Exploring the city... Kind of

T-Minus 18 days until departure. I’m freaking out… partly because we have yet to find an apartment. We have plane tickets, so we know we’re going. We just don’t know where we’ll sleep… So  what. We’ll figure it out right??? I hope.

So in all our apartment hunting we’ve found that it’s incredibly difficult to find and pick an apartment without being there. Everybody wants you to come and see the place and sign paperwork there. We feel like we would like to see them in person, maybe smell it, make sure it doesn’t wreak. Check for rats, ect. Plus, neither of us knows much about New York so we’ve had a hard time deciding on a neighborhood and how far is too far from the school, or from a subway stop. Being a million miles away really complicates things. So one of the first things I’ve learned about New York is... (drumroll please)... try to go visit before you move there. But, If you’re like us and don’t get a chance to visit before your move, take advantage of Google Earth. Have you used this before??

I have spent hours and hours on Google Earth lately. It’s amazing! I type in the address and I can see how long it will take to get to campus, the temple, central park, anywhere. I can see the route if I’m walking, if I’m taking the train or bus, if I take a cab, even if I’m biking. Then, my favorite part STREET VIEW. Seriously whoever invented this deserves the millions and billions of dollars he’s making off of it.

Here’s a link to the Funniest Google Street View Findings . I haven’t quit laughing. Maybe #35 is my favorite. But seriously Google Earth is the greatest thing to ever be invented.

So as I’m looking at apartments and they say “GREAT NEIGHBRHOOD!!” I can pull it up and see that none of the signs are in English and there are some sketchy characters hanging around. I can also see how close things are to the projects. Which, it turns out, EVERYTHING is close to the projects because there are over 300 different project developments in New York City. Luckily, they aren’t all equally dangerous.

But, street view is unreal. I can “walk” the route to the closest park; I can see what restaurants are on the street. Once we actually have an apartment picked out, you know I’ll have that whole neighborhood memorized. I won’t even need GPS because I’ll already recognize it. Okay, that’s maybe an exaggeration. I’ll definitely still need GPS (note to self:  always carry a cell phone charger). But really, Google Earth has given me so much more confidence and made me so much more comfortable with the city. Believe it or not you can really get a feel for a neighborhood just by exploring online.

Now, if we could just get an apartment figured out already we’ll be good to go! I am so excited and it’s all I think about, but there is this tiny piece of me that is just screaming like a little girl. I’m terrified. I don’t know how we’re going to get it all figured out and make it work, I just know that we will. This is an opportunity people dream of and I am going to try to take advantage of everything it has to offer. I think we’ll make a New York Bucket List so we don’t miss out on any of the amazing and unique things NYC has to offer!

I’m learning that I’m going to be a very very small fish in a pond bigger than I could ever imagine. Like it’ll be more like the ocean and less like a pond. I think the best way I have found to prepare myself for this move is to get comfortable with the city(via google earth). I have “walked” up and down hundreds of streets and I’m getting really excited. However, I don’t think I’ll ever really be fully prepared for how my life is about to change.

I’m grateful to know he next step in God’s plan for our family. Mostly I’m just glad to know that he has a plan for our family. I know that moving to Hawaii was such an amazing growing opportunity and it was truly where we were meant to be. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us as we take on this next huge adventure.

Thanks for reading my rants!

SD