 |
| View from my kitchen in Rome |
I absolutely loved my flat in Rome with its blue walls, light everywhere and the two massive roof top terraces with view over Rome and the Vatican. Yes, the windows didn’t keep heat or cold out and sometimes it rained through them, but I was really happy there and would have happily stayed. Finding a place where I would feel half as at home in New York as in Rome has been giving me a headache ever since I decided to move here.
Even though I’ve visited the city several times before, I didn’t have my heart set on any particular area. With Manhattan divided into what feels like a gazillion suburbs (some merely two by two blocks big), I was not looking forward to sifting through endless adds and trying to figure out where these places were and if they had a decent train connection. I had also heard from friends that renting isn’t quite so easy in NY with dozens of applicants per apartment (or should I say shoebox?), endless credit checks, approval processes and hidden fees. And then, just as the icing on the cake, is the fact that New York is the third most expensive city to live in the world (after Monaco and Hongkong) with rents for a large (!) 20m2 studio starting (!) at around USD2000.
 |
| View from an apartment |
So ever since arriving my mind has been pretty preoccupied with finding a place to call home. After looking at a few places in Manhattan, I quickly realised that as mesmerizing as it is, I wouldn’t be happy living and working surrounded by concrete and skyscrapers. South Africa and Rome have spoilt me for open spaces and light and I got used to seeing the sunset every day – going from this to just concrete wasn’t gonna work.
So I turned my head off Manhattan and towards Brooklyn and… well, got lucky (I think, I hope). Having viewed only four places (and not 80 like my colleague), I found a place that I immediately loved in a beautiful low-rise part of town. It’s spacious, light and only one block away from a really nice big park (some of NY’s park are hardly bigger than a flower bed). And maybe best of all, it’s somewhat affordable so that I won’t have to live super noodles 😉
So I turned my head off Manhattan and towards Brooklyn and… well, got lucky (I think, I hope). Having viewed only four places (and not 80 like my colleague), I found a place that I immediately loved in a beautiful low-rise part of town. It’s spacious, light and only one block away from a really nice big park (some of NY’s park are hardly bigger than a flower bed). And maybe best of all, it’s somewhat affordable so that I won’t have to live super noodles 😉
 |
| My new neighbourhood |
No comments:
Post a Comment