To some University students, the notion of moving to New York City after graduation may seem daunting. Glamorized in Woody Allen films and popular romantic comedies such as "Serendipity," NYC can seem like a mystical wonderland where possibilities lie at every corner. Another common impression of the city might arise from the portrayal of Harlem and the Bronx in music videos as dangerous nuclei infested with gangs and drugs.
Yet many students venture to this city after graduation. From real estate to city culture to making ends meet to astronomically long workdays, how do recent University graduates adjust to the Big Apple?
FINDING THE RIGHT APARTMENT
University alumna Penn Whaling '04 found herself in a perilous position when she moved to NYC over the summer. Discarded from the New York University dorms -- where she had completed a publishing course -- she had yet to sign a lease for a new apartment. So Whaling did the only thing that a recent college graduate could do.
She picked up the phone.
Eventually, a close family friend agreed to let Whaling stay in his vacated place for a few months until she could comfortably settle in.
Not a shabby deal, as it turned out. The five-story, Upper East Side townhouse contained no less than four spacious bedrooms and six bathrooms, complete with an elevator, library, terrace, exercise room and sauna to boot. The only catch? The townhouse was left devoid of furniture.
Speaking of her vast, hollow surroundings, Whaling said the situation "got kind of creepy at night," but she never felt threatened.
Additionally, Whaling was aware that her youth in the posh, upscale neighborhood came off as something of an anomaly.
"The neighbor thought I was the guy's girlfriend," Whaling laughed. "The guy's much younger girlfriend."
Today, Whaling occupies a moderately-sized two bedroom apartment in the East Village, in "Alphabet City," a hipster cross-section of the Village, abundant with bars and ethnic restaurants. She has her own bedroom and balcony and said she cannot complain, acknowledging that her comfortable lifestyle at present would be unaffordable without "generous and kind" support from her parents.
Real estate in the city is only one of the issues NYC implants must face. Compromising location and budget can become a real concern in a city where real estate prices never seem to reach their peak. In September 2004, the New York Times Real Estate Section featured the first wave of the "Million Dollar Studio" -- designer one-room apartments ranging from a mere 600 to 800 square feet, a trend that is likely to gain popularity in Manhattan.
Basil Qunibi '03, who lives a block away from Times Square, offered a comparison between Charlottesville and Manhattan rent costs.
"If you're living in Oxford Hills, it was like $750 rent. To get a comparable size in New York, it would be about five times of that in Charlottesville," Qunibi said, estimating a cost above $3,500.
Accordingly, many opt to live in one of the five boroughs outside of Manhattan to budget their living costs. Already, a hip, younger crowd has gentrified Williamsburg and Park Slope in Brooklyn, slapping on much padding to rent costs along with its burgeoning popularity. Others have looked to Astoria, a neighborhood in Queens typically known for its heavy Greek population. The Times marked Astoria as a rapidly developing area, particularly in terms of building construction, where people relocating north of Manhattan can enjoy spacious living spaces at virtually half the cost.
Keith Lubeley '03 is an example of one such New York implant who has chosen to live in a less affluent area in an effort to save money. A prolific actor throughout high school and at the University, Lubeley recently moved to the city with the hope of breaking it big. In between auditions for the theater, he works as a tutor for Kaplan Educational Services and calls Harlem home.
Though some University students may shudder at the thought of living in Harlem due to its portrayal in the media as a crime-ridden neighborhood patrolled by street gangs, Lubeley dismissed the notion that Harlem is unsafe.
"Harlem is really big -- some of it is rundown and crummy, and the neighborhoods are sketchy," Lubeley said. "There are a lot of shifty characters around, but they're not going to bother you."
HIGH FINANCE
On a typical workday, Qunibi wakes up at 6 a.m., helps himself to coffee, reviews his notes for work and hops on the subway to his workplace at Ivy Asset Management, where he works as an investment analyst. He walks into his midtown office by 8 a.m., where he then sits through meetings and discusses business strategies throughout the morning. After lunch, he finds himself writing up reports, doing research and carrying on telephone conversations with Hedge Fund investors. By the time he wraps up the workday and sets foot again in his apartment, it is well past sunset -- 8 p.m. After eating dinner, he then goes to the gym to work out and hopes to be in bed by 12 or 1 a.m., leaving just enough time to refresh himself for the next day.
"I think New York is a ruthless town," Qunibi said. "I feel like on the surface, New York is all about the money, the fame, the glory."
Qunibi estimated that he works 50 to 60 hours each week, which, by his calculations, means that he sleeps five or six hours a day. It's a fast-paced lifestyle that Qunibi finds taxing at times.
"You have to make work a full-time thing," he said. "Even if I'm at home, I feel like I'm working or concentrating or thinking about work. I feel like that kind of mindset is needed in order to succeed."
When he was a fourth year at the University, Qunibi had his heart set on working at what he called the "financial capital of the world." A member of the McIntire Investment Banking Club in the Commerce School, Qunibi was driven to the Big Apple for the business and networking opportunities -- and to be among the individuals he deemed the "most capable."
"I don't think anywhere else in the world comes close to the same sort of opportunities that NYC works," he said. "In a more business aspect, you can really develop a pretty solid network of people in NYC. ... That can be very beneficial in the future."
Though his day is long, Qunibi insisted he is not tired and believes that his efforts are well worth the rewards, from personal fulfillment to monetary gain.
"You could say that I'm comfortable," he chuckled.
What's more, since Michael R. Bloomberg became mayor of New York in January 2002, the city has undergone some dramatic changes. The most apparent changes in daily life are the Smoker-Free City Act, which legally bans smoking in bars or restaurants, and the general increase in prices -- the result of tax hikes ranging from an eight percent sales tax to an 18.5 percent hike in property taxes.
