SURPRISE! I am moving to NYC

Yes, it’s true! This Florida girl is trading the subtropics for the subway in one week!!

Last summer, I got a crazy idea in my head. I wanted to move to NYC for a little while. I had dreamed of moving to Manhattan—specifically the Upper East Side—since I watched Gossip Girl years ago.

I looked at apartments in the Upper East Side and realized very quickly that I would not, in fact, be moving there. Rent was ridiculous and to furnish a place short term would be silly.

But I searched on! I checked Airbnb, and I ended up finding a super cute place in Washington Heights (which is a top of Manhattan near Columbia University). I went back and forth for a few days before I decided to make the leap.

I booked a place for the soonest time that I could find three consecutive months of availability.

My move will cross yet another item off of my 30 Before 30 list (living in an apartment in a big city). But my main goal is to get out there and meet people.

Networking is everything for an entrepreneur. I am looking at this trip as an investment in myself and in my business.

Let’s say I’m paying $1000 for this move (LOL I wish). I am challenging myself to make at least $1000 from people who I meet while I am there. I feel like this is totally doable.

One of my main goals in life is to resist the feeling that I have to do anything or be anyone simply because it’s expected by friends, family, society, etc.

It’s pretty ironic that I am totally living out the writer who moves to the big city to make it big stereotype. It’s almost as if this move is 100% predictable, which is so funny to me.

It’s even funnier that I am going to Europe for 6 weeks as soon as I return from NYC. I am pretty sure this story has been told in thousands of books and movies, so I won’t have to write a memoir after all.

But anyway, if you need me, I’ll be figuring out how to pack for a winter-to-spring transition in the Big Apple.

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All photos were taken by Anton Guzman.