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    23 Moments That Make You Feel Like A Real New Yorker

    Despite what you might've heard, it takes a lot more than killing a cockroach and crying on the subway.

    1. When you survive being broke for a month after you put down the security deposit on your apartment.

    2. When you no longer need to do complicated math to figure out whether or not you need an unlimited metro card.

    3. When you're able to argue your way into keeping a brunch reservation that you were an hour late to.

    4. The first time you fall asleep on the subway and wake up in the wrong borough.

    5. When you have a Missed Connection on Craigslist written about you. Or at least think you do.

    6. When you pass out drunk after a bottomless brunch, wake up hungover at 9 p.m., and go out again.

    7. The first (and last) time you line up for something for an unreasonably long time.

    8. When you stalk a B-list celebrity for as many city blocks as it takes to get a picture with them.

    9. When you realize you can get drunk off of free wine served at Chelsea art galleries on Thursday nights.

    10. When you survive a citywide power cut by bonding with your neighbors.

    11. When you develop a full-fledged, soul-crushing, heart-crippling crush on a stranger on the subway.

    12. When you date someone who lives in a different borough and call it an LDR.

    13. When you've ordered in from the same restaurant so many times that you're friends with the delivery person.

    14. And have been to the same bar so often that the bartender has your order memorized.

    15. Having friends visit from out of town enough times that you finally have the tour-guide thing finessed.

    16. When you take the free Ikea ferry and are glad it's free because you just spent all your money at Ikea.

    17. Having a crappy job that makes you feel like you're in The Devil Wears Prada.

    18. When you go for a magical walk on which literally every walk sign lights up exactly when you need it to.

    19. Finding (and Instagramming) the spot that you know, with certainty, will be your favorite spot in the city forever.

    20. The first time you leave your apartment on Sunday afternoon to see that your avenue has been taken over by the Sunday street fair.

    21. The first time you get in an L.A. vs. NYC argument and don't have to think twice before picking sides.

    22. The first time you go home to wherever you lived before NYC, and realize you can no longer fall asleep in real quiet.

    23. The first time you sing along to every word of Sinatra's "New York, New York," and are overcome by gratefulness for getting to live in the most amazing city in the world.