Well after quite a bit of soul searching I made a major decision a few days ago. It's time for me to follow the dream that I've put on hold for so many years: It's time to make my move to New York. I lived there for a summer when I was 20 and I loved it. I just "fit" there, like I never thought I would. I left vowing I would return after I finished school, and over the years have visited several times. Then I fell in love. We moved in together, and settled into a wonderful life. I put my dream on the back burner and decided maybe I would stay forever, get married, and raise a family here, close to our friends and relatives. I was quite happy with this at first, but something still wasn't right.
As I watched my man successfully pursuing his dream of running his own graphic design business, meeting with clients, working on new projects, etc. I couldn't help but think of my New York dream that I'd hidden away. I wanted to attend Columbia and get my MFA, I wanted to study with Kara Walker and show at the Studio Museum in Harlem. And once my temporary museum job and internship both ended, I really began to feel low. I was applying for new jobs, to no avail. Things were just not picking up. And something kept telling me that maybe this chunk of time in my life had opened up for a reason.
When I expressed all this to my mate, he told me it was time to follow my dream, and that I couldn't go living for everyone else if I wasn't fulfilled. And when I said out loud, "maybe it's time for me to go now," my ancestors kicked up quite a ruckus! I mean they hadn't made that much noise since my friend called upon them in our women's prayer circle. I was overwhelmed. My man told me to just listen to them. If I was being called to New York in such a strong way, there was probably something for me there. So to make a long story short, I'm ready to step out on faith. I'll be going in late summer/fall or this coming spring.
That said, this is a huge move, and although I've stayed there before, I'd truly appreciate any advice people have on living there. What neighborhoods do you recommend? Are there any good resources for finding an apartment? I've been doing craigslist, but everything I've found is pretty high. Any advice, no matter what it is, would be helpful.