If you live in San Francisco, you already know that one of the most annoying struggles of staying in this beautiful city is the cost of living. Although finding a place to live is hard regardless of the city you live in, those of us who are currently house/apartment-hunting in San Francisco will always fight you if you say finding affordable housing in your city is harder than finding it here. Still don't believe me?

Business Insider reported in 2015 that San Francisco is the most expensive city to live in, with the average rent for a one-bedroom being about $3,500 a month; a cost of living that is 62.6 percent higher than the U.S. average. For more stats, also check out Smart Asset, CBS Money Watch and Expatistan Cost of Living.

Now, if you are like me and have decided that the cost of living is worth dealing with just because of how incredible San Francisco is and have decided to begin your house/apartment hunting journey, then you understand the struggle that is finding a "perfect" house or apartment -- in a cute color, with a not too sketchy landlord, right next to a MUNI stop or grocery store, with more than one bathroom for you and your five closest friends to live in.

Yes, you heard me right. Six girls. All in one house. Did I not mention that part? Yes, we are doing the "college thing" and deciding to pack a house with six loud, fast-talking girls -- and no, this does not mean living is now affordable for us. We're lucky if we don't have to pay $1,000 each just to live in a small beige house with one bathroom, utilities not included, not allowing pets, on the steepest hill in the city, 20 minutes from a bus stop, with a landlord that has no problem raising the rent while hitting on you.

Welcome to San Francisco.

So why do we stay?

It's not necessarily the idea of having a view of the Golden Gate Bridge or Ocean Beach from our room, or being a 20-minute M-line ride to the Castro, or a 40-minute M and KT-line ride to AT&T Park. It's not being able to take a day-trip to Oakland, Berkeley, Davis, Napa, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Los Gatos or San Bruno, or getting to wander around a city at midnight with your closest friends. It's not protesting Hillary Clinton and George Clooney with pots and pans, or having conversations with the people in the Tenderloin. It's not riding paddle-boats at Golden Gate Park, or participating in flash mobs at Embarcadero.

Actually, it is all of those things--and so much more. Once you move to San Francisco, you'll never want to leave. It's a unique community unlike any other in the world, and it is constantly changing. San Francisco today is nothing like San Francisco in the 1940s and '50s.

Nor is it like San Francisco in the 1960s and '70s.

Nor is it like San Francisco in the 1980s and '90s.

Although gentrification is spreading to San Francisco, the districts are changing, prices are going up and it is not the same city it used to be, it is still the unique and rapidly changing environment that is perfect for young people to find themselves in. San Francisco is not perfect; it is becoming crowded by tourists, young tech-savvy men and political activists, but that is just the nature of San Francisco. Right when it becomes predictable, it changes into a brand new community of unique and diverse thinkers, willing to discover new ideas and walk to the beat of their own drums.

While I would love to see the original Mission district or even be able to live in an apartment I could actually afford, it's exciting to know that I get to be a part of a new phase in San Francisco's constant cycle of change.

I will never be able to afford my dream house, nor will I be able to live in '50s, '70s or '90s San Francisco, but I do get to live in one of the most exciting cities in the world, and that is why the cost of living is a cost worth paying. So if you need me, I'll be sipping out of a coconut at Dolores Park, taking pictures with street art in the Haight, chasing after dogs in JapanTown or enjoying the view in my tiny, plain house on the highest hill in San Francisco. Just me, my five roommates and Karl the Fog.