 Hey y'all, what's up? My name is Sonali and this is my boyfriend Ryan and we are filming our six month update of living here in Austin, Texas. Quick background about us. I graduated from UCF in May. And I graduated from Georgia in May. And we moved here in Austin in June because... Because I got hired at Oracle here in Austin. It's like one of Oracle's big hubs. And it's like me and a bunch of other people my age all moved to Austin around the same time. Yep, so that's why we're here and I'm currently doing freelance photography and videography and obviously influencer stuff on the side as well. So, all right, let's get into the questions that you guys asked us on my Instagram. The first question is how did you tell your parents you were moving in with Ryan? Did you have to convince them? It's actually kind of funny because I didn't really have to convince them at all. And I was like really shook that I didn't because I feel like it was just too easy. Like everything was just too easy. In high school, I thought my parents were really strict. I think I talked about it in a previous Q&A that we did. So I'll definitely link that down below because I say how I kept him a secret from my Indian parents for like two years. But anyways, yeah, so I thought they were really strict. Obviously when me and my sister got older, I guess they had less rules and kind of just let us live our lives. So they're very supportive of me being here and they just want me to be happy and do good things and be successful. So my mom didn't care if I moved in with her. My brother lives with his girlfriend and lived with her through college. So she wasn't very opinionated on it, I guess. Yeah. Is it hard to balance finances now that you're out of college and independent? I would say yes and no. I obviously had a budget in college too. So it's nothing really that new. Yeah, I mean, I had my mom take care of most of the stuff I was doing in college but now on my own, I have to be conscious of what I'm spending. I mean, it's not super expensive to live here. So it's not like I'm ever worried. I'm not gonna have enough money month-to-month. If you guys are interested in our apartment and how much money we pay to live here in Austin, Texas, I will link that video down below and we kind of go through the apartment tour hunting process so you guys can watch that after you guys watch this video. What was the hardest part about moving to Austin? For me, it was like the idea that I hadn't been here. So it was kind of nerve-wracking to move here. That's so true. But- I keep forgetting. I mean, we'd never toured it or anything before. Yeah, we never visited here before we moved here because Ryan got the job and we were like, nothing is gonna change, yeah. So like, there's no point of wasting money to come here for no reason. But I would say like finding an apartment that was stressful. Especially because we had an Airbnb for like, what three, four days when we first got here. And so we were just like stressed out because we wanted to like just go ahead and like pay all the fees for an apartment instead of like paying for an Airbnb. So that was really stressful because we wanted to obviously get a nice place but we didn't have that much time, I guess. Yeah, an understanding where like a nice place to live is versus traffic patterns and all that. Especially because we didn't know anything. We didn't really know people here. So it was definitely hard. And that's why I'm making these videos because I definitely want to help other people who are moving here. And I know a lot of people are moving to Austin. So what's one thing to keep in mind while growing up and getting through college? One thing to keep in mind is like kind of about light at the end of the tunnel. Like it was easy for me in college to kind of lose sight of like why I'm even there in the first place. Like what's gonna happen after? Is it really worth all this hard work? I mean, it depends what you're studying or what profession you're going into. But life after college is a lot better in my opinion. I would say my one thing while going through college would be to get as involved as you can if it's on campus and your community and your sorority because that's just gonna make your college experience and just growing up so much better. How has living with Ryan impacted slash changed your relationship? I feel like it's just so easy. I feel like it just comes so easy and I feel like it feels so right. Does that make sense? Sometimes she's a little too much. I have to have my alone time. She doesn't like that because I'm like at work all day around people and talk to people all day. Yeah, and I'm alone all day. And like I thrive off of like human interaction and he's like the opposite. Yeah, that's when I come home and I crawl into a hole and I sleep. I guess we just have to learn each other's boundaries a little bit more because we are together like almost 24 seven. So that's kind of different, but I don't know. I personally think like it feels just so normal. I feel like it just nothing was ever like different. It doesn't even feel like we did long distance, you know? Yeah. I mean, you kind of lived in my house during like Christmas breaks, summer breaks. Yeah, yeah. You had test trials. Yeah, but now we have our own place and I actually have my own closet and like my own space. So it's nice. What is your favorite part about living in Austin? I would say that Austin is such like a compact city. So you can really get anywhere within like 20 minutes without