The Emerald City vs. The Big Apple (and I do like fruit!)
We have been in Seattle for about a month now and we are very, very happy! The city is smaller, greener, friendlier and the atmosphere is amazing. My commute consists of a 2-mile/half-an-hour walk (by choice and I am loving it!), passing the Seattle Center and the Space Needle on the way. We have a park near our apartment building, in a quiet residential neighborhood of lower Queen Ann, yet a number of good local restaurants and coffee shops are just a few blocks away. The air is very clean and crisp (on clear days I can see the moon still up in the sky as the day dawns while I walk Kiki before work) and the mornings are refreshingly cool so the walk to the office is very invigorating. The time difference is working to my advantage still and I am getting used to a more normal sleeping schedule (I used to be such a night owl). It's amazing to be at work a little after 8am and out most days by 5:30-6pm. In so many ways this is such a change from NYC. We do miss our friends and family members in the East but Seattle makes me smile every morning as I wake up.
I would be lying if I didn't say that the primary reason for our move was a lifestyle change. We had been in NYC Metro area for the last six years and for a while we felt it was time for a major change. Ever since we arrived in Seattle I feel like I am a different person. I am much less stressed out and hence more productive at work (although I am still in the transitional period and almost exclusively work on the Eastern Region accounts), and much more relaxed and happier in general. For the first time after a long while I actually wake up with smile on my face, happy to embrace the day. It is not that I particularly dislike NYC, in fact when we originally moved and for a long time afterwards in spite of the initial difficulties we faced (it is a very expensive area to live in, especially for those just starting out and on their own), I liked the area and did not mind the commute (it actually gave me a chance to read on the train). Many people have a love-and-hate relationship with New York City. In the end I was certainly one of them (Hoon was one even earlier than I)! A friend of mine who is curiously no longer living in NYC as well used to say "this city just sucks the life right out of you!" When I try to think back and figure out exactly when that happened for us I cannot really put my finger on it. I suppose the manic pace of life, long commuting time and ever increasing stress level in professional life, constantly rising cost of living and financial (in)security would certainly help bring you there fast! And I guess it creeps up slowly, for a while to fight it, then you tolerate it, until in the end "the cup overrunneth!" New York City certainly has her charms but living in the area compared to visiting is a completely different experience! Then again, that can be said for any city.
We have been in Seattle for about a month now and we are very, very happy! The city is smaller, greener, friendlier and the atmosphere is amazing. My commute consists of a 2-mile/half-an-hour walk (by choice and I am loving it!), passing the Seattle Center and the Space Needle on the way. We have a park near our apartment building, in a quiet residential neighborhood of lower Queen Ann, yet a number of good local restaurants and coffee shops are just a few blocks away. The air is very clean and crisp (on clear days I can see the moon still up in the sky as the day dawns while I walk Kiki before work) and the mornings are refreshingly cool so the walk to the office is very invigorating. The time difference is working to my advantage still and I am getting used to a more normal sleeping schedule (I used to be such a night owl). It's amazing to be at work a little after 8am and out most days by 5:30-6pm. In so many ways this is such a change from NYC. We do miss our friends and family members in the East but Seattle makes me smile every morning as I wake up.
I would be lying if I didn't say that the primary reason for our move was a lifestyle change. We had been in NYC Metro area for the last six years and for a while we felt it was time for a major change. Ever since we arrived in Seattle I feel like I am a different person. I am much less stressed out and hence more productive at work (although I am still in the transitional period and almost exclusively work on the Eastern Region accounts), and much more relaxed and happier in general. For the first time after a long while I actually wake up with smile on my face, happy to embrace the day. It is not that I particularly dislike NYC, in fact when we originally moved and for a long time afterwards in spite of the initial difficulties we faced (it is a very expensive area to live in, especially for those just starting out and on their own), I liked the area and did not mind the commute (it actually gave me a chance to read on the train). Many people have a love-and-hate relationship with New York City. In the end I was certainly one of them (Hoon was one even earlier than I)! A friend of mine who is curiously no longer living in NYC as well used to say "this city just sucks the life right out of you!" When I try to think back and figure out exactly when that happened for us I cannot really put my finger on it. I suppose the manic pace of life, long commuting time and ever increasing stress level in professional life, constantly rising cost of living and financial (in)security would certainly help bring you there fast! And I guess it creeps up slowly, for a while to fight it, then you tolerate it, until in the end "the cup overrunneth!" New York City certainly has her charms but living in the area compared to visiting is a completely different experience! Then again, that can be said for any city.
posted by Smile at the Rain at 2:04 PM
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