New Adventures

Signed my contract? Check. Hold in my possession four keys of different shapes and sizes? Check. Wrote out a very large check? Um, check. Sounds to me like someone officially lives in Manhattan…or will officially live in Manhattan in 9 short days. Despite the fact that the NY Giants ripped my heart out of my chest yesterday, it definitely was one of the greatest days of my young life simply because I became a NYC renter. I may have to change my blog title: City girl takes on the world? Hmm, might need to think about that some more. But hooray for me! I’m moving. I’m moving. I’m moving. I will have to say that at least 17 more times before I believe it. I purchased a new comforter online today (had no idea until after I fell in love with the dark purple hues that it happens to be the same bedding Bella has in the Twilight movies…and yes, this made me love it even more), my ultimate target run will come early next week and then it’s sayonara Jersey Shore. So Merry, Merry Christmas to me.

I’m excited to write about my adventures discovering my new neighborhood. This is the first time in my life that I will be completely on my own. When I first went to college, the majority of my floor-mates did not know the Columbus area well and so we were all fumbling around together (remember the dark ally anyone? “I’m not scared of anything”). The same thing occurred when my roommates and I moved into our off campus apartment. We ventured out together to see where the good coffee shops, local bars, and easy routes to walk home were located. Now that I’m a grown up (scary, right?), I’m searching for grocery stores within walking distance (Whole Foods is 5 blocks away), new doctors, dentists, dry cleaners, coffee shops (DD is on the corner), banks, and bars (I’m 5 blocks from Columbia, so I’m sure the majority of bars in the area will be “college bars.” Definitely positives and negatives to that – future Ivy League boyfriend, future frat boy puking on the street.) I know I’ll be getting tons of pointers from my awesome future roommate, but it’s good to understand your surroundings and discover all that is around you. I always tell people that I am an expert at “touristy” New York. I can tell you every fun thing to do in Midtown, every museum that must be visited and all the subways that get you to and from Times Square, but the Upper (way upper) West Side is a foreign land to me, so it will take many days of walking in circles and sitting in front of my laptop with Google maps opened to conquer it all. As for now, I know how to run from my front door to Central Park and back; I know where to get my Sunday morning bagel, and I know what train I need to take to get to work…I’m way ahead of the curve.