Michelle Castillo

Living near Central Park and seeing all the happy owners walking their canines would make any dog-loving person want their own pooch. I fell victim to the oodles of cuteness that paraded by my house and decided to adopt a dog off Craigslist that was in need of a new home.

Roscoe is a 15-pound Westiepoo allergic to beef and wheat who likes to snuggle but is prone to accidents, especially on the bed.  Oh yeah--he doesn't like other dogs, or other people, which makes it really uncomfortable sometimes.  But I loved him immediately.  

If you don’t come from a big city--or you’re a light sleeper--the shock of constant traffic, screaming sirens, and neighbors in close proximity can drive you slightly mad when you first move to New York.

The first rule of noise protection: Don’t Do Anything You Wouldn’t Want Done to You. 

Cut out all excessive noise after 9PM. Yes, it would be awesome if you could nail up those posters when you get home from work, but your next door neighbor might not appreciate it if they have young kids trying to get to bed.

Living in the Big City automatically means your friends from out of town are going to come and visit. But with apartment sizes here smaller than the average place it can be hard to have extra people crashing for a couple days.

While apartments are supposed to have heat in New York City, what no one tells you is that it’s not always the well-regulated thermostat that you may be used to if you moved here from somewhere like L.A. These old radiators shake, rattle, bang and blast heat in only one temperature. So even though I had thought one of my biggest problems moving here from California would be freezing during the winter, I found that I was wearing my summer skimpiest indoors rather than bundling up.

I am one of those unfortunate individuals who always manages to forget her keys. It’s a problem that stems from my college days where I would constantly have to ask for new room cards to get into my dorm room. Although I had a roommate in New York City, we were constantly on different ends of Manhattan or in completely different boroughs so I couldn’t always rely on him being there when I needed him.

As the saying kind of goes, “breaking in” is hard to do. Here’s a rundown of the options: