As another school year comes to a close, many people are making huge life transitions. Whether it’s going home to work for the summer, studying abroad in a country you’ve never been to before or even graduating and moving to a large city, there are sure to be some huge transitions from the college lifestyle we are all so used to. For those of you preparing to move to a big city, I was in your situation last summer. I lived in London last summer while I interned and studied abroad. This summer, I’m packing up my things to go intern in New York City before my last semester of college in the fall. So maybe you’ve only traveled to large cities before. Well, there’s a huge difference between visiting a huge city and actually living in one. Here are some of my tips for making your transition a little bit easier.
One of the first things that you will want to do before moving to a big city is to do your research. It can be so easy to get caught into all of the tourist trap locations that are overpriced, and you won’t want to be stuck in crowds or spend all of your money within the first few weeks of summer. A great way to find local places to visit is to stay away from to-do list style articles, as these are usually geared toward families on vacation and the places on the list are sure to be filled with people. A great place to find cool and trendy locations that you will want to visit is by finding local bloggers. When I lived in London, I worked with bloggers for my job and so I was able to research a ton of fun places to shop, eat and visit without being stuck in touristy locations. Bloggers are everywhere, and they are all geared to different topics whether that be trendy restaurants, fashionable boutiques or traveling. You’ll be sure to find some incredible places to go without breaking the bank this summer.
My second piece of advice is contrary to what you will typically see. Everyone says to underpack and mix and match clothes while abroad or living somewhere new. I completely disagree with this, as I saw most of the girls who lived in my London flat had to actually buy an entirely new suitcase for all of the clothes they bought while abroad. Now, these weren’t souvenir clothes, but actually just normal clothes because they realized they had not packed enough to begin with. It’s also important to fold an empty duffel bag in your suitcase, as this is perfect for traveling on the weekends. The airplanes in Europe are tiny, and with the crazy crowded commutes via subway you won’t want to be taking up a ton of space. You’d be surprised how much you can stuff into a duffel bag! I checked three suitcases on the plane ride there and had plenty of clothes to wear for the summer, which was quite a feat considering the temperature changes throughout Europe. Which leads me to my next point…
Check the weather! This is so important, because I didn’t really pay attention to this until the week before I moved to London. I realized last minute it would be 40 degrees many of the nights in the summer, and I had originally not even packed any boots, tights, scarves or jackets. I packed a few, but I definitely could have brought many more winter clothes, especially my North Face jacket, as I soon realized London doesn’t warm up very much in the summers. 70 degrees Fahrenheit is considered hot there. On the other hand, if you are studying abroad you will definitely be traveling! I had plenty of clothes for warm weather, as other countries were extremely hot during the summer months.
If you follow these tips, you will be prepared to have an incredible summer, whether that be abroad or in a huge American city!
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