On a good day at work here in New York, I will leave the office at 6pm. Because it is all I have ever known from my own experience, this has always seemed “normal” to me – until I meet and speak with people who live in other cities, and they tell me that they consider 6pm late. Occasionally throughout the year, I will work remotely at my company’s San Francisco office, and consistently by the time 4:45-5pm hits, the entire office will have emptied out. And I am labeled that workaholic freak from New York because I happened to stay until 7pm most days I was there.

In the last few months as I have checked my Facebook Newsfeed, it seems like every week someone I know from high school/college is getting engaged. This past weekend, THREE people my age I know got engaged. New Yorkers are an eclectic mix, but one thing a huge chunk of them have in common is that they are extremely driven, which means that for the majority of their 20s (and even 30s), they will be focused on getting to the top of their career ladder – not to the wedding altar. Hopeless romantics who have a strict timeline for getting married: Be wary of relocating to New York.

Living in New York has made me realize that a lot that seems normal to the average everyday person is not so common here. One thing that has deemed me a bit of a freak here is the fact that I cook regularly, and actually enjoy it. In New York, people typically eat out most meals, and if they are not eating out, they are getting delivery. “Cooking” usually means using one’s microwave, or maybe even boiling water for pasta. So the occasional mentions of making things like from-scratch lasagna or fish tacos are often met with reactions of utter amazement.