It’s hard to believe that just a couple of weeks ago, I was in Hawaii. A week ago I was running around town saying goodbye to lots of people and spending every possible moment (waking and nonwaking) with Jacob. It may be hardest to believe that just one year ago, we were all running around Vermont, Katie was a beautiful pregnant lady, and Emelia couldn’t yet walk. Phew—what a year of changes it has been for many/most of us.
Well, here I am sitting in my lovely apartment in Champaign, Illinois just a couple of days before my orientations begin. I’ll be adding some more pictures to this post just as soon as I get them from Amanda, but I thought I might add some i took with my computer and elaborate on the past few days and getting adjusted to moving away and living alone.
The Journey
The good ol’ Plymouth Voyageur was the chariot of choice for the journey to Champaign. Though it didn’t fit a full size mattress (well, it kind of did, but nothing else would have fit) Dad and I crammed a lot of my belongings in the van (the rest are still at 3521 and 611). Amanda and I left without looking back (we couldn’t because of the boxes) and stopped in Anamosa for a wonderful dinner with John, Mandy, Uncle Bob, Grandma, and eventually, Shannon and Jared.
Amanda loved hearing Grandma tell stories. Don’t we all?
After coffee and toast at Uncle Bob’s Amanda and I left Anamosa and four-ish hours later arrived at the apartment, keys in hand at 12 noon—just as I had hoped we would. We had all the stuff in the apartment in under an hour (despite a broken elevator) and we headed for Target.
The Arrival and Set Up
Starting a new apartment/home is daunting. Literally, I had to buy everything but the kitchen sink. From Target to Kohl’s to Home Depot—we were tired and had forgotten to eat meals.
The biggest challenge was that come Sunday, I would have no car. All heavy/big objects would have to be purchased on the weekend. Garage sales were total busts, including one that took us on bizarre country roads and left us feeling really creeped out. I did get a full size mattress and table and chairs from one person for $150—pretty good.
A lot of the weekend we felt pretty defeated. Too many back and forth trips, wrong turns, and bummer garage sales. That, and we didn’t have the internet.
The Apartment and Getting to know Champaign
Amanda left on Sunday as was becoming a member of the Urbana Champaign Bike Coop. With the purchase of a bike, Amanda and I both felt comfortable with her (and the van) leaving, even though I still didn’t have any seating for the apartment. (I still don’t)
My new Schwinn, named affectionately and aptly “Valentine,” is a lavender ladies frame with new ball bearings, tires, and bright bright red bar tape. It’s great.
Monday proved to be a great day to get to know the two cities (the weather has been beautiful!). I biked around C-U all day trying to figure out all of the dern one-ways.
Tuesday I did lots of University things: I got my iCard, started to get set up for my assistantship, and figured out the route I’ll take to get to campus.
I also have decided that one of the great things about my apartment are the sounds around it: church bells and trains are two of the greatest sounds that will soon become ambient noise to me. It’s charming.
Some gems of the city:
The Champaign Library is incredible with great CDs, DVDs, and books. Like, really good. I think I might go there a few times a week. I’ve already been there three times in two days (it’s about three blocks from my house). I rented a bunch of old blues albums, but like Navin says, “There’s something about that music, it just makes me so sad.”
The Blind Pig is also close to my apartment and reminds me of the Muddy Pig. Lots of beers. I went there last night and had a Moylan’s while I read a book I checked out at the library.
West Side Park. Quite simply a beautiful civic space used for everything from playing catch to very public displays of strong affection later in the evening.
DoItBest Hardware on Springfield is a great resource. I can’t believe we went to HomeDepot three times when DoItBest was so close.
SmilePolitely is…well, I’m not sure how to describe it, but I like it. It’s like CityPages, kind of, but not.
Also! I found out there is going to be an awesome music festival around my birthday: Pygmalion Festival (Sept 17-20). It’s a great line up, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to pull myself away from classes and fork over the $50 to go.
Reflecting on it
The couple of nights and days that I’ve been here by myself, I’ve liked have space to myself. I have to make sure I don’t get too weird about keeping it ridiculously tidy. All in all, the space is reflective of me, and I like that.
I already miss Jacob and Katie. I have photos of Jacob up everywhere. One thing that is hard about it is that he doesn’t even know to miss me. Isn’t that selfish? I guess it’s good that he’s probably still just as happy of a baby. I don’t want to miss any of his big developments like when he starts to talk, but even more than that, it was his little developments that were most endearing. The tiny things I could see change in him from day to day that most other people might not have noticed. I felt privileged to share in that. It was a blessing to live with Katie and Jacob, especially the days or mornings when Jacob’s voice would wake me up and we got to just sit around and play and be in the house all together. I know this is the right place for me right now, but that doesn’t mean I just feel one way about it—I’ve got lots of things going through my head about it.
My orientation begins on Thursday and is nearly non-stop until classes start (!). I’ll fill you all in on how it all goes.
It was a lovely day! 
can’t climib this one!
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