8 facts about New York City

Happy Sunday!

It’s August 2017 and I just hit my two-year mark living in New York City. I moved here with an understanding of how it was going to be, but reality would prove me wrong. It’s a real love-hate relationship (mostly love though), so I thought it would be fun to write down what I’ve learned about this big concrete jungle so far.

1. It’s cool to be busy. If you ask someone about their life, they probably meet you with a “I’m good! But busy…” If you’re not busy, what are you really doing?

2. Rent is a bitch. Nothing more, nothing less.

3. You’re going to work hard for what you want. More than you ever imagined. It kind of goes hand in hand with no. 1, because New Yorker’s perspective on career is work, work, work, eat by the desk, work, work, work, sleep. Do it all over again. I was expecting to work hard, but in Denmark we just work in a different way than here.

4. There’ll always be a street you didn’t see before. My girlfriend just moved to New York in a gorgeous apartment in FiDi (Financial District), and helping her getting settled we got lost more than once and had to put the GPS on. I would think that I knew at least Manhattan by now, but I still get lost in the streets and even take the wrong train once in a while. I guess that keeps your brain activated, right? Hah.

5. Catcalling becomes part of your everyday life. I personally can’t stand it, at it makes me feel very uncomfortable. More than once I’ve gotten into a big argument with the man catcalling me, but they just don’t stop. It’s like they don’t get how rude it is. I could go on and on about this, but I’ll just say #girlpower.

6. There’s always something to do. 1,5 years ago I even made a list of 10 things to do when totally bored, and that’s still my go-to list.

7. Commuting is every day life. An hour each way is totally normal. With my new job my commute is going to be around 35 minutes, which is way better than the hour I was used to, but I’ll still have to kill some time on the subway.

8. Rush-hour is 24-hours. New York City is really not that big square meter wise (which is also why they quickly ran out of space in Manhattan and started building up, up, UP), but it takes a dang long time to drive around because of the traffic. I recently got my American drivers license and naturally started driving our car, but the amount of time I can spend on the highway almost makes me want to go back to the Subway.

Where are you guys from? What are facts that you have discovered about your city?