traffic, I would say. And I personally just like hate driving. This is in comparison to Atlanta, which is extremely spread out. Yes. So I don't know about other cities and maybe similar to Austin. I mean, even Orlando where I went to college, the school itself was in Orlando, but like Disney World, which is, you know, known to be in Orlando is actually in Kissimmee. So that's like 45 minutes away. The beach is like an hour away. Downtown's 30 minutes away. Everything's pretty much really spread out and same goes for Atlanta. Like our family lives in like all these different cities that are like 45 minutes away from each other. So it's just like very spread out. So that's what I really, really like about Austin. And there's so much to do here. I feel like we never get bored. He has different thoughts. I don't know what's up to do here. I don't know. I feel like there is so much to do here. It's a big college town. I don't think so. The best part is by far the food. Oh my God. The food here is so good. So good. That when I go back to Atlanta, I'm like, I don't know what to even eat. I didn't even know what like real barbecue was before we had it here. But yeah, it's very different here. So freaking good though. I love the food here. The Tex-Mex is so good here too. I'm not like a big fan of Mexican food. Like I don't really crave it like Ryan does and it's everywhere here. Like tacos is like the big thing here in Texas. So well, at least in Austin. Would you recommend moving to Austin? Yes. Yeah. I think so. It's definitely grown on me a lot. And I think it's kind of getting like the experience of being in a city that's not that big but not small either. It's nice. Like when we were planning on moving here, I was trying to get just like advice from everyone else that have had visited. And everyone always said it was like a young city to be in. So I think it's a really cool like transition city, especially if you just graduated from college and are like starting your like post-grad life. I think there are just so many young people here to just make friends with. Like everyone's moving here for like jobs and tech is blowing up here. So I would definitely recommend it to like recent grads and young people. But I mean also old people because Austin is just a cool city in general. Do you guys plan on settling in Austin and buying a house? Or do you plan on settling somewhere else? I don't know if I could see myself buying a house here. I feel like I'm just wanting to like see other cities if possible. But I really do like it here in Austin. Like I don't know if another city could really top this, but like I don't know. I mean I could see myself buying a house here as an investment. Yeah. And then like I could see myself coming back here as like a 30 or four year old. And I have like, I don't know there's like a study that says you need to make like $136,000 in Austin to be happy. And if I made that much money and lived here if I could be a lot more fun. I really like Atlanta. And that's like where all my family is. Yeah, that's where we're both from. Yeah. It just kind of makes more sense for me to be there. But the tech industry there is pretty advanced in terms of like entry level roles. So I'd have to be older to kind of get the job that I want there. Gotcha. But yeah, I could see myself selling down in Atlanta. Yeah. In Austin, it's pretty similar to Atlanta. It's a little more like. It does have a lot of similarities. But I feel like it's way more similar to California than Atlanta. I would say it's way more similar to Athens in Atlanta. They're really big Athens. Okay, okay. I'll do that. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, for sure. Do you like it here? Yes. What are some things you don't like about Austin? I don't like the traffic. The traffic's just as bad as Atlanta. It's actually really bad. The road's really bad. The only good part about the traffic is you're not going more than 10 miles. Yeah. In Atlanta, you drive 30 miles to work. You're in there traffic two hours. Yeah. And then the roads are really like not paved well. Oh my gosh. Especially if you're in an Uber and you're not sober, it does not feel good. But even when you're sober and you're driving, it also does not feel good. Yeah. Yeah, the roads, I don't know. They need to do something with that. And there are toll roads here. So like, why aren't they better? I never know when a toll starts, when it ends, when I know anything. It's weird because the tolls here, like you have to have the Texas tag. You can't just pay with coins like Florida. You have the option to pay with coins or you can like get it mailed to you. But here they just mail it to you if you don't have the Texas tag. So like both their moms call us and they're like, you just got another toll charge. Can you pay it? So yeah, that's annoying. Okay, so when we first moved here, I thought it was dirty and not the nicest looking place. But it really just has to grow on you. Like give it two weeks. No, I think it's more during summer. Everything's really overgrown. Oh my God, it's hot. That's like the biggest thing. It's super freaking hot here. It's overgrown. And then like- What do you mean overgrown? Like the trees, there's like ivy everywhere. Like it just like doesn't look very like, that's what looks unkept. And then when I first moved here, I'd never seen that many homeless people before. Oh yeah. So like when I saw my first came here, I was like, wow, this place is very dirty and like homeless people everywhere. Especially, I