Whaling's wallet was the first to suffer.
"You get a beer for $7 and that's ridiculous, and movie tickets are $10," Whaling complained. "Everything in NYC is more expensive."
In the city, smokers may scoff at paying $7 per pack of cigarettes as well, compared to $4 in Charlottesville. And at some of the higher-end lounges in Manhattan, cocktails come with a hefty $14 price tag per drink.
Money -- evermore the jugular vein of New York -- is something Lubeley feels strongly about.
"A major difference [in New York] is that you're constantly running into people of all walks of life," observed Lubeley, alluding to the wide spectrum of people who must reside in close quarters of the city.
"And you are also constantly running into people that are extremely wealthy," he added. "Whereas in other parts of the country they might be secluded in their own mansions and neighborhood, here they are all thrown together."
Confronted with the extremely prosperous on a daily basis, Lubeley said that it can be "disheartening" and "frustrating" when he is trying to initiate a successful career of his own.
Conversely, the stream of the homeless in the city also has its draining effects. Subway stations, particularly the large cross-sections Union Square and Times Square, are hot spots for the unemployed to beg for money, soliciting donations from the subway's interior. Break dancers and musicians are perhaps the most abundant, the latter of which might use such novel instruments as buckets, trashcans and saws, in addition to the more traditional violin or guitar.
Whaling said she feels sympathy for those who are less unfortunate.
"It's really sad," she said. "There are a lot of people that come up to you in the subway all the time and you can't give everyone a dollar, but you can just smile and acknowledge their presence."
FOLLOWING YOUR PASSION
For Lubeley, who studied English at the University, the sole reason for moving to the city was to follow his dream of being an onstage actor. Before college, he had attended the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and went on to play lead roles in many University drama department productions. Still, Lubely said acting is a lifestyle, not a career, which he finds difficult to sustain mentally at times.
"It's totally a matter of patience, and that's the hard part -- in order to have patience you need to have so much faith in yourself and have confidence," he said, referring to the discouragement one often faces early on his career.
"You have to keep on feeding yourself your sense of drive ... nobody is going to help you out," Lubeley said. "The city is wonderful and it's vital and got a lot of energy that you can feed off of, but ultimately the city is totally indifferent to you, and you really have to be self-supportive not only financially but emotionally."
Whaling agreed. As a reader for two literary agents, she reads two to three novel-length manuscripts per week and must write recommendation reports afterwards. Ultimately aspiring to be a literary agent herself in the future, Whaling said she enjoys reading but does not appreciate the very little pay she receives in return. She has recently taken up a job working in a lingerie boutique store in the NoLita district of the city (Northern Little Italy).
"I was a poetry major, and I wanted to get into publishing," Whaling said. "There aren't that many jobs for poets."
Qunibi also stressed the importance of following the career path most suited to an individual's interests. For Qunibi, who was an economics major at the University, his primary interests were business and finance, which he happily pursues. But he warned strongly against veering off the wrong track because of monetary concerns.
"Don't base your career decision over money," advised Qunibi, who has just started the Charter Financial Analyst program. "At some point in life you'll be really unhappy and money will be the last thing on your mind. You have to think about yourself and what you really enjoy doing."
Qunibi said his success has followed his passion -- a notion that Lubeley and Whaling are also holding onto strongly.
THE CULTURE
The notoriously apathetic attitude that New Yorkers have toward each other is a far stretch from the sense of community that University students strive to build. From the physical centrality of the campus to the countless student organizations, the University administration works hard to engender familiarity among its students.
Lubeley said he finds this general indifference refreshing, noting the "wonderful sense of anonymity" in New York.
"Nobody is going to stare at you and think that you're weird," he said. "You're going to blend in immediately."
To counterbalance loneliness, Lubeley suggested finding a sense of community in the city was essential as far as "sanity and overall happiness" are concerned.
"What you ought to do when you move to a place like this is, aside from getting a job, to try to become a part of something," he said. "For me it is to try to audition for shows and try to get into theater."
In this regard, the University has made an effort to bring together its alumni through its Virginia club of New York, which shares its decadent space in midtown Manhattan with the Yale club. The Virginia club is the "official New York City home for University of Virginia alumni" and offers dinners, cocktail hours and a venue for alumni to gather for special University-related occasions, according to its Web site.
Whaling is a member of the Virginia club but admits to having never gone to an event there. Instead, she finds her memberships at the Whitney and the Modern Museum of Art to be of more value, citing free yearly admission and invitations to art openings and events as part of the attraction. She also finds solace in attending various poetry readings around town.
"You can't not meet people in a city like New York," Whaling said.
CALLING NYC HOME
The sheer enormity of the sky scrapers in Manhattan may belie the actual geography of the island, which only runs 12 miles long.
Clearly densely populated, New York may seem bigger than it is due to the constant barrage of new faces.
Qunibi recalled an incident that showed him the remarkable smallness of the city when, within weeks of moving to New York, he encountered a group of seven University students on Park Avenue at 4 a.m.
"You never expect that happening in New York because it's such a big city," he said.
To the same effect, Lubeley found himself recognizing the same people throughout the week in the city, something that he said he found comforting in that it was a semblance of home.
"When you start walking around New York City and running into people that you know on regular basis, you really start to feel like you're a resident and not a visitor," he realized.
A melting pot of cultures, a fast-paced lifestyle, and the rich multitude of ground-breaking activities ranging from the arts to publishing to business are what these three young alumni have attributed to the city's unique appeal.
But the grass may be greener on the other side. Qunibi, who calls himself well-traveled, enthusiastically believes that Charlottesville is "probably one of the greatest towns of the world."
"I only lived there for four years but I still feel like it's my town," he said with a hint of nostalgia.
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