Funky, the city of Chicago has a pretty large help page on what a bed bug is and how to deal with them. <a href="http://bit.ly/6ZwDrU" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/6ZwDrU</a> (evgov.cityofchicago.org)<p>Brooklyn really isn't that expensive - you can get a decent enough railroad style apartment for around $1100. That's more than enough space for one person. You can dial it down to $6-700/mo if you're willing to move in with flatmates.<p>I find that most of the expenses of NYC come with the nightlife. I actually live cheaper up here (rent + $400 or so for food + transport, monthly) than my brother does down in Durham, NC.<p>Disclaimers: I don't go out much, and when I do it's typically on the cheap. I live in a pre-gentrification area of Brooklyn (Bushwick), but I've only felt unsafe once - and that was due to some stupid mistakes on my part. The hipsters are starting to trickle over from Williamsburg, but it's not annoying-roof-drink-n-drugs-college-party-ville yet. My landlord sucks (but don't they all?). And I've never (Disclaimer^2: I've only been here for 3.5 yrs) had issues with bedbugs.