Vestal

After driving to New York and looking for apartments, I drove back to my hometown of Greenville in Western PA. It hasn't been as stressful as I originally thought it would.

I stayed with my sister-in-law's sister's boyfriend, who was a completely gracious host. Otherwise the trip would've consisted with me staying at some hotel for a few days. That would've been fine in the long run, but if I haven't said it before, I'm pretty much the world's worst when it comes to directions.

Luckily Mark was a trooper and ended up coming with me to all my appointments. We really liked a few that weren't necessarily out of our budget, but places that we weren't super excited to pay that much for, for at least 12 months, since hopefully we'll be looking for something like a condo or house after a year's over and we figure out exactly where we want to live.

But on a whim, our last stop, which I hadn't even originally planned on looking at, everything seemed to fall into place. Balcony. Second floor. Five minutes from Binghamton University. Dishwasher. Way cheaper than what we pay now in Richmond. Two bedrooms with two full bathrooms. The biggest thing, however, is heat's included. That'll also save us a ton of cash in the long run.

It's an older building, so not everything is modernized and renovated, but it's also utilizes space better than our apartment right now in Richmond. All-in-all, it was the place I immediately loved the most, and everyone usually says "You'll know when you see it" when you go apartment hunting.

The application is filled out, so I just need to call the woman who showed us around and get the ball rolling with deposits, having her get in touch with my current landlord, move-in dates, etc.

I'm not getting more excited than I thought I would when this whole process began last week.

*

Also, the drive back from Vestal was only about four hours and fifty minutes, versus the seven hours it takes me to get either to Jess's place or my own when coming home. Two hours may not seem like a lