I was 23 back in 2003, my girlfriend and I had already been together 4 years. I was making like $35k at a company I'm still working for. My girlfriend got into Columbia so we moved in together in a studio apartment on the Upper West Side of NYC. Spent 2 years there while she got her Masters, then we got married and moved back to NJ.

It was a lot of fun, but also very expensive.