I haven't been too successful at keeping this blog updated in the past, but third time's the charm, right?
Well, here's the abbreviated update. I spent the last school year working as a music therapy intern at Hartvigsen School in Taylorsville, Utah. It was absolutely amazing, and heartbreaking to leave. But I kind of had to leave because the internship was unpaid. And, to quote "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots, "Wake up, you've got to make money."
So. Anyway, I've been hired to work as a music therapist for a company up in Boise, Idaho. And your enjoyment of the following writing will increase by at least 15% if you play this song in the background:
Well, here's the abbreviated update. I spent the last school year working as a music therapy intern at Hartvigsen School in Taylorsville, Utah. It was absolutely amazing, and heartbreaking to leave. But I kind of had to leave because the internship was unpaid. And, to quote "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots, "Wake up, you've got to make money."
So. Anyway, I've been hired to work as a music therapist for a company up in Boise, Idaho. And your enjoyment of the following writing will increase by at least 15% if you play this song in the background:
Moving to Idaho is the reason I've decided to give this blog another shot. You see, back when I first moved to Logan as a college freshman, I combatted homesickness and stress by sending home a newsletter. Nothing formal, it was called "The Word from Logan" and it was just a way to tell my immediate family about some of the weird and crazy stuff that happens to you when you start life in a new place. Unexpectedly, however, I picked up something of a following.
Then on my mission I sent letters home almost every week about life on my mission, and they also spread farther than I had expected among relatives and acquaintances. And, again, the letters helped me process what was going on and find the humor and adventure in events that were otherwise kind of stressful.
Well, now I'm moving to a new city, in a new state, where I currently barely know anyone. I hope I've outgrown the worst of homesickness by now, but there will definitely be stressful things. There will also be opportunities to have adventures, and I kind of like those.
So this is my goal for my first year of living in Boise. Every week, have some kind of crazy adventure. Whether that's something I find (a trip to the zoo or something, per say) or something that finds me. And every week I want to write about that adventure in this blog.
I don't expect to be talking much about my job, although that will be an adventure in and of itself. Ethically, morally, professionally, and legally, I have an obligation to protect the privacy of my clients. So any stories about my work as a music therapist will have to be carefully filtered of any identifying information. Some might make it in, though. But I want to focus this blog more on what I do when I'm not at work, as I try to make myself a life in Idaho.
Now, the first adventure was just moving here. If you like the tv show House Hunters (my mom watches it all the time) then this post is for you.
After I got the job offer, I started looking for apartments in the area. Rather to my dismay, most of the listings I found online were rather severely out of my budget. See, I'm starting out working part time and working my way up to full time, and this is after a year of not getting paid at all, so my budget is pretty tight.
I had more luck contacting people through Facebook and through the LDS Institute at Boise State University, and came up with a few people who were looking to re-let or rent or get a roommate or whatever. I also got talking with another couple of girls who were moving to Boise at the same time as I was and talked about just finding a place together. So, armed with a long list of everything I could find that might be within budget for myself or for myself and two strangers, I made a trip to Boise with my mom to hit the streets.
The first place I tried ended up being one of those high-end student housing places--you know the type, that is always throwing parties and has a hot tub and all kinds of fancy stuff but the rooms are all tiny? There was some drama in Logan while I was there about one that didn't manage to finish construction until almost a year after the move in date students had paid for. It was a big ugly mess that I felt glad not to be involved with, and it left a bad taste in my mouth in regards to such apartments.
But the girl who was selling her lease gave us a tour and it did seem like a very nice place. Also, one of the other bedrooms in her unit was available, which seemed good to know.
Then began several excruciating hours of trying to find an apartment complex with room for three girls. Most of the places I tried had a waiting list of two to five years--one even had a waiting list of ten years! Others were these government housing places where you had to prove you met a certain poverty level before your application was looked at by some board in three months or so. All in all, not encouraging to someone who was hoping to move in a month later.
One of my facebook contacts went better, though--a girl with a two-room apartment who was looking for a roommate. I kind of fell in love with the apartment right away; I'm a sucker for weird shaped spaces and this was an apartment full of triangles and rhombuses where other builders would have used squares. It also had a nice balcony where I could've kept a little garden, and a huge kitchen.
After this I met up with one of the two girls also moving to Boise to check out the places she had found. They both ended up being in Meridian, a town Northwest of Boise. We met at the first, which ended up being a huge complex with very fancy expensive apartments--and other than the master bedroom, very tiny rooms with tiny closets. And this place, in what I suppose was a refreshing change from everywhere else I'd gone, insisted on you turning in pay stubs with your application so they could make sure you were wealthy enough to afford the rent.
The next place we tried was a townhome, and it was the strangest property tour I've ever been on. In order to get in, you would fill out a form on a website. They would then text you the combination for a hidden lockbox which held the key to the front door. The house itself was nice, though not cleaned very well--you don't want to know what I found in the fridge--and had kind of a bizarre mix of very nice features with confusing features. Like, a jack and jill bathroom and weird closet sizes. Also, one of the mirrors was a smart mirror, which I've never seen in person before. The peephole was secretly a video camera so you could keep tabs on who showed up on your doorstep. Also, somebody who'd been there earlier had left behind a valedictorian pin on the counter. (I gave into impulse and took it home with me. But if you are reading this and happen to be a valedictorian who lost their pin somewhere in Meridian, Idaho, let me know and I'll give it back)
After all that, I was exhausted and feeling kind of burned out. I had one more appointment before we had to leave the next day, but, on a hunch, we decided to drive by it on our way back to the hotel. It ended up being a tiny mother-in-law suite attached to a falling-apart house in a really sketchy neighborhood. I looked at my notes at what the price of rent had been--higher than anything else I'd seen that day--then I called the owner and politely canceled the showing.
That night, I looked back at my options and decided I really only had two--the luxury student place and the weird angles place. (Huh, describing it that way makes it sound like the apartment in Dreams in the Witch House, by HP Lovecraft). The places in Meridian were nice but I felt like the commute would be a pain--my job is going to take me all over the valley but I'll mostly be based in Boise. Nowhere else had really been a good option.
I made my apologies to the two girls also moving to Boise and backed out of looking for a place with them. Not because of anything wrong with them, understand, I just felt like continuing to search for a place long distance would only result in finding more of the same of what I'd been finding. And I really wanted to just settle on somewhere and call it good. After thinking a lot about it, I decided to go with the Weird Angles Place. The rent was great, I loved the apartment, my future roommate seemed nice, and the quiet out of the way apartment just seemed like a good fit for my personality. So I called that girl back and worked out the details, then let everyone else know I'd found a place. And everything was good.
Until we were in the process of checking out of the hotel the next morning, when I get an email from my would-be landlady.
"You are not allowed to move into this apartment. Ask ____ for more information."
Somewhat distressed, I contacted the girl who lived in the apartment, but she was at work and wasn't able to reply. It ended up being a really looooong five hour drive back to Utah with something like that hanging over my head.
Well, it turns out that my would-be roommate didn't read the fine print on her lease agreement which said that she wasn't allowed to get a roommate. She was very apologetic, and it was probably a rude awakening for her as well. But that still left me apartmentless.
So I got over my prejudices and bought the lease off the girl in the luxury student housing.
Now, actually moving in was its own challenge. The office of this apartment (which is going to remain unnamed) has surprisingly strict rules about, well, everything, and I was in Boise for almost twenty-four hours before I was allowed to check in. But, here I am. I'm moved in (if not anywhere near entirely unpacked yet) and my furniture just barely fits my bedroom. So far my roommates are all pretty nice.
Oh, and remember how there was an empty room? Well, one of the two other girls who were moving to Boise got that room, and the other one is buying a lease for another room in the unit later this summer, so we're actually going to be roommates after all.
Anyway, so now I'm in Boise. It has lots of pretty trees. It also has lots of one-way streets that I keep trying to turn the wrong way onto. I live pretty close to downtown, so there's a lot to do, though much of that will have to wait until I get my paycheck because I am currently a few steps away from broke. I need cheap adventures for the first few weeks, I guess.
So that's life just now. If you happen to know of things in Boise that I should try (especially inexpensive ones), or if you have any questions, feel free to comment. Hopefully, I'll soon have some stories that are a little more exciting than describing lots of apartments I decided not to rent. I'm optimistic about it though. I do have a way of stumbling into weird situations...
That night, I looked back at my options and decided I really only had two--the luxury student place and the weird angles place. (Huh, describing it that way makes it sound like the apartment in Dreams in the Witch House, by HP Lovecraft). The places in Meridian were nice but I felt like the commute would be a pain--my job is going to take me all over the valley but I'll mostly be based in Boise. Nowhere else had really been a good option.
I made my apologies to the two girls also moving to Boise and backed out of looking for a place with them. Not because of anything wrong with them, understand, I just felt like continuing to search for a place long distance would only result in finding more of the same of what I'd been finding. And I really wanted to just settle on somewhere and call it good. After thinking a lot about it, I decided to go with the Weird Angles Place. The rent was great, I loved the apartment, my future roommate seemed nice, and the quiet out of the way apartment just seemed like a good fit for my personality. So I called that girl back and worked out the details, then let everyone else know I'd found a place. And everything was good.
Until we were in the process of checking out of the hotel the next morning, when I get an email from my would-be landlady.
"You are not allowed to move into this apartment. Ask ____ for more information."
Somewhat distressed, I contacted the girl who lived in the apartment, but she was at work and wasn't able to reply. It ended up being a really looooong five hour drive back to Utah with something like that hanging over my head.
Well, it turns out that my would-be roommate didn't read the fine print on her lease agreement which said that she wasn't allowed to get a roommate. She was very apologetic, and it was probably a rude awakening for her as well. But that still left me apartmentless.
So I got over my prejudices and bought the lease off the girl in the luxury student housing.
Now, actually moving in was its own challenge. The office of this apartment (which is going to remain unnamed) has surprisingly strict rules about, well, everything, and I was in Boise for almost twenty-four hours before I was allowed to check in. But, here I am. I'm moved in (if not anywhere near entirely unpacked yet) and my furniture just barely fits my bedroom. So far my roommates are all pretty nice.
Oh, and remember how there was an empty room? Well, one of the two other girls who were moving to Boise got that room, and the other one is buying a lease for another room in the unit later this summer, so we're actually going to be roommates after all.
Anyway, so now I'm in Boise. It has lots of pretty trees. It also has lots of one-way streets that I keep trying to turn the wrong way onto. I live pretty close to downtown, so there's a lot to do, though much of that will have to wait until I get my paycheck because I am currently a few steps away from broke. I need cheap adventures for the first few weeks, I guess.
So that's life just now. If you happen to know of things in Boise that I should try (especially inexpensive ones), or if you have any questions, feel free to comment. Hopefully, I'll soon have some stories that are a little more exciting than describing lots of apartments I decided not to rent. I'm optimistic about it though. I do have a way of stumbling into weird situations...
No comments:
Post a Comment