We recently went past the first 100 days of living in New York. It has been quite the change and here are my thoughts about living here so far.
Let me begin with the confession that part of me did not want to move here but neither did I want to stay in Tennessee either. In the beginning we weren’t sure exactly where we would eventually land. We were looking at anywhere in the Northeast region.
Now after being here for over 100 days, I am glad we moved here. The difference has been drastic for sure. In Murfreesboro we had the problem of nowhere to go or nothing to do but the problem here is that there is SO much to do. I’d rather have the latter problem.
Do I love NY? I can’t say that I “love” it but I am adjusting to it. There are many adventures we have had so far and even more ahead. While I regret that we had to make the hard choice to move away from some family, I still feel like we made the right choice for us at this stage in our lives. Sometimes you have to make the hard choices but after being “stuck” due to jobs or other reasons, it is nice to feel more freer now than before.
So here are my pros and cons about living here the past 100 days:
PROS
Things to do
I love having so many options for things to do here. The thing that finally won me over was being closer to beaches. In addition to outdoor places to enjoy (which I love) we also have museums, zoos, shows, stores, etc. It’s very nice to finally have this.
Transportation
We are five minutes from the subway and one stop from access to the Long Island Railroad which gives us options to move around. I will be honest and say that it has taken some time to get familiar with the transportation. It has been a different world for us.
Diversity/Acceptance
There are many different backgrounds, people and groups here. Most of the time, no one makes a big deal of differences like they do in the South. It’s nice to be in a place where you are accepted for whoever you are.
CONS
Driving
I HATE driving here. I can’t emphasize this enough. Although we have other modes of transportation, sometimes you still have to drive and find parking. There are SO many cars on the road here and people are more impatient here than anywhere else I have lived. It is totally chaotic but the further you drive away from the city on Long Island, the calmer it is.
Cost of living
It is expensive to live here. We are paying more for renting a smaller place than we did a house. It’s crazy. You can live here but you have to be willing to make trade offs for what you want to spend money on.
Communication
This is the most annoying part of living here. English is not the common language spoken here and can be quite a challenge. It is something I wasn’t prepared for when moving here.
In the beginning I didn’t handle the move very well. Everything is just a bit extra aggravation but now I have come to expect it. Nothing is easy here but you learn to deal with it.
Another thing is walking. You do a lot of it here. People walk all Willy-nilly sometimes. You never know which direction people are going to walk and if they are looking at their phones, they may just run directly into you.
Do I like it here? I can say I like it better than I did before. Will we stay here? Not sure. There are other places we want to explore in the Northeast. We had a trip about a month ago to Ogunquit, Maine and it was amazing. It’s the kind of place we could settle in if we can afford it but there are still many other places to explore. We also visited Boston which we loved as well.
So far it has been an awesome adventure for us. We are enjoying this stage of our lives while we can. It has been a unique experience that we thought we would never get to do.
Do I love NY? I can’t say that I “love” it but I am adjusting to it. There are many adventures we have had so far and even more ahead. While I regret that we had to make the hard choice to move away from some family, I still feel like we made the right choice for us at this stage in our lives. Sometimes you have to make the hard choices but after being “stuck” due to jobs or other reasons, it is nice to feel more freer now than before.
So here are my pros and cons about living here the past 100 days:
PROS
Things to do
I love having so many options for things to do here. The thing that finally won me over was being closer to beaches. In addition to outdoor places to enjoy (which I love) we also have museums, zoos, shows, stores, etc. It’s very nice to finally have this.
Transportation
We are five minutes from the subway and one stop from access to the Long Island Railroad which gives us options to move around. I will be honest and say that it has taken some time to get familiar with the transportation. It has been a different world for us.
Diversity/Acceptance
There are many different backgrounds, people and groups here. Most of the time, no one makes a big deal of differences like they do in the South. It’s nice to be in a place where you are accepted for whoever you are.
CONS
Driving
I HATE driving here. I can’t emphasize this enough. Although we have other modes of transportation, sometimes you still have to drive and find parking. There are SO many cars on the road here and people are more impatient here than anywhere else I have lived. It is totally chaotic but the further you drive away from the city on Long Island, the calmer it is.
Cost of living
It is expensive to live here. We are paying more for renting a smaller place than we did a house. It’s crazy. You can live here but you have to be willing to make trade offs for what you want to spend money on.
Communication
This is the most annoying part of living here. English is not the common language spoken here and can be quite a challenge. It is something I wasn’t prepared for when moving here.
In the beginning I didn’t handle the move very well. Everything is just a bit extra aggravation but now I have come to expect it. Nothing is easy here but you learn to deal with it.
Another thing is walking. You do a lot of it here. People walk all Willy-nilly sometimes. You never know which direction people are going to walk and if they are looking at their phones, they may just run directly into you.
Do I like it here? I can say I like it better than I did before. Will we stay here? Not sure. There are other places we want to explore in the Northeast. We had a trip about a month ago to Ogunquit, Maine and it was amazing. It’s the kind of place we could settle in if we can afford it but there are still many other places to explore. We also visited Boston which we loved as well.
So far it has been an awesome adventure for us. We are enjoying this stage of our lives while we can. It has been a unique experience that we thought we would never get to do.
