New York: Influencer Apoorva Mukhija has opened up about the difficulties she faced while looking for a home after moving to New York to pursue an MBA at New York University. From paying around Rs 25,000 a night for a hotel to cancelling a dorm room that would have cost about Rs 4.5 lakh a month, Mukhija said finding accommodation turned into a nearly two-month ordeal.
The 25-year-old internet personality detailed her experience in a recent vlog, saying she spent around 60 days without a permanent home before finally finding a one-bedroom apartment in the city.
Mukhija said she had initially planned to stay in university accommodation but missed the deadline for applying for a dorm room. Although she later contacted university authorities and was eventually allotted accommodation, the conditions and cost attached to the room led her to reconsider the plan.
Her experience, she said, gave her a firsthand understanding of the challenges involved in moving to a city as expensive as New York.
Apoorva Mukhija paid Rs 25,000 a night for hotel
Mukhija said she arrived in New York in August because her academic semester was scheduled to begin early.
However, although she had eventually secured a dorm room, she was told that she could move in only from September 1.
That left her needing temporary accommodation for the intervening period.
She said she booked a room at DoubleTree by Hilton, describing it as a three-star property, and paid around Rs 25,000 for every night of her stay.
The expense quickly became a concern, but Mukhija said the alternatives available at the time involved sublet apartments where she would have had to share accommodation with a flatmate.
She explained that she had been living alone since the age of 17 and was therefore reluctant to move into a shared arrangement.
The hotel initially appeared to be a temporary solution until she could shift into the university dorm.
However, Mukhija said her experience at the hotel was not what she expected.
Hotel stay adds to her housing troubles
According to Mukhija, the hotel provided room-cleaning services but there were periods of around 20 to 25 days during her stay when the service was not provided.
The experience added to her frustration as she waited to move into the accommodation arranged through the university.
She said she continued to manage the situation because she expected the dorm to provide a more permanent solution.
However, that plan changed after she received an email from the university containing details about the accommodation.
Mukhija said she initially assumed the dorm would be a relatively straightforward option for her stay in New York.
After reading the conditions more carefully, she realised that it would involve a much larger financial commitment than she had expected.
New York dorm would cost Rs 4.5 lakh a month
Mukhija said she discovered that she would be required to stay in the dorm for at least two semesters.
The accommodation would cost around $4,500 a month, which she described as approximately Rs 4.5 lakh.
The cost came as a shock because the accommodation was not a conventional apartment.
“It’s not a one-bedroom apartment. It’s a dorm. There is no kitchen, no fridge, just a mini refrigerator, and I was supposed to pay Rs 4.5 lakh a month for two semesters,” she said in the vlog.
Mukhija compared the accommodation with the three-bedroom apartment she had previously lived in Mumbai.
She said that even her Mumbai home had felt relatively small to her, making the idea of paying such a high amount for a dorm room particularly difficult to accept.
The university accommodation nevertheless offered her the option to cancel, and she decided not to move into the dorm.
Influencer begins apartment hunt
Once she cancelled the dorm arrangement, Mukhija was left with the problem of finding a permanent home in New York.
She said she could no longer continue paying hotel rates while also managing the demands of her MBA programme.
The search for an apartment continued for several weeks.
During this period, Mukhija also travelled to Turkey. While returning from the trip, she spoke to a long-lost cousin who offered her a place to stay temporarily in her apartment while she was away.
The arrangement provided Mukhija with some relief during an otherwise uncertain period.
However, she continued searching for a home that she could use as her permanent base in New York.
Mukhija calls New York ‘brutal’
Reflecting on the experience, Mukhija said the past one-and-a-half to two months had made her realise how difficult it can be to move abroad and establish a new life.
She described New York as one of the world’s most expensive and “brutal” cities and said the experience had tested her in ways she had not anticipated.
Mukhija also joked about her own expectations and lifestyle.
She acknowledged that she can be demanding about her living conditions, describing herself as a “brat” while also saying she was proud to have pampered herself enough to confidently call herself a “diva”.
The comments formed part of her candid account of the difficulties she encountered while trying to establish herself in a new city.
Apoorva Mukhija finally finds a home
After weeks of uncertainty, Mukhija said she has finally found a one-bedroom apartment in New York.
The new home gives her a permanent address in the city as she continues her studies at New York University.
However, she said the apartment was still largely empty when she recorded the vlog.
Mukhija had ordered a mattress for the new place and planned to gradually set up the apartment.
She also told her followers that her next video would be filmed from the new home, giving viewers a glimpse of the space after her long search for accommodation.
Moving abroad brings unexpected challenges
Mukhija’s experience highlights one of the less glamorous aspects of moving abroad for education: finding suitable accommodation in a major international city.
For students arriving without an established local network, temporary housing can become expensive, particularly when university accommodation is unavailable or does not meet their expectations.
In Mukhija’s case, the situation involved several changes in plans — from missing the initial dorm application deadline to securing university accommodation, reconsidering the cost of the room, relying on a hotel and eventually finding an apartment.
Her account also illustrates the difference between the cost of short-term accommodation and the financial commitment involved in renting a permanent home in New York.
For Mukhija, the experience ultimately ended with a home of her own after nearly two months of uncertainty.
As she begins settling into the apartment, the influencer’s next phase in New York is likely to focus less on finding a place to live and more on adjusting to student life in the city.