Your First Homework Assignment: Research New York City September 17, 2014

Close your eyes and picture this: you have arrived in Manhattan and have started attending classes at New York English Academy. You know the easiest way to travel from your new home to the school’s new headquarters in the city’s Financial District, and you feel that the cultural shock you first experienced is gone. In class, you make some friends and have enough time to get to know who everyone is. The first part of your English-learning journey in New York City is over. Now, you can start making this exciting experience into something truly unforgettable.

What you have just read can be very easy, but you really need to do your homework, not just for class, but also homework about the city and what it offers.

What you Need to Know before Coming to Manhattan

The sooner you know this the better your experience will be. Ideally, students should arrive in New York knowing how basic services work. There are many resources for this information, but the links provided in this article can help you get started on your research.

One of the first and most important things to figure out is how to navigate the busy airports of New York City. This will be essential for both your arrival flight as well as visits back home, wherever home may be. You should also learn about taxi fees and compare them with the public transportation options in the area you plan to live. A basic comparison of the different transportation options can be found here.

New York is famous for having one of the best organized public transportation systems in the world so make sure you learn how to find schedules for the many trains, subways, and buses, as well as the ferries that connect every corner of the five boroughs and even some of the surrounding towns and cities.

Eating and shopping are other necessities you may want to know about before you arrive. Once you have made up your mind about where you want to live, make sure you check out the best places in the area you can go shopping for groceries, clothes, and basic needs. They should be close and have a wide range of products. A good source for finding this type of information all in one place is by using Yelp.com, which also provides customer reviews to help you select which store or restaurant you want to go to.

What you Need to Know after Arriving in Manhattan

Once you make it to the city you will need a place to stay. Whether you’re looking to rent long term or start by staying in a hotel you will need to know what to avoid and how to compare quality and prices. This also means you should read about the city’s boroughs and neighborhoods and know what to expect from each. Some neighborhoods may be over your budget and others may make the commute too difficult. The Financial District is one of the best areas in Manhattan, but rent can be very expensive. To help make the choice less stressful, the New York English Academy’s staff can help you with housing options during the enrollment process.

In order to be able to do class homework and keep in touch with your loved ones back home you will want to find some free Wi-Fi sources across the city. This can be vital for any new resident, at least until you have Wi-Fi where you live.

So where should you begin researching about New York City? To make your new homework assignment easy, try websites like nycgo.com or nyc.com, which both offer great resources for setting up your new home in the city.