A lot has changed for me within the last month! I've moved into an apartment (3 bedroom, 2 bath). I've gotten a kitten (a cute little 7 week old, ginger guy named Henry). I love living in my apartment! But, there's always something that could be better or different, right? So among all the lovely wonderful parts of living in an apartment, I've got a list of things that I wish were better/different. Both lists follow.
Brilliant List:
-Independnece. Meaning that I'm now more self-reliant and I don't have to ask permission for anything.
-Closer to work. My drive time went from 30 minutes to 10 minutes. And now, instead of driving 60 miles roundtrip I maybe drive 10 miles roundtrip!
-Change of pace. Living in an apartment is a more upbeat(ish) pace of living. There are things to do, people to see, and places to go that are all really close to me now!
-Different lifestyle. Along the same lines as above its all about the mindset of being so close to everything and being young and going out and doing things because I can!
-Buy my own groceries. This is actually something I used to miss after I came home from England, but now I'm back at it!
-Freedom (not that I didn't have a lot of it before! Thanks Mum and Dad!!) Complete, I can go out when I want, go shopping when I want, go see a movie, have friends over, get a kitten, freedom. I had a lot of freedom at my parent's house, but this is the real life, I'm an adult, let's go on a weekend trip to IKEA kind of freedom.
-Full on Responsibility. To some, this might be more of a burden, but let's face it. A little pressure of a positive kind is a good thing. I have to keep my finances in order otherwise we're looking at a lot of Ramen noodles. I have to get up when I need to otherwise nothing will get done. I have to feed the cat and change the litterbox. I have to buy things when I need them. Responsibility!
-Location. Our location in relation to the road (which isn't all that busy anyways) is wonderful. We're on the side face away from the road looking out into TREES!!!!! Plenty of sun, plenty of greenery, plenty of not so noisy!
Could Be Better List (More or less just me complaining):
- The Water Temperature. Not something that can probably be fixed. It gets really really hot. And, the longer you shower the hotter it gets. But, when you turn the cold water up it gets a bit cooler but then goes opposites on you. It'll be normal then get hot for a bit and then get kind of clammy.
-The Air Vent. Yay, I got the Master bedroom! But, the vent blows hardly any air out at all. Don't worry, I bought a fan. Silver lining? I won't be roasting in the winter once we shift over to heat!
-Slightly Less Storage. I had quite a few years to build up my storage space and random little places to put stuff in my old room. Time to start again with slightly fewer hidey places.
-Mailbox. An odd thing to complain about I'm sure, but it is so small! I can hardly fix a Netflix DVD in it! I won't complain about the stairs because, let's face it, I've used stairs my entire life multiple times daily, my England flat boasted 4 flights of spiral stairs, and stairs are good exercise. The stair well is a bit stuffy but not everything can be perfect. Oh, back to the mailbox, not all of our keys seem to be able to open the box. The new keys made for the other roommates don't really work, but that's a lesser issue to be sure. Also, there isn't a proper dropbox anywhere near the mailboxes. That makes outgoing mail more difficult, but in our situation its manageable, I suppose!
Really, its great! Everything always has a downside, and if this is my list? We're set! It's always a change, moving in with new people. It takes times to work out how best to deal with all the new situations and even some of the old ones. When you live with people you really learn a lot about them. They always say, "If you want to learn more about a person and what they are really like you should try living with them."
I have 2 roommates and between us we have 2 kittens (and we are thinking about revving up my old fish tank and getting some fish). I have a surprising amount of space for having a full sized bed, a long dresser, 3 bookshelves, and a tv stand in my room. My desk is out in the living room along with my microwave stand which we are using for the tv out there. The kitchen is a walk through and it has a lot of space. We each claimed our own cupboards for our "pantry space." Really what has happened, is that a lot of my England living arangement experiences I've just transferred to apartment living. Do your own dishes, buy your own groceries, have your own fridge space and pantry space. The only thing that is different is that we pay our bills together and we actually have a tv and a basic cable package.
It isn't all that different from when I was living at home, if I'm completely honest. I eat about the same, I was already buying lunches for work, I make my own coffee drinks, my kettle gets used all the time, I bought a lot of my own things. Now, I buy all of my own things and if I want to get out of the house to go write its a 5 minute drive or less versus half an hour and a lot of gas. Laundry is different as one might expect. But, I have a lot of clothes and three weeks in I still haven't done laundry. That won't last much longer I'm sure.
Neighbors
We had Christmas Day breakfast, minus the usual frozen fruit cups (it'd been a busy couple of days) and we had cinnamon rolls (also my favorites). Opening presents was as you'd expect: hilarious and awesome. I got a lot of great stuff! For example, I got a portable keyboard piano!! Granted that's what I asked for, but it's still awesome!! All 88 keys and everything! And a stand for it and I'm borrowing my mum's vintage earphones so that I can play my piano and be the only one who hears it!!! (Hello to no noise complaints at 1 in the morning from my playing!) 
