I love to move.

I will say however… Moving to New York City was nearly as big of a culture shock as when I first moved to Ecuador.

Maybe it’s because I always loved hispanic culture, and I was ready for it. I was expecting life to be majorly different in Ecuador.

But New York? New York City is in the US, it isn’t my first rodeo… yet the changes and adjustments were HUGE.

To be fair, I was living in the center of Manhattan, a block away from Times Square. My first apartment was so small, you couldn’t imagine. Two people could stand at the same time. Not three. Two people, shoulder-to-shoulder.

My second apartment was bigger. For me, it was paradise. I could lay on the ground and do a snow angel, it was so huge. My visitors never seemed to think it was very big (there is only room for one snow angel,) but for me, it was dazzingly perfect.

I hung my bulb lights, created a cozy writer’s den under my lofted bunk bed, and sighed happily out the window.

So this is what they feel like in the movies.

The hardest part to figure out? Grocery shopping. More on that in a minute.

That and the overstimulation outside and the small space inside.

I expected Manhattan to have glistening cars and men in suites and women in heels. I expected everyone to have perfectly straight teeth and a million dollars. Yet New York City is actually really rough around the edges.

The brick, the pizza, the bustle, the tourists. The underground storage spaces, the accents, the languages. The bicycles that almost hit you as they whirr past.

Back to grocery shopping –

There isn’t Walmart in Manhattan. There isn’t Aldi. Where were people buying their groceries? I found a Target nearby.

I only had a minifridge. Not a normal-sized fridge, a mini-fridge. I had to re-learn how to grocery shop. You walk to the store, carrying your reusable sustainable fabric bag.

I used to drive my car and load it up with sooo many groceries. Like at least a month’s worth. Drop $300. Throw it in a freezer.

Now, all I have is one bag, and whatever I can carry in my arms. I have to walk it back to my apartment.

The first few trips, I tried to haul too much. I looked like Gus-Gus the mouse with cheese loaded up to my chin, precariously balancing it as a scurried down the street back to my apartment. It all fell a few times. So I adjusted.

One bag at a time. More frequent trips.

With time, I found my rhythm, and I’m actually more organized than ever before. You just have to walk to the store at least once a week and get whatever you need. It’s actually more simple and less wasteful for me. I try to think through what I need. One onion, one sweet potato.

I eat the food, and I walk back to the store.

We’re getting used to it. 🙂 And loving it. 🙂

Here is how to get from LaGuradia Airport to Times Square for $2.90.

Here is a video of how to use Google Maps to navigate the Subway system.

Here is how to get on the Subway without buying a paper ticket.