All of my life, I’ve lived in a suburban area.
Living in Westchester, New York was a lot different than living in the city. When I found out I had the opportunity to live in New York City, I was scared, but relieved because I’ve been to the city many times. I was familiar with a few areas, but not everything. I personally refer to my hometown as the “suburbs” of New York, although I do understand why people do refer to it as Upstate, New York. With that aside, there are significant differences between the two areas.To start off, when I lived in the suburbs, I had to drive. Everywhere. I had to drive to buy coffee, milk and more necessities. Yes, there are some local places, but it is all in long distances so I would have to drive. Versus in the city where everything I need is down the block. It made life easier, because if I was in a rush, I didn’t have to worry about driving to the other side of town. I could just run to the nearest location (which was sometimes right around the block).
Another thing that was different were the prices. This was a huge change for me. I’ve been to the city multiple times in my life, but I came quick to find out that NYC decides to raise prices on everything, and I mean everything. Back home, I enjoyed my $2.99 medium ice coffee, and my less expensive food, but now I am just going to have to deal with it. That’s life, and I live in the city where many people travel from all over the world to visit. Moving on to the mall. there are malls near me, but none so close. If I am ever in a rush, I usually go to the mall which is five minutes away from my house. It is was nice having a mall so close to me, but sometimes they didn't have what I specifically need if I ever have a "fashion emergency." In the city, I enjoy my 5 minute walk to the stores or a subway ride because they are all in one place and I have a variety of different kinds of clothing, which is a plus.
Also, New York City is a big place. When I first came here, I thought I was going to get so lost and would never remember the streets and avenues, compared to my hometown, where it was a lot smaller and I knew where I was going at all times. I can now happily say that I can navigate around the city much better. Learning the city was much easier than I thought. I overall thought that, adapting to city was hard. I have to say that once I got through it all during that first month, I knew I was going to be okay. There were times where I thought I would be lost and not adapt well, but I did, and I am happy about the outcome.