will say in the part of Austin that we do live in, it's not the nicest, but like it's still safe. It's like up and coming. Yeah, it's up and coming. So. Yeah. That's what- That's what we say. That's what we like to say to make us feel better, right? Yeah. Yeah, but I mean there are so many like pros that outweigh the cons of Austin. So what's the best thing about moving to a new city? I think just exploring everything. I think it's so fun. And like it's not like you just have two days to like pack everything on your itinerary within like 48 hours. You know, you get to spread it out. You get to do things when the weather is perfect for that activity and like, like you really just get to enjoy the city. Yeah. I think that's the best part of moving to a city. What do you think? I think it's kind of like a clean slate. You can like make new favorite restaurants, meet new people. I was gonna say like it's definitely hard meeting new people but it's also like fun and exciting to do that. Next question is, how did you know you were ready to live together? It's my metaphor to do it. Yeah. We both were gonna live at our parents' houses if we were to stay in Georgia just to save rent because obviously we have like free rent back home. But since he got a job in Austin, I was like, you know what, I'm gonna come too. So obviously we just, you know. You didn't want me to come. I wouldn't even apply for this job. I know. I kind of, I kind of not pushed you but just definitely persuaded him because I wanted to go to a new city. So I think it was just like the convenience of it. But I was always wanting to live with you. So that worked out. Would you move back to Orlando or even back to Florida? Yeah, we're gonna retire in the seaside. Yeah. At 30. I've said this like a million times but like our high school would always go to like the Panhandle of Florida for spring breaks, like seaside, deaths in area. So we are like obsessed with that area and you know, that'd be nice to get a vacation home there one of these days, but probably not to Orlando. I don't know about that. I like Orlando. Honestly, I've lived there. You like it? Seriously? Like downtown Orlando? I mean like it's cool, but like, I don't know. I feel like it's like small and there's not much to do. No, but there's like not much to do. There's like- Because you did it for four years. Oh, wait a minute. Austin, you're in Vegas by sucks. I guess so. You got a point. I don't know. But I feel like Austin is just so picturesque and like Orlando is just not, I don't know. That's my thoughts on that. How do you stay confident during a post-grad job search? I couldn't help you with this one because I'm not very confident in it myself, honestly. Yeah, I mean, when I was searching for jobs, I had to like, I probably applied for over a hundred jobs or more. And then I only did about 10 interviews maybe. Yeah, so it's like not, I mean, there's so many people graduating and so many jobs out there. It's like discouraged if you don't get the one view, the one you think you want. Easier said than done, huh? Yeah. Last question is where is the best place to eat in Austin? There's too many places to eat in Austin, first of all. Yeah. If you ate somewhere every day, you would never even like reach half of it. I don't think so. There's no way. And you would also be very broke. But I think, I don't know, where are some good places? My personal favorite, which I keep top secret. Okay. Is this taco truck on our house that is so good and it's never really that packed. Yeah. But it's only open from like 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. So you can like never really go there at a good time. Yeah. But they're like incredible. I would say for sushi, we just ate all you can eat at Sushi Janai and it was so good. I liked Matty's brunch, Matty's, so good and so beautiful like the restaurant area is so beautiful. Damn, I'm like blinking out. Terry Blacks. Terry Blacks is a good, good one. But whenever we go, I feel like we always feel like shit afterwards. And just, we like regret it so hard afterwards, but it's so yummy. It's barbecue. So very good. Gordo's public house has the best fried chicken here. Yes. Gordo's big fat donuts. I don't even know why that didn't come to my mind, which is a good thing because those are like my weakness. So good. Get the Cinnabomb. I don't know. Do you guys want me to do a blog post on Austin restaurants? Let me know in the comments down below and I'll write that up. So if we're going to rank one out of five, how we like Austin after six months, my personal grade would probably be like a four, I guess. Eight. Mine would be a five for sure. I like it here a lot. And I never want to leave. You just said you did. I know, I know. I want to explore more cities, but I really, really love Austin. Like truly, truly, I really like it here. So. I don't want to move somewhere where there's not a view, but there's no but really around here that has a view. Wait, you mean a city view? Yeah. Oh. I mean, let's move downtown. Yeah. What an elevator though. Yeah. We're on the third floor right now and it gets real hot in the summer. So we're always winded, but I hope you guys enjoyed this video. I will be linking all my Austin videos and my moving blogs down below so you guys can binge watch them. If you guys are moving to Austin and have any questions for us, feel free to DM me on Instagram or comment on this video. And I will be sure to get back to you guys. So I will see y'all in my next video. Bye. Bye.