Welcome NYC

So after a remarkably memorable stay in the small town of Ithaca it was time to leave the confines of the walls that Mr. Ezra had originally intended all of us to stay in. The idea was that away from all the city congestion and distractions students will get a chance to mingle among themselves in an academic setting that would help foster an enriching learning environment. I guess he did not conceive of this stream of Financial Engineering that inevitably brought Cornell closer to NYC until 2007 when a small part actually branched off and landed on wall street.
Now I wasn't going to begin studying anytime soon and if fate had it's way I might not have even been here so early but here I was, for my internship. I have been a city boy all my life. I grew up in Delhi, India, studied in Mumbai and lived in Bangalore. All these megacenters are one of the most populous cities in India and with an ever increasing immigration population and the progressing boundaries the population density doesn't seem to stabilize.They are home to people either scrambling to get onto that bus to reach their workplace, to catch that last spot on the train trying to make an errand or just to people that exist trying to make your life more complex! But in return, to serve the entire array of different classes of people from different backgrounds and tastes, you get a host of amenities that sometimes seem customized to your need. Be it a restaurant that serves your favorite entre, a pub that plays just your music, a coffee shop that blends to your taste or even a  tailor that stitches to your body.
BUT... all this comes when are in a state to really enjoy what they have to offer. And you certainly cannot be in that state of mind when you are in no man's land and trying to find a place to crash for the night. Home. I have looked for a place twice back home and once here in Ithaca, NY. In each instance I took the time (I would now say I had the luxury of time) to look at a few apartments, weigh them based on different criteria and then decide on the one that passes all the screening. Now this process typically took me a week or two and I was fortunate enough to have my cousin living in the heart of the city where I could crash for that time while I looked at other listings. So I log onto craigslist and try to rank the listings based on the location, distance, furnishings, utilities and my understanding of the safety and fun of the neighborhood. My office was at Grand Central and my next term was to be in downtown. To avoid being sucked into Manhattan's expenses and at the same time have a clean, fun and safe neighborhood I chose Astoria in Queens. It was the end of May and the search threw numerous results of places being available in a couple of weeks for the summer. Even after filtering for what clearly was spam there seemed to be a good number of listings checking which could keep me occupied for a few days.
So, being the diligent person I am, I jotted a few places and mapped my route and headed off. Now what you hear or see about a place can be quite different from what you witness with your own eyes, or in my case, ear. My first stop was north east of Williamsburg and I was pleasantly surprised to see the train ride on an elevated platform. But that soon turned into a blare as I stepped out and it was further disappointing to know that the listing was right around the corner and the noise of the train would deem an alarm unnecessary. Next I took the 7 back to take the N/Q and go into Astoria. The same problem persisted though the area was quite widespread and open to take away that claustrophobic feeling of elevated tracks and the blaring sound. They were all 2 storey row houses with a shop on the 1st floor and along with the curbside restaurants and clean streets it gave the town a pre-modern European look. It seemed like a giant chopper had chopped off all Manhattan sky scrapers from 3rd floor up but then you could still see the city across the river. It was a love at first sight and I knew I was going to live in that neighborhood.
Unfortunately I was still not familiarized with how "big" the rooms really are when they say that on craigslist. My first destination was at a place where 3 men, each over 40, resided. The room was as big as the size of a store room, the living room finished before it even started and the kitchen cabinets were locked because no one cooked. As if that wasn't enough the guy listed all the rules of the house as minute as cleaning the floor and I never thought about that place after that. This way I rejected a few other houses of the day and the next morning I was really considering taking up the first place I saw. When I called up to check I was surprised to know that it was taken up already. That got me on my foot and I started carrying my cheque book along to be able to sign off a place as soon as I saw it.
I was glad to have the assistance of a smart phone all this while. I could always check craigslist for any new sublets and I had that page with my search filter always open. I spent the next week looking over each sublet listing and each time something prevented me from committing to it at that very instant. One was perfect but was available only for 2 months. Another was well furnished but was too far from the closest subway. Then another was also very well furnished but it turned out to be a home to a 50 yr old and his dog and I used to curse them for not being clear about such descriptions on craigslist. The ones that had a good location were either too small or were in a dingy apt or were unfurnished. After about a week I became quite stressed of the situation and restless of living out of a suitcase. I expanded my search to downtown and brooklyn as well thinking that it would be better in the long run when my term begins in the fall on wall street. With the constraint on my budget I could only find apts in Chinatown that appeared like sleazy makeshift dorms that could break away any time or others in brooklyn with so much mess that my trash can seemed cleaner.
Finally I struck gold one day with an apt in Jackson Heights that was well connected by an express train, was in a nice neighborhood and had a big and well furnished room and that too for just $600. I immediately contacted the person and was there in 30 mins - a good test to measure the daily commute time I was going to have. I had been tired the past few weeks and being the middle of June the listings were thinning out and I was really hoping for this to work out. When I reached it turned out that the guy was living with his mother and they had had an Indian tenant before so we struck very well and we all had a good conversation for over an hour. We both liked each other and they began typing the sublet contract and I took out my cheque book. I had been warned to verify the credentials before entering any transaction and so I asked to check their papers and showed them my id, etc. Somehow that sort of upset the lady and she started having second thoughts. Now, I wasn't too impressed with the rest of the apt or its distance as well but I really liked the room and already under pressure I wanted to sign it off. So I tried to work it out well enough and left assured that the guy will be able to convince her mom.
Hardly did I know that it was a blessing in disguise for the next day, while I was holding on to them and still trying to find a better place, I struck gold again and this time I really felt that it was the one! Within 40 minutes of the ad I was in the apartment to check it out. Hardwood floors, big enough and furnished with bed, sofa, tv, desk, chair and AC, two large windows, well stocked kitchen and an orderly living room with a 52" screen and psII. I was all over and when I actually handed an advance cheque and got the receipt I could feel a heavy weight suddenly off my head.
I moved in about a week later and I would say that I love the neighborhood and this house was definitely worth the wait.

