First Time Living in a Big City Advice

[ShewantsthePhD]

I have lived in the rural Midwest my entire life, but I am going to be making the move to Washington D.C. in the fall for graduate school! I have never lived in big city before. Could you share any general advice you have on city living (apartments, groceries, transportation, must-haves, etc.)? I am pretty clueless, but am trying to start preparing now! 

[virionoftomorrow]

I don't want to say anything too specific since I am on the opposite coast, but I will say this. Pay attention to your surroundings. Know where the unsafe neighborhoods are. Regardless of where you are, don't get completely absorbed in your phone walking down the street or on public transit. For the most part, if you walk with purpose and leave people alone, they will also leave you alone. I have lived in cities all my life and have never had anything really bad happen to me, so don't worry about being unsafe, just don't make yourself a target. 

As for day to day living things, thats going to be specific to your area. Housing markets in cities tend to be more competitive. Whereas in a lot of towns you can sign a lease in march for august (especially college towns) in most cities you don't sign until a few weeks/days before you move in. Depending on how far you're moving from that can be stressful. Look into whether having a car is worth it where you will be living. If the parking situation is a mess and there is available public transit, don't bother with the car. It can be more of a pain in the ass to pay for/find parking than any benefit you may get from having it. Try to find a neighborhood where you can walk to get to restaurants/groceries/etc. It makes life so much easier. Also keep in mind the effect that traffic has on commute times when you're looking at locations. I don't know if any of this is specific to cities so sorry if its obvious. As far as the day to day things you mention in your post I don't think its super different. 

[DogsArePeopleToo]

12 hours ago, ShewantsthePhD said:

I have lived in the rural Midwest my entire life, but I am going to be making the move to Washington D.C. in the fall for graduate school! I have never lived in big city before. Could you share any general advice you have on city living (apartments, groceries, transportation, must-haves, etc.)? I am pretty clueless, but am trying to start preparing now! 

You should visit the Washington, DC page on City Guides. It contains some helpful information.

I moved to DC in 2011 and lived about two years. I've been back to DC on short work trips, which is not the same thing as living there. But off the top of my head, these things seem helpful in retrospect:

Familiarizing myself with the Metro and bus system was very helpful because it gave me mobility.

Creating some friendships outside of work and study kept me sane (a lot of people in DC are for work, grad school of an internship, so the population is always in flux. Everyone wants to "network," so genuine human bonds can be alarmingly rare).

A lot of (new) people go to great lengths to live within the geographic limits of DC, paying exorbitant rent. Some Northern Virginia suburbs and parts of Maryland are easily commutable, so see if you can find something good there (though these areas have also become quite expensive).

Speaking of the Metro, get one of those plastic metro cards instead of the paper ones. They're more durable and more economical in the long run.

Teach yourself not to be an escalefter, especially during the peak tourist season in the summer. DC is full of harried people in suits who can be a bit aggressive as they hurry from one appointment to the next.

Hit the National Mall for all the free museums (and the monuments nearby) so you can familiarize yourself with them for when you have out-of-town visitors. Related to this, keep the cherry blossom season in the back of your mind. The Tidal Basin and the monuments become very beautiful for the short duration when the trees bloom (early April).

Sign up for email services like DC Link Tank to receive updates about all the cool think tank or cultural events happening in the city.

Like @virionoftomorrow said, familiarize yourself with the safe and unsafe neighborhoods which, unsurprisingly, correspond with high- and low-rent areas.

More later when I can think of them. But happy to answer any questions...

EDIT: Oh, and sign up for Alert DC.

Edited April 11, 2017 by DogsArePeopleToo
Added new info

[ShewantsthePhD]

Thank you so much for your advice @virionoftomorrow and @DogsArePeopleToo !

This is probably a dumb question- where do most people shop for groceries in the city? Are Whole Foods and Trader Joes the typical grocery stores? Or is it common for people to travel a bit out of the city to get to a Walmart or Target? 

[fruitcat]

Yay I'm also a midwest transplant to D.C.! Do you know yet what neighborhood you'll be in? There are actually all of those stores you mentioned around the city, but the most prevalent and accessible are probably Safeways. 

[skydancer]

46 minutes ago, ShewantsthePhD said:

Thank you so much for your advice @virionoftomorrow and @DogsArePeopleToo !

