A Texas dad was left visibly unimpressed after stepping into his daughter’s New York City apartment for the first time.
Swapna George (@swapna_george), who moved to New York two years ago, posted her father’s reaction in a clip on TikTok, capturing his undeniably honest facial expressions as he looked around the cozy apartment.
For George, the move to New York City from Texas was a massive change. Her husband is a native New Yorker, and she moved to the city after they got married.
@swapna_george
“It definitely took some time getting used to the flow of things, but now I absolutely love it here,” the 30-year-old told Newsweek. “It feels like home.”
Her apartment, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is a two-bedroom, one-bathroom space with a separate kitchen.
“As a Texan moving to NYC, I definitely shed some tears when I had to downsize,” George said. “I was quite shocked at how small apartments were here in the city.”
At the same time, George feels lucky to have an elevator and a laundry unit in the basement—amenities that many of her friends in the city can only dream of.
But none of this prepared her dad for his first visit. “My dad is hilarious, he is that person who will always show how he really feels on his face,” George said.
Despite being warned about the notoriously compact New York apartments, her dad’s expressionless reaction gave away his shock.
George told Newsweek that he was “genuinely scared” to get into the building’s elevator, asking, “What year was this built?”, and wandered through the rooms to examine the whole place.
“I told him most people do not, in fact, have this in their apartments and actually have to go to a [Laundromat],” she said. He then advised his daughter to seriously consider moving back to Texas.
George’s clip, which has amassed 1.4 million views, struck a chord with fellow New Yorkers.
“He’s wondering where the rest of the home is,” one user joked.
“I bet you told him how much your rent was and he had imagined a palace like apartment,” another wrote.
“People who have lived in NYC know how it is,” George said. “They know how expensive it is to live here for pretty much a ‘shoebox’, as many commenters said.”
For George, the big apple is more than just the square footage of her apartment –it’s a lifestyle: “People know when moving here that they’re most likely going to have a mediocre apartment, but the NYC experience is what everyone’s thrilled about. As a girl moving from the suburbs to the city, it was definitely overwhelming at first, but now I find it fun.”
