This might be a really long post, so feel free to stop reading at any time.
THE FIRST FEW DAYS
Kara and I forgot to eat before we got on our plane, so Kara actually asked the flight attendant if she would give us other passengers' pretzels if they didn't want them...we ended up with 4 bags each. Healthy, I know. We barely caught our connecting flight from Atlanta to New York... I mean they literally almost didn't let us on the plane. But we made it here and took a taxi up to Washington Heights where we stayed with a couple of Kara's friends. We went apartment hunting in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan the next day from 8:30 am to 10:30 pm, and we only took a one hour break for lunch. Needless to say, we were exhausted. But it was all for a good cause because we landed a pretty sweet place:
THE APARTMENT
Kara and I signed a lease yesterday so we officially live in Brooklyn! We're only one block away from the beautiful Prospect Park...which I remembered has been on law and Order a few times...which kind of made me nervous. But the apartment is huge for an NYC apartment. It's only half a block from the subway and the neighborhood is very family oriented. Our building is nice. We live on the top floor but there's an elevator, so it's actually really nice having no one live above us and being farther away from the street noise. Plus, there is a laundromat that has a drop off service (YES, NO LAUNDRY!) just half a block down and a supermarket that's cheaper than Wal-Mart about a block and a half down. We're only 3 stops down from a 2 story Target and a pretty decent mall, and it only takes us about 25 minutes to get into the heart of Midtown (i.e. Times Square). Considering we're poor, I think we're doing pretty well!
I knew we would be walking a lot here, but my oh my how I underestimated that statement. Apparently I'll get used to it pretty quick, just as apparently I will learn to understand the gibberish that people are speaking when they're telling me how to get around on the subways. The subways are pretty interesting. I've heard 2 sermons, been serenaded 3 times, and witnessed two guys fight all in the first 3 days. You never know what's going to hop on the train with you. People here are friendlier than I expected. Pretty much anyone we ask for directions is more than happy to help us. Kara has been educating me on basics about living in New York. I'm not allowed to get on the last car of any subway because that's where gangs tend to be...like on Adventures in Babysitting. You're not allowed to have a space bubble here, so you just have to get used to having people all up in your grill. You also have to get used to the rude/dirty comments that people shout at you...mostly for being female, sometimes for being white. I can't even remember them all...I should have written them down.
All in all, even though these last few days have been rough, we've been lost about 15 times, and I haven't really felt clean since I got here, I like this place. New York is cool, I have a great place that I get to fix up, and I'm about to be living the dream. I'm excited to get all of this tedious stuff out of the way and just start enjoying the city. It's going to take a lot of adjusting, but I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
"New York is a different country. Maybe it ought to have a separate government. Everybody thinks differently, acts differently --they just don't know what the hell the rest of the United States is. --Henry Ford "
““There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. […] Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.””
- E.B. White, Here is New York
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