I grew up in Los Angeles all my life, so it’s always been a (super clichéd) dream of mine to live and work in New York. This dream became a reality when I was hired as an intern for the summer at a software company in Manhattan.

I’ve been living with my friend Anna from Syracuse and her mom in their apartment in Chelsea. My true New Yorker skills were put to the test when I was left alone this week in their apartment while Anna and her mother went on vacation. I was excited, yet apprehensive, because when you’re like me (always riddled with anxiety and slight OCD), the thought of something going wrong while in someone else's home is constantly rushing through your head.

I wrote down some of the major events that I experienced this week on my own. Some events were better than others, and I’ve had some training on how to be a New Yorker from Anna, but along with trying not to look lost, I had to also try to be an adult on my own. This is my experience.

Grocery Shopping

It’s a blessing that I work right next to a Trader Joe’s. I’m a pretty picky eater, so buying food for me has always been a challenge. I wanted to start my week with good food that I enjoyed and that was available in the apartment, so I wouldn’t go out and buy dinner at a restaurant or order in.

So after work, I went to what is basically the Mecca of frozen food and delicious snacks and budgeted my grocery items so it would equal to only $50. I walked into what felt like a Nascar racetrack except with people in suits pushing their grocery carts through the aisles while talking on their iPhone and not caring whose foot they’ve just mowed over (usually mine). So there I was, looking like the runt of the litter trying to get food while everyone else was grabbing as many frozen gourmet flatbreads and the latest innovation of cookie butter as they could. I stocked my cart with foods that fit my complicated palette and carefully chose things that were on the cheaper side.

After dodging my way through the maze of executives who leave their shopping carts in the middle of the aisle, I made my way over to the check-out line. The check-out line in the Chelsea Trader Joe’s has implemented a system that is similar to waiting in line at Disneyland. The line wraps around the aisles and places you in the nut section with an employee holding a 10 foot pole with a sign that says, “End of the line." It seemed daunting at first, but soon you find yourself in the middle of the line where there is another person holding the same pole with a sign that says, “Middle of the line,” conveniently placed next to the sample and coffee counter so you’re not "hangry" by the time you get to the check-out counter. (A feeling I was soon beginning to approach.) I was so close, yet so far by completing 3/4 of the of the line, but I still had to wait, I suddenly saw myself next to the dessert aisle that I had not seen before and grabbed myself a box of mini peanut butter cups because I felt I deserved them after having to be inconvenienced by having to stand in line and wasting 10 minutes of my life. I finally got to check out and I even went under budget checking out at $40! I was beginning to feel like a responsible adult already.

Entertaining Myself

I was lucky enough that this was the week that the new season of "Orange is the New Black" had just been released! But the excitement didn’t last long due to my addiction of binge watching seasons of shows at what my mother calls “an unhealthy rate.” I finished the entire season in about 24 hours, I was starting see what my mother was concerned about. So it was 4 p.m. on a Saturday and I had nothing planned. I had been out of town most of the weekends I’ve been in New York, so I didn’t know what to do with my day off from work.

I put on my Birkenstocks and $11 jeans I bought from a sketchy clothing company from China on Amazon and headed out. I started at Billy’s Bakery with treating myself to a cupcake (because I’m an adult who makes her own damn decisions).

After that, I decided to take a walk on the High Line and see where the wind takes me, I walked from 23rd to 34th and walked down to 5th Ave. At this point I regretted wearing Birkenstocks to walk down the streets of New York because I had blisters on the sides of both my feet and I was about a mile away from my apartment (not my best idea). But the universe felt so bad about not warning me to wear practical walking shoes, so they gave me a pop-up Alice and Olivia store that had an extra 25 percent off sale! I walked in and saw beauty in the chaos that is a New York pop-up sale. My vision of beauty was soon crushed by seeing the price tag and remembering that even 75 percent off designer clothing will never be as affordable as my $11 jeans that I was wearing.