PS: A word of advice - when looking for apts in NYC be ready to commit on the spot, especially when its a sublet. The market is very rapid and dynamic and it pays to be a bit flexible and strike a place as it comes.

Apartment and bank account

So the other day was my first at Cornell and it was then that it all dawned upon me. Life that I had left behind for four years came back flashing in my mind bringing with it some fond memories and some scary! I was excited to again begin studying, immersing myself in books, going to practical classes, discussing challenging financial problems and coding complex algorithms, yeah… I still am J But, along with that, I’m also excited to live graduate life, to interact with people from different backgrounds and upbringing, to learn from great intellectuals at Cornell, to explore different fields and to play sports. One and a half years seem awfully small to do all that but I am optimistic. I think everyone is which is what makes it all the more exciting and competitive. Every person, especially those coming for a professional masters degree, are looking to network, to make long lasting and worthy contacts, to build relationships and in that complex process they try to present themselves in the best manner and profile others based on their demeanor.

But let me not get into the psychology of human relationships. That’s an altogether different field and I’m sure there would be a department in Cornell that pertains to that too! So I took a shower and set off from my dorm to do the one thing that’s crucial for peace of mind, looking for a place to live. I hook up on craigslist and create a list of places that fit my budget and are at a comfortable distance from my department and are furnished and include utilities. There are a few trivial items that one needs to be careful about while looking out for apartments in Ithaca, and maybe in other places in US too, which I wasn’t aware about initially, such as:

· Utilities – Includes heat, water, electricity and cooking gas. Heat is a tricky part coz sometimes it just means heating of the water while the apartment heat is electricity driven so if you’re paying for electricity then you better clarify the source of the heat.

· Trash – There’s a big enough responsibility of managing trash here and it doesn’t cost much but still useful to clarify with the owner

· Snow – Come November and its going to be freaking freezing! You’d want your patios and sidewalks free of snow so either you shovel it on your own or hire someone else or the landlord pays for it.

· Cable and Internet – Some places come equipped with such connections and you just need to pay for the plan while in others you need to get a new connection. In some its included in the rent!

· Furniture – Most of the times the “furnished” only means a bed, dresser, desk and chair in each room and a couch and table in the living. Kitchens almost always come equipped with a fridge, stove with oven and a microwave. If you need anything else, you need to check with the landlord.

I then embark on the quest for my apartment but I also had another important agenda which was to open a bank account. I started from the place where I was staying, Thurston avenue in North Campus, and headed north. The GPS in my phone was guiding me well and I could find my way to the place I wanted to reach. The apartment was nice, 3BR and well furnished for $1500 but I wanted to explore further. Generally you’d be able to find good apartments for $500 per person but in peak times this can go to $650-$700. I moved on and I found it a bit hard to feel that I was on top of a hill where Cornell is supposed to be. It wasn’t until I went further along Wyckoff towards the north that it started to slope down which is when I realized the biggest shortfall of google maps, its inability to inform about gradients. Although the GPS conveniently showed a curved path where I had to take a left on Kline Rd it failed to depict the slope of the path and it took some effort to continue along the slope till I finally reached at N. Tioga and E. Lincoln. It was a great relief. Although I managed to descend the road, the entire act was, in effect, the same as crouching and squatting a hundred times and it wasn’t until the next morning that I realized the toll it had taken on my muscles, but more on that later!

So I keep following N. Tioga street all the way to the end to reach a place called The Commons. Bank of America was my final destination for the simple reason that it was one of the biggest bank in the US and it would convenient to transfer money to different locations. Fortunately, along the way, I came across a few apartments and I kept jotting down their information and a majority of them were about $500-550 per person. I was looking mainly at 3BR.

Finally I reached the BoA and had to wait for quite some time before someone attended me. My primary concern was that the account shouldn’t have any monthly fee and should have no minimum balance criteria, much like a student’s account. Along with that I didn’t want the account to have any fee associated with incoming transfers and outgoing as well. Something that I came to know recently was that wire transfers are the ones initiated from a branch with the help of a teller and thus carry a one time charge while online transfers are actually called electronic transfer or bill pay. Having had this clarified I finally opened my account in M&T Bank since it was the only one offering the student accounts (HSBC hadn’t started with the scheme yet and was going to sometime in August). The first accomplishment!