When I started telling people that John and I were moving to New York, people weren’t really worried about holding back their feelings. Most were excited, many were “jealous” as they regretted not giving the city a try when they were young, and several were confused. “Um, yeah, not sure if you’re aware, but there’s, like, this economic crisis going on, one that’s sort of festering in, um, NEW YORK”. Fair enough. When John started school two years ago, there was a sort of mutual understanding that when he finished we’d leave DC. We weren’t exactly sure where, but we were so ready for something new that at the time it didn’t really matter. London, Munich, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Miami, and yes, New York, were all among the options that we discussed. And shockingly, New York just won out job-wise (ok ok yes, for John, not for me, get off my back I’m working on it).
When John was offered a job that required this relocation, it was basically a no-brainer. Not only did the timing happen to be right, but since we were and are contemplating leaving the US at some point for some period of time, we agreed that you can’t really live on the East coast and be “done” with the US until you give New York a shot. We knew that if we didn’t try it now, there was a chance that we never would. Luckily, the timing just happened to work. I guess the best way to sum up what appears to be going on in the city right now is “nice work if you can get it”. Rents are down about 30% from last year, and so if you have a job, you’re probably able to enjoy this place a lot more than you were last year - a perfect shot and at least a one-year stint in the Big Apple.
In fact, when looking for apartments we actually had the luxury of being picky. I had the old “search the obituaries” notion about New York real estate, but that’s not how we found the current market. Nice, but when you’re both grossly picky and obscenely indecisive, you’re looking at spending every weekend for a month traveling (by bus) to New York. Yeah. In the end it was worth it and we shouldn’t complain; we found a great place that is bigger than what we had in Clarendon in a really nice, convenient neighborhood.
So that’s the general, bare-bones version of the how and why so now we can get on to the fun stuff! Like the fact that New York is absolutely bursting with delicious food to eat, pictures of the new place, and hopefully the end to all of this horrible, horrible rain!
But to answer some of your questions: no, I don’t have a job yet; yes, it seems that I have altered my life to suit my boyfriend’s; no, we’re not getting married. You know what? Shut up. I’m happy and you’re jealous. Kiss!
3 comments:
I think it's fabulous! The 20's are the time in your life when you should be taking risks and doing fun and crazy stuff and traveling and moving and although it's so cliche', finding yourself. Once you get saddled down with a mortgage, kids, and all that happy horseshit, you can't just up and move to a new city, state or country as the case may be. Live it up! Life is short. Then you die.
Jimmy just graduated and we're getting ready to ship him off to LA! He has no job yet, but there are more opportunities for him out there and he has a better chance of being hired if he's living there.
Ha, thanks! My sentiments exactly. Jimmy is going to LA - how exciting! What does he want to do? Although I know LA isn't for me, I'm pretty sure everyone I know who lives there absolutely loves it!
Graphic Design. He just spent a week in NYC interning for PromaxDBA and they told him he needs to get out to LA ASAP. They are going to help him make some connections and hopefully find a job.
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