and experiences, right at your fingertips, in 18 miles worth of books. Go there.

7) It’s okay to love it.

The moment I fell in love with the city was a random week day when I found myself walking around Manhattan. I walked into bookstores and pop-up shops that I never knew the names of. I walked for miles and miles with a smile on my face. The kind of smile that comes from deep inside of yourself. The kind of smile that makes your eyes bluer than blue. Fourteen months, that’s how long it took for me to feel like New York City was more than just a place I was passing through. Remember that you don’t have to feel guilty for that, you shouldn’t feel guilty for that. Moving away from home can be uncomfortable and hard and painful and jarring. But I am grateful for allowing myself to feel all of those things. Those feelings got me to where I am right now; in love with this loud, ridiculous, beautiful city.