The New York Apartment Adventure Cont.

Life.  Ladies and gentlemen, life.  A lot has been going on since I last wrote about the apartment search.  I am pleased to say that everything seems to be going smoothly with the one I found on Monday.  We have been approved, contracts are being written up, and no funny business has been getting in the way.

I just have to say that I cannot believe how many hoops New York real estate makes you jump through.  I thought finding the apartment was going to be the hard part, but I have been stressed beyond belief the last few days and all I am trying to do is coordinate 4 people so we can get everything signed and official.  It seems every 2 hours a new crisis arises that spirals me into a perpetual state of anxiety.

We are set to do our official signing on Monday (because several people aren’t in town so we have to fed ex contracts and then get them back) and I will be SO happy when everything is signed, sealed and ready.  Just finding an apartment to rent has given me a new respect for the hell my brother went through recently with buying his first house-and this isn’t even half as horrible as that was for him.

My energy is now being redirected towards my imminent job search.  I haven’t actually made any real progress with finding a job; it’s all been mental preparation so far.  I’m a little daunted at finding a job in the big, bad city, but I’ve found an apartment so a job shouldn’t be THAT much harder…right?

I am ready to move into my apartment.  I had a similar experience the summer after my freshman year when I moved in with my brother.  He and his buddies rented a house for their senior year of college, and their lease started on June 1^st the summer after my freshman year.  I arrived to move in around May 8^th.  That means I had about a month where I was shuffling from house to house, couch to couch.

Everyone I stayed with that summer was really sweet, and it meant so much to me that they opened up their homes, but after a month I was done being a nomad.  I need my space that I can claim as my own, I hate feeling like a guest everywhere I go.

Where I’m staying right now isn’t quite as bad as that.  I love my boyfriend and he does his absolute best to make me feel welcome and at home, but he and his friends have lived there for almost 10 months.  It is their space, they have claimed it and made it theirs.  I can’t come in for one month and change that.  So I can’t help but feel like a visitor despite everyone’s efforts.

For those who don’t know, my boyfriend and I are moving in together along with one of our mutual friends.  However, our roommate is going on a cross-country bike trip with one of his buddies and won’t be moving in until December at the earliest.  In the meantime another one of my friends (hereafter to be referred to as the female roommate) will be subletting.

The female roommate came into the city yesterday and we got to spend the day together, and we pretty much just sat and talked.  I’m really excited to be living with her.  We discussed how excited we are to move into our own space, claim it as ours, and make it feel like home.  I keep bringing up the holidays and how much I can’t wait for them, and that’s partly because holidays are such a communal experience (I mean who intentionally spends any holiday by themselves?)  I really want a pumpkin carving party to happen this year.  I’ve wanted to do one for the last two Halloweens and I am determined to make it happen for this one!

Well that’s about it for now.  For the record I’m sitting in an Upper East Side Starbucks as I write this (which seems remarkably cliché and hipster poserish), and it took me 5 separate Starbucks till I finally found one with a spot to sit.  Thank God I’m in New York City and there’s a Starbucks every block.

Not quite the view from our apartment