Posts Tagged ‘neighborhood’

How to Find an Apartment in NYC: A Guide for Students – Neighborhoods

Monday, August 1st, 2016
Image credit: https://media.timeout.com/images/102906033/225/169/image.jpg

Image credit:
https://media.timeout.com/images/ 102906033/225/169/image.jpg

When looking for an apartment, another important aspect to remember is the neighborhood you’re going to live in. This will not only help narrow down your search by limiting where you’ll be looking, but it will also give you a better idea of what you’re looking for in off-campus housing. At the top of your list of considerations should be how far your neighborhood is from your school, what kinds of public transportation is available, what amenities are in the area, and the safety of the neighborhood. You should ask yourself, will you feel comfortable walking alone in your neighborhood after dark? Will you be able to find food and household supplies easily? How far away is the bus/subway and does it run regularly?

While you may think you’re saving money by opting to live in a neighborhood that’s a little far from your school but with lower rent, remember that a monthly metro card in New York City is currently over $100. And you don’t want to live in a place that’s so far from your classes that it’s a struggle to be on-time. Narrow down your choices before you start hunting, as this will make things easier when you’re ready to look at apartments.

I would love nothing more than to list every neighborhood in the five boroughs and give you a detailed list of statistics about them all, but the truth is neighborhoods are always changing. If you try to stay completely current based on literature your head will spin. The best thing to do is talk to your friends who live in different neighborhoods and get their opinion. And be sure to visit neighborhoods yourself. Statistics offer some information, but the best information you can get will come from hands-on experience.

By Alex Agahigian


Alex Agahigian was one of the Campus Clipper’s talented publishing interns, who wrote an e-book on how to find an apartment in NYC. Follow our blog to read more chapters from Alex’s e-book and use her advice to make your own apartment-hunting more fun and easy. For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful ebooks, we give them a platform to teach others. Follow each new blog post to read a chapter of our various books and to learn how the Campus Clipper can help you follow your dreams!

Stay tuned for more tips from Alex on apartment hunting, check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during last year’s Welcome Week.

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Arrival: Freakout, panic attack, wait are those the Olsen Twins?

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

 

      You’ve just graduated high school, leaving prom night behind, and that comment you wish you took back but didn’t really because you felt it was rightly deserved, and are now ready to begin your new life in the city. You’re giddy because you hope you’ll be caught in a photo beside an A-star celebrity eating a light salad and sipping sparkling water at your favorite hole-in-the wall restaurant you read about. On arrival, however, you noticed no celebrities, chic restaurants:  just random people either playing music for money or those playing music but  being paid because others have assumed they’re only there for money.

          Hopefully, dorm life is the same as shown on brochures, campus tours, and other miscellaneous google image searches you did beforehand. Hurrah! Dorms are fantastic with enough space and lighting that makes you feel it’s not jail-cell B. You’ve traveled far, maybe crossed the Atlantic, and now you’ve arrived in the Big Apple. Parents are helping you unload bags, boxes filled with snacks, and then treating you to a rewarding feast for graduating high school and marking the next big chapter of your life, college. They leave. Now what? There is one scenario that pops in your head: people will start drinking, gorging on jello shots, and parading in the dorms until 6 a.m the next day. 

         Real scenario: you’re laying on your bed thinking how many calories did I just inhale and what to do next?  Should call parents, pops in your mind, but that will make them think you severely miss them and are ready to leave college to become the next pop musical sensation or viral Youtube star. Should call friends is another option you ponder. That decision also has its setbacks, you think, because friends will see it as you trying to live in the past and being overly clingy. Who else to phone then?  Former partner?  They’ll think you’re absurd. Only person/non-human near you are either your dog or that chubby cat meowing ferociously outside for food even though it clearly needs to stop eating.

        Have no fear. The worst things most new New Yorkers accomplish is to over analyze simple decisions. Moving away from home, leaving where you grew up, knocked that kid off his bike and then lied about it, is difficult for anyone. Call your parents immediately (well, wait until they’re on the freeway) to tell them you’ll miss them and promise to either call, video chat, face-talk, Facebook message, Line, etc, that night to update them on your new day.

        Don’t fear phoning friends because they’re in similar shoes as yourself, or worse, they’re hyperventilating and looking at graduation photos yelling “Why me?!!” Instead of staying in your dorm waiting for orientation, explore the local neighborhood; if you find a store you like, you can later discuss and recommend it to your new friends, it will make you seem knowledgeable like a native New Yorker; you even find a surprising discount for new students on the Campus Clipper, the local booklet that helps you save those extra bucks, on textbooks. Now you have both a new street-smart mentality and you can rent out a Chemistry textbook for a bargain at Shakespeare & Co Textbooks which up to today was only a dead guy who wrote amazing plays; but now he also offers stupendous offers to students.If you left the comfort of your hometown, city, or neighborhood, surely you can take those extra steps to acclimate to New York City. After all, no one is really a true New Yorker. Most of us fake it ‘til we make it.

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Sergio Hernandez, Skidmore College. Tweet Sergio on Twitter

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