Monica's friend Pascale made us feel very welcome and gave us hints and tips about the local neighbourhood and subway travel. Monica was available via FaceTime too and gave lots of information about NY. The apartment was exactly like the photographs and quiet. However there was some noise from upstairs each day. This is a basement apartment with concrete walls - so a bit musky.
We missed not having a TV. But the free wifi was good.
The neighbourhood was generally good and we walked every night without any problems.
All in all we had a great first visit to NYC.