So you're trying to be an artist, a designer, a musician, or basically anything cool. What is the best city you can think of where you have the best chances of doing what you love and getting rich and famous? The big apple obviously! But moving anywhere isn't easy, and New York feels especially intimidating. As a recent resident of this beautiful state, these are the feelings I went through when learning to deal with NYC.
1. The pre-moving excitement.
You’re moving to the best city in the world to pursue your dreams and slay New York City like Blair Waldorf or Serena Van Der Woodsen. You think about how you’re going to fall in love in Central Park, go to black tie events, make it big, and do everything you ever dreamed of.
2. Doing any and every tourist thing possible.
You need to immerse yourself in New York culture. You walk really slow on the streets, stop and take pictures, stare at your subway map for 20 minutes, and wonder why there are so many freakin' delis here! You then take one of those double decker tour buses, sit in time square, see the statue of liberty, and go to the top of the Empire State Building! But it’s a good thing that you did! It’s likely that you won’t have the time to do these things, or your new friends will laugh at you for suggesting them.
3. Where am I? Why am I here?
You got on the wrong subway four times and you have no idea where you are. You step outside and everything looks the same, it’s all brick and concrete. You think about asking someone for directions, but you remember Google Maps is a thing and you finally get home. After a long day of being lost and helpless, you lay in bed with a cup of tea and miss everything there is about being home. You miss the greenery, the less crowded streets, and all the people you left in the town you never appreciated enough. Making friends in New York is hard! Everybody is always rushing, but that will be you soon enough! Hang in there! You got this.
4. Doing your best to ball on a budget, and failing … Miserably.
You’re in your tiny apartment that you can barely afford with just enough money to eat. How do these people afford rent and still look so fabulous? Your parents’ house in the suburbs sounds pretty nice right now. You spend your last few pennies on food or art supplies and panic once again about how you are going to finance your life and call home for some moral support. Mom or dad gives you a pep talk and you feel a little bit better, so you go to bed and hope tomorrow is a better day.
5. Hating absolutely everything and desperately missing home.
I should have never moved here. I’m so broke. I want to go home. These are all normal thoughts in the mid stages of establishing a life in New York. You’re poor, you’re tired, you really need to buy better walking shoes, and everything seems to suck. You decide to give yourself a well-deserved me day, which mostly consists of stalking your old friends back home and wishing you never left.
6. Starting to feel a little bit more optimistic.
After many emotional breakdowns, you start to pull yourself together. You get lost much less on the subway, you start to recognize where you are, and you feel the urge to yell at the tourists that crowd every inch of Manhattan. You’re well on your way to becoming a New Yorker. You walk down the street to the nearest Bodega, grab yourself a sandwich and some coffee, maybe the New York Times, and you start to appreciate the concrete jungle that you live in.
7. You’re a freakin’ NYC pro!
There should be a league for this. Navigating NYC is just as hard, complex, and dangerous as football or basketball, right? You swipe that metro card and get to your destination with no issues at all. You run all your errands, go to studio, go to work, and then come home to Netflix and your bed. You look out your window and the New York City skyline, open a bottle of wine and feel comfortable knowing today was a great day and the rest of your stay here will be filled with ups and downs, but this is without a doubt one of the greatest decisions of your life.
