The beginning was actually the easy part. The whole time I kept thinking, “Finally. I’m eighteen, I’m across the country, and I can do whatever I want. No one is here to tell me no.” I could go to concerts on school nights, stay out past midnight, and watch 10 hours of Netflix in one day if I wanted to. But there are some things that no one tells you before you pack up and leave, there are some things you are forced to learn once you’re stuck in the middle of New York City.

1. Money:

I started off the school year with $500 that I saved up over summer break, and I figured it would be enough to last me the semester. After all, I had my meal plan, and my mom promised to give me $100 a month for food. I’d be fine. Wrong. Turns out, New York is a lot more expensive than you can even begin to realize. In the first month of school, I found myself putting almost $30 a week on my metro card, which, by the end of the month, was $120 already down the drain. I’m used to driving everywhere, from school to Hollywood to Santa Monica, and all I had to worry about was filling my tank every two or three weeks. Between metro cards, shopping, going out with my friends, and my Spotify and Netflix subscriptions, I might as well have just thrown my wallet out the window. By November I was already calling my mom every other day and begging her to add just $20 more on my card.

2. Weather:

Okay, so everyone told me it would be cold. But I didn’t think it would be that cold. I mean, some mornings in Los Angeles got to 40 degrees! Granted, it was 80 degrees by noon, but hey, I survived the morning and there’s no way it can get much colder than that. Wrong again! Strike two, Sam. I walked out of my dorm the other day and it was below 20 degrees. Even with my undershirt, t-shirt, sweater, sweatshirt, and down coat piled on top of me, I still felt like frostbite was just around the corner. I was definitely going to have to make a stop at the health center to amputate my frozen pinky or something. And, according to my roommate, it gets even colder than that - which I didn’t think was possible. I’ve spent the past week trying to look at it in a positive light, “Hey, at least I’m not in Antarctica!” but it gets pretty hard when your brother is sending you snapchats from the beach that say 90 degrees in big white numbers across the screen.

3. Good Produce:

Literally no one told me that I would be struggling to find a good avocado. We have a sandwich stand in our school cafeteria, and everyone told me it was pretty good. So I get in line, all giddy and excited about getting a decent sandwich (I’d been eating primarily chicken tenders and french fries and it was getting old really fast). I’m pointing out different ingredients, watching as the women puts together my sandwich when finally I ask for avocado. No sandwich is complete without avocado. And what happens? The woman grabs a bottle filled with, as they called it, “avocado paste” and squirted it all over my sandwich. Here’s my question to New Yorkers: why ruin a perfectly good avocado by turning it into paste? I guess LA really does pamper you.

4. Friendliness and Strangers:

I didn’t think this would bother me all that much. Before I left, I always talked about how fake LA was. Everyone was overly friendly and overly happy. But New York is the complete opposite - to the extreme. Everyone walks quickly and dutifully, eyes either focused straight ahead of them or on the floor. You don’t smile at people in the streets, especially not strangers. I learned that the hard way. At the beginning of the school year I walked into a store and made eye contact with another woman that was shopping. I smiled politely and said hello, only to receive a look of confusion and knitted eyebrows along with, “Do I know you?” Safe to say I never make eye contact with strangers anymore.

5. New York Is Really, Really Far from Los Angeles

Okay, I knew that before I left, obviously. I’d been to New York tons of times, but never for much longer than a week. It’s just that when your East Coast friends are buying train tickets home for the weekend, or their parents are visiting for a day to take them to lunch, you start to realize just how far from home you are. The only time I see my parents is when we are both available to Facetime, and plane tickets home are nearly $500 round trip.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been having a blast in New York. I’ve made some incredible friends, been in some fascinating classes, and explored all five boroughs. It truly is the city that never sleeps, and I’ve yet to have a dull moment where I can’t find anything to do. It’s just sometimes, I wish I’d been a little more prepared as an Angelito moving to New York City, before I was thrust into a world of avocado paste and arctic temperatures.