In a few weeks I will have my first official Manhattan address (after 6 months or so with an "unofficial" one...) in a great little starter apartment. I'm calling it a starter apartment because it is exactly how I imagined my first NYC apartment. Nothing fancy, but charming in it's own way and right in the center of all the beautiful chaos the NYC (in particular the east village) has to offer. I went the widely accepted "Craig's List" route and I'm looking forward to this new chapter for me.
Apartment hunting in NYC is quite a comical if not a harrowing experience, especially if you don't have $4,000 a month for a luxury studio (which in all reality is probably still the size of a non city dweller's bathroom or kitchen). Things that are acceptable in NYC as living conditions would NEVER fly in the suburbs. I was appalled to find out that the rumored "bitchen" (combo kitchen/bath) actually did exist...AND it still costed an absurd amount! Other frightening conditions include the "loft" style living which more times than not means that you sleep in an attic-like alcove the only fits your bed and that would induce a head injury if you actually stood up when getting out of bed. No thanks!
When I told my mother that I had finally found a place, she innocently asked, "does it have a doorman?" Haha, I just laughed. She had remembered that when I first ambitiously started looking for apartments in NYC, I listed doorman, roof deck, and pass-through kitchen as some of my must-haves. My new apartment has none of these. These can only be attained by wealth, living in an un-cool, inconvenient neighborhood (hello FiDi) or extreme luck. These things are still on my list of eventual necessities for my future digs, but for now, I'm happy with a place that isn't a 5th floor walkup, has windows in the bedroom, and has a separate space for showering and cooking. Hey, it's the little things...
