2 Years Living in the Big Apple

Well it’s official y’all…I’ve been living in the Big Apple for 2 years! Where has time gone, seriously?! It’s so crazy that it’s been 4 years since living in Texas, and now I’ve lived in NYC longer than I’ve lived in Minnesota. 2 years later, I still look around the city and can’t believe I’m lucky enough to live here.

If you know me personally, you know how much I’m in love with New York. I think it’s the BEST city in the U.S. by far. Growing up, everyone has always told me that they could see me in New York. It’s also always been my dream to live here because of my love for fashion. I totally understand that New York isn’t for everyone – people would either hate living here or absolutely love it; there’s not a real in between. A lot of my friends who visited me have said how much they love taking trips here, but would never want to live here. For my 2 year anniversary, I thought I’d share the good & the bad from my experiences in NYC thus far.

The Good:

• The endless choices of food. Yassss. The funny thing is I feel like I eat at the same places a ton, but I try out new places whenever I can! It’s awesome that whenever I see those cool restaurant/dessert videos with delicious, unique food that pop up on my FB newsfeed – they’re usually all in NYC! I follow a bunch of NYC food IG accounts too, so I get a bunch of yummy ideas there.
• All the fun events. There have been so many random, cool events I’ve been to since living here. The best part is a lot of them are FREE 🙂 Concerts, movies, fitness classes…you name it. Not to mention, the venues here are incredible. My favorite events here would definitely be the New York Fashion Week shows!
• You CAN live a normal life. I feel like many people think New Yorkers just go out every night, are always super busy, never sleep, and have super fast paced lives. Sure, that may be true for some people – but you really CAN live a normal life here. I rarely go out during the weekdays – my week days usually consist of work, gym, dinner and then sleep. Just like anyone else!
• No driving for me! Well, yes I am a typical bad asian woman driver 😛 – but I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with driving here. It’s amazing just jumping on the subway and easily getting pretty much anywhere, or ubering it up if I’m feeling lazy.
• I’m not out of place when I dress up. Y’all know I’m a total heels girl (I mean, being 5 ft can you blame me?), and I used to stick out like a sore thumb in Texas and Minnesota when I would dress up. However, the way I dress in New York is usually on par with several other girls! I love it.

The Bad:

• The dirtyness. So many streets of New York are just so gross. It’s hilarious that I’ve totally gotten used to the piles of trash, disgusting smells, rat sightings (I still scream every time) and random water drips on my head from window A/C units. Yuck.
• My impatience has gotten worse. I walk super fast now (gotta beat those crowds), and get super annoyed if there are slow people in front of me. My friends from Texas who come visit me always laugh at how impatient I am now. But seriously, I have ZERO patience for people who don’t move at a normal pace and I especially can’t stand if someone bumps into me without apologizing. Total pet peeve!
• It’s hard to be on time. With all the traffic and then subway delays/reroutes, it’s almost impossible to be on time somewhere! Before I moved to New York, I always thought of myself as a person who was never late. That has totally changed. I like to blame my lateness now on the fact that it’s out of my control 😛
• Making new friends is a little difficult. Sad, but true. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met a good amount of people when I’ve gone out or through friends of friends. But for the most part, it’s pretty hard to meet new friends who become good/best friends. Most of my friends are people I knew before, either in college or Minnesota.  I knew people from Texas when I moved here, and then some of my good friends have also moved here over time so I’m a lucky one!
• Costs are crazily high here. I can’t even tell y’all how much I spend on food and drinks here. It’s crazy! My perception on what a ‘cheap’ meal is has changed so much. It’s totally normal for a typical meal to cost at minimum $15-20 here (and that’s considered to be on the cheap side!). Even groceries are so expensive, it almost seems like eating out is the cheaper option sometimes. Then of course all the ubers and subway charges add up. And don’t even get me started on the rent prices here either! I know I’m definitely not saving as much living here (#brokelife), but for me it’s all about the experience of getting to live in NYC 🙂

For my NYC anniversary, of course I had to dress the part! I mean, how cute (and true!) is this ‘New York > Everything’ gray tank from Whimsy Fashion? This online boutique carries so many other cute clothing pieces with sassy and fun sayings on them – check them out! Obviously I also had to wear this bright yellow to match the New York cabs 🙂 My bow flat are a total steal from – they go with everything and are super comfy (comes in other cute colors)!

Lastly, I wanted to end my blog post with a little piece of advice for those hoping to move to NYC. The first thing I’d say is DON’T GIVE UP! I literally never thought I’d land a job here because of all the people/competition. When you look at jobs that have 600+ people apply for them, it can definitely be discouraging. Network, network, network! Reach out to anyone you know in NYC in the same industry for help. People usually are super willing to lend a hand 🙂 If it’s your dream to live here – it will take time and patience, but it’s definitely possible and you really CAN make it happen.

Tank: c/o Whimsy Fashion | Skirt: (similar) | Sunnies: | Sandals: | Bag: | Photos by KJO |

A huge thanks to Whimsy Fashion LLC for collaborating on this post. As always, all opinions are my own.