This is probably a dumb question- where do most people shop for groceries in the city? Are Whole Foods and Trader Joes the typical grocery stores? Or is it common for people to travel a bit out of the city to get to a Walmart or Target? 

We DC-folk shop at the grocery stores that are close by, like most people do! We pay attention to prices and most of us are not coastal elites that can shop weekly at Whole Paycheck ;).  There are Targets within the city limits, but the lines are such that it's not always great to shop there for normal groceries.  We have Safeways (some are better than others), Giant (great in the suburbs, awful produce within the city), Trader Joe's, Whole Foods. I usually shop at TJ and Safway, and I'm in the Columbia Heights/Petworth area. It's all going to change depending on which neighborhood you live in - it's worth google mapping the time to grocery stores from any apartment you're looking at.

City grocery shopping can be a bit different, especially if you don't have a car. I'll get two large paper bags full of groceries on my way home from work and hop on the bus the rest of the way.  Or occasionally I'll do a bigger batch of shopping and get a ~$5 uber home with my groceries. Do be careful with this though, and get a store employee to let undo the automatic wheel lock so you can take the grocery cart to the curb! Target is really awful about this so I try not to shop there much.  City stores usually lock cart wheels once they pass the exit so people don't steal.  Sometimes I'll do Amazon Pantry for heavy staples that I don't want to cart around. 

People WILL go out of the city to get to Costco or H-Mart, both of which are up just a bit north of the DC line.  That's when you and a friend share a car and everyone loads up on non-perishables for months. It's a pain though, so most people don't go very often. 

[ShewantsthePhD]

@fruitcat I'm glad hear from a fellow Midwesterner! I've just started looking for apartments, so I am unsure which neighborhood I will end up in  What methods did you find worked best in finding an apartment? 

 

@skydancer Thank you for the insight! I really appreciate it! I'm glad there will be familiar stores  I've never been to a Trader Joe's before, but I've heard lots of great things! 

[fruitcat]

3 hours ago, ShewantsthePhD said:

@fruitcat I'm glad hear from a fellow Midwesterner! I've just started looking for apartments, so I am unsure which neighborhood I will end up in  What methods did you find worked best in finding an apartment? 

No creative solutions in my case, I just spent a while trawling through as many Craigslist ads as possible. Maybe also ask around both your grad and undergrad networks if they have any leads too. There's also this massive FB group that I've personally never used but know others who have, along with smaller affinity group (i.e. LGBTQ friendly, hobby centric) housing pages floating around. What school are you heading to? 

[DogsArePeopleToo]

14 hours ago, ShewantsthePhD said:

This is probably a dumb question- where do most people shop for groceries in the city? Are Whole Foods and Trader Joes the typical grocery stores? Or is it common for people to travel a bit out of the city to get to a Walmart or Target? 

In addition to what others have posted, my two cents: I shopped at Safeway when I lived in the Waterfront area. Shopped at Giant and/or Target when I lived in the Columbia Heights area, and used Trader Joe's when in Alexandria. It all depended on which was close enough to where I lived. I never saw a Wal-Mart in DC. Don't believe there is one.

One of the most important criteria in deciding to get a particular apartment is whether groceries are walking distance, since most grad students and young professionals don't have cars (cars are for people with families!).

Some apartments say "walking distances from restaurants and bars." That sounds wonderful, but my personal preferences is that you gotta be close to the Metro (or bus station) and close enough to a grocery store. Bars are secondary.

[ShewantsthePhD]

@fruitcat Thanks for linking that facebook group! I will definitely take a look  I am heading to George Washington University. I think I'll probably end up in the Arlington area if I can find cheaper apartments there (compared to actual DC apartments). 

@DogsArePeopleToo Thank you for the insight! I've definitely been searching for apartments close to the Metro. I currently own a car, but I plan to sell it before I move. Regarding the Metro, is it worth it to buy a monthly pass, or better to just load your Metro card with money and refill as needed? From what I've heard, a monthly Metro pass runs about $80. I will more than likely take the Metro everyday to and from school. 

[spectastic]

relatively small midwest town to big city

what ive learned (similar to above):

1. cars are a liability, most of the time.

2. rent sucks, and need to start looking early. sign lease in spring to save money over fall

3. live close to where you buy groceries, go to school, etc. (traffic sucks)

4. when people ask for money, because of unfortunate circumstances, they're usually full of shit