When I was first moving to New York City, I got a lot of intel and advice from friends who had once called this city home. Talk to strangers, meet new people, find your people. Avoid the L train when possible. Steer clear of empty subway cars, they’re empty for a reason. Be prepared to live in a hole, but it won’t matter because you’ll spend your life outside of it anyways. Leave at least one pair of shoes at work. Brace yourself for an unpleasant adjustment from the beautifully sunny “winters” of LA to a wet one in New York. And brace yourself for sweaty crowded subways during the hot and humid summer.
And boy oh boy was I not prepared for what New York actually had in store for me. Thankfully, I started off with a short sublet, and kind of got the feeling that COVID restrictions would be sticking around for a while by the time I found my longer term place. After jumping from place to place, trying to grow accustomed to this new city, and this new way of life, it was good to finally get settled in. To own furniture. To own things that don’t fit inside one and a half suitcases.
I moved into this apartment in May. It was already furnished, minus my room, which made it easy to get settled in (considering up to then I literally had my one and a half suitcases full of, well, clothes I thought I’d need for the office job I thought I had when I packed in February). And a couple months later, I finally feel settled, or as settled as I can be all things considered.