We have moved!

In a week, we’ve observed the following pros and cons:

PROS:

• It’s HUGE. There’s plenty of space in every room and nothing feels cramped.

• STORAGE!! I’ve never had so many closets to choose from!! In our former apartment, there was ONE closet for the whole place (and another for the bedroom), so everything that we owned was either out in plain sight (aahhh!) or stacked just right so that it could sort of fit. Camping gear, holiday decorations, extra kitchen supplies, linens, blankets, extra books, vacuum cleaner, etc… It was a constant not-fun game of tetris.

• Separate entrance! Overall, it feels and looks like we’re not part of a dorm (however, it’s much louder than our other space).

• The office that separates our private space from the dorm. When I was on duty last year (whether a Saturday or a weekday, I had to open up our only door which revealed our entire living/dining room, and kitchen (which of course I wanted to be neat!) and Matt wanted to be out-of-sight in the bedroom all evening.

• First floor: no more carrying groceries up three flights!

• An outdoor space: the porch! Of course, we’ll need to get some outdoor chairs and an umbrella, but that could be for next spring/summer. Baby gates too because of the steps.

• Two bathrooms!

• Lots of great windows with natural light

CONS:

• It’s louder because the front and back door of the dorm is next to our storage room, office and living room, so we hear every “beep” from everyone’s fob (dorm girls and their friends) and every door slamming. Also we have students and a faculty member above us.

• First floor = peeping Toms = the need for sheer window treatment

• The moat that forms every time it rains = no garden for me… much too wet

• Oddly, there are far too many drawers in the kitchen (rather than cupboards) so that’s a bit hard to work around. I need cupboard space for our personal food and also dorm food.

• The toilet flushes are the weakest we’ve ever experienced in our lives. They have better ones in rural Mexico than here!

• There are NO lights in any of the rooms, except for 400 of them in the kitchen, 5 in the hallway, and in the bathrooms. Lighting is expensive.

• The microwave turns on by itself on “express 5 minutes” which is creepy and dangerous.

• Flies. Where do these flies come from?? Matt killed 5 of them yesterday, and no two flies overlapped. In other words, at five different times, one entered the house and then Matt killed it.

• The inside of the fridge has a weird set up, so it’s hard to fit things on the shelves.

Here’s a video so you can have a better sense of the layout. Hope I don’t make you too dizzy.

As you can see, there’s plenty of room for visitors!