Oh yes, I can totally see you moving to New York! Don't worry about the nature thing--there are lots of parks in New York. (I grew up there, I know this is true!) If you need to find trees, you won't have to go far to find them. :-)

I agree that the thing to do is find the job first, then once you have that you'll know what you can afford, and the rest will follow. Yeah, you probably can't afford Manhattan, but I've heard good things about Brooklyn. Also: in the computer industry you should be able to earn decent money which will make it more feasible for you to live alone.