I Moved to New York for a Month. New York Showed Up.
Silvana is from the Netherlands and lives in Curaçao. In August 2026, she came to New York City through SharedEasy’s creator program and documented the whole thing.
New York has been on my bucket list for longer than I can remember. This time, I made it happen.
I live in Curaçao, but I’m Dutch. I came here to experience New York. That’s it.
Living in New York vs. Visiting: They Are Not the Same Thing
When you visit New York, you rush. You’re trying to capture everything. You’re on a list.
When you stay for a month, something different happens. By the second week I had a routine. Running in the morning, a coffee shop I liked, a run club. You get used to the city faster than you think.
The sunsets were something I didn’t expect either. New York at 7pm, with the sky doing something impossible, standing in a neighborhood you’re starting to know. Nobody wrote about that in any travel article I read.
What I Expected from Shared Housing
Before I arrived, I had a picture in my head. I’d stayed in hostels before, and when I thought about shared housing or co-living, my mind went straight to that: busy, unpredictable, a little messy.
The Bushwick house was none of that. It was clean. It was calm when I wanted calm, and social when I wanted social. The people there were friendly in a real way, not a forced way. You say hello in the kitchen and twenty minutes later you’ve had an entire conversation. I had not expected that.
Meeting People in New York City When You Arrive Alone
I met two groups of people during this month: the people in the house, and the people I found through the city.
New York has more infrastructure for meeting people than anywhere I have lived. Run clubs that meet three times a week in different neighborhoods. Fitness classes where people connect. Events in parks, on rooftops, in bookshops. The city is enormous, but the communities inside it are small and specific. You find your entry point and go from there.
I joined a run club and met people who had nothing to do with SharedEasy. That’s what New York gives you, if you let it.
What to Know About Housing in New York if You’re Arriving from Abroad
If you’re planning to come to New York as an international student, on a short internship, or just to try the city for a month or two, the housing situation is worth understanding before you arrive.
The traditional route, finding a regular apartment, requires income verification at 40 to 45 times the monthly rent, a US credit history, often a guarantor, and a broker fee on top of everything else. For someone coming from another country who has never had a US bank account, this process is a wall most people don’t get through.
What SharedEasy offers is different: one monthly price that covers everything. Rent, wifi, utilities, laundry, weekly cleaning. No broker. No SSN required. Leases starting at 30 days. The room is furnished and ready when you arrive.
For international students starting a program in New York, this removes the two biggest stresses of arrival: finding a place and setting it up. You show up. The room is ready. You spend the first week getting to know the city instead of standing at an IKEA in New Jersey.
Why Brooklyn Is Not the Backup Plan
A lot of people think Manhattan when they think New York. I lived in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Bushwick has the Bushwick Collective: entire blocks of building-size murals, the kind of street art you walk through for an hour without planning to. It has bodegas and brechós and restaurants from three different continents in four city blocks. The L train connects you to Manhattan.
Brooklyn feels like a city where people live, not a city built for visitors to pass through. If you’re arriving in New York for the first time, Bushwick, Williamsburg, or Crown Heights will show you a version of the city that makes sense faster than most places.
Yes, I Would Do It Again
Without thinking about it.
My advice to anyone considering this: book the flight. Experience New York at least once, not as someone passing through, but as someone who stays long enough for the city to feel like it belongs to them a little. It does that, if you give it enough time.
Silvana stayed at SharedEasy’s Bushwick location in Brooklyn. Follow her travels on YouTube and Instagram.
SharedEasy offers fully furnished private rooms in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, with all-inclusive pricing, no broker fees, no SSN required, and flexible leases starting at 30 days. View available rooms at sharedeasy.club.