After battling whether or not to spend $40 (that I needed to live on the next month) on a white shirt, I walked out with empty hands and blistered feet. I walked down to 23rd and 5th to discover Madison Square Park where I got to give my aching feet a break and watch a beautiful man twirl a giant stick around as some sort of exercise. (If this was you, then please feel free to contact me). My phone was getting low on it’s battery, so I decided to head home. I felt entertained by Manhattan enough, time for Netflix.

Traveling On The Subway

I had been on the subway before and new the C train fairly well. I know how to tell if you’re going uptown or downtown, but alas, I am a beginner and still do not know 90 percent of the New York subway system.

On Sunday I was planning to go visit a friend of mine who lived in Rockland County (about 30 mins outside New York) and there was a bus leaving that afternoon at 1:40 p.m. from the George Washington Bridge Station located on 175th. I would like thank google maps for implementing the subway system into their application or I would probably cry trying to read those little maps they have on the subway and end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Google maps told me it would be about a 40 minute journey and I would need to take two trains -- the C and the A. I was told to take the C to 42nd and then from there walk to the 42nd station to take the A. I was confused as to why I would need to leave the station to go a street I thought I was just brought to? I walked out and saw that I was 44th and was looked to where I had to walk to. No matter where I stepped, Google maps directed that my little circle would go away from the line it told me to walk on to get to my train.

I decided that if I tried to follow this non-existent blue line I would find myself on the corner of 8th and a panic attack. So I went back to the station and decided to put my little knowledge of the New York subway system to the test and go back to the station I started at. I swiped back in (there goes $2.75 that I could’ve saved) and looked for the uptown trains. I walked back on to the C train and saw it went to 168th and I figured I could just walk seven blocks to my bus. I still had about 30 minutes which should be enough time. I arrived to 56th, the doors opened and I looked back behind me to see the answer I was looking for, the A train! I ran off one train to the other. It dropped me off right at 175th where it would be a straight path to the bus station. This was only to find out that the bus station was just an overpass to the GW Bridge where you waited on the side for a bus you hope is the right one. My bus was 20 minutes late (always a great test of my anxiety is late transportation) and I had to help translate that our bus was late to a Chinese woman who spoke literally no English -- what a great day! (I hope you read that in the most sarcastic tone you could think of.)

Taking Care Of The Sassiest Cat Alive

Although taking care of a cat isn’t exactly something people have to do when they live in New York, I unfortunately had to complete this task.

Here is my thoughts on most cats: I don’t like them. With that being said I was ready to have my mind change when I was taking care of Anna’s Cat, Sasha. She’s one of the most beautiful cats I’ve ever seen and at the same time one of the crankiest. Sasha had grown familiar to me in the past weeks I had been staying at Anna’s, and while she wasn’t too fond of my presence, I was convinced that I was going to change that.

I was soon proven wrong.

From the first night I slept in the apartment alone until the last Sasha decided that from promptly 4 a.m. to approximately 4:30 a.m. she needed to meow as loud as she could while staring at me while I slept. The first night this occurred I was frightened something was wrong with her and followed her every move around the apartment for about 15 minutes to only figure out that she was just a cat, and cats meow. She continued to do this every night waking me up to see what I would look at 4 a.m. (that’s the only reason I can assume as to why she would torture me). If I didn’t roll over and ask what was wrong, then she would jump on to me and meow in my face to make sure I was REALLY awake.

If that wasn’t enough, Sasha decided that it would be funny to poop directly in front of her litter box to (I can only imagine is the only reason she did it) watch me clean it up.

Every time I would use the bathroom she would waltz in and meow at me to turn on the sink so she could drink water while I was trying to pee. One thing Sasha liked about me was my feet. Yes, my feet. She would come next to my bed and make me rub my feet against her face to scratch behind her ears. If I so dared to use my hands, then she would screech at me and claw me away. But feet were always welcomed. So thank you Sasha, for reassuring my hatred for cats.

So this was my week of living in New York on my own. Not exactly what I expected, but it taught me a lot about what it’s like to live by myself. Being an extrovert it reminded me that I really need to surround myself with people constantly or I will definitely get too lonely. This theory about myself may change when I actually move to New York and have my own apartment, but for now I definitely prefer being with humans more than cats.