I've loved living in the dorms this year. I've been closer to Shimer events, I've found it much easier to get to know people, and I've enjoyed sleeping in until 9:30 and making it to a 10:00 class! Plus IIT has some cool things I've gotten to take advantage of, like the gym. Apparently there's a pool, too!
That being said, I have no intention of living on-campus next semester. I have several reasons for this. Firstly, it's significantly cheaper. Secondly, I'll be closer to work and church. Thirdly, since I'm working in Chicago over the summer I'll need a place to stay, and I'm probably going to have to sign a year-long lease anyway.
I've visited quite a few apartments and houses in my day, seeing as I'm kind of a nomad, so home-shopping for me is kind of like shoe-shopping for most people. "OOH goody, where am I moving to next?"
And I can get excited about just about any place. I was pretty chipper about this one:
That's the dining room. It's kind of...acceptable.
It's got an octagonal-ish wall! I LOVE octagonal-ish walls! At that point I couldn't see anything other than the gorgeosity of that roundedish room, plus the fact that there was a bitty bedroom right by it with a little not-exactly-porch off it. (You'd have to climb out of a window to get to it, but it was cute.)
It's...approximately the size of a large kitchen table. No, seriously. That's about the size. You could not fit a full-sized bed in here, and the closet was about 1 sq foot. Except triangular. Really.
They put cabinets over the windows. Need I say more? Oh, yeah, I should: By "unfurnished," this landlord means "without stove or refrigerator." You have to buy your own, and then drag them up the RICKETY WOODEN FIRE ESCAPE.
Those are all great examples of What Not To Look For, and also What to Deliberately Avoid.
Then Sara, Erin & I went to visit THIS place:
Pretty, nice paint, octagonal-ish and therefore perfect. Notice the radiator? Free heat.
Also has pretty paint, and an air conditioner (unlike the dorms), and have you noticed the pretty hardwood floors yet? To the right (not pictured) there's a delightfully large bedroom with yellow textured paint on the walls. Textured yellow paint just sings "someone cares!"
Cheerful, clean, nice. Unlike at the last place, someone actually scrubbed this room before showing it to people. That = landlords who care. (Plus, several of the board members who run the place live there. Several. That's a good sign on so many levels.) Also, one of the landlords goes to my church. Knowing your landlord can be nice, since a non-stranger is somewhat less likely to rip you off. Especially if you can make the priest nag her if she dilly-dallies in fixing a problem with, say, the free, in-building washer & dryer. Free. In-building. ...Aaaaaalleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
And lastly...
What you CAN'T see in this kitchen is that it's been remodeled in the last couple years, beyond that door is a sturdy-looking fire escape that we can use as a porch, there's lots of counter space, there's a PANTRY, and above the back door there's a transom that the second-to-last owners (artists) turned into a shadowbox for displaying art and trinkets. I really, truly did not want to leave.
These two apartments are not far apart in price. Although the first had 4 teeny bedrooms and the second had one large and one itty-bitty (5 by 8, I think!), the second felt much more spacious. I feel as if 3 people will be more comfortable in the second than 4 in the first, especially considering how pleasant and pretty and open it is it is! Plus, the second is in a significantly nicer neighborhood, and not much farther from Shimer.
Thus, with any luck I'll be moving in to the Pretty One-Bedroom of Wondrousness at the end of the school year. *big grin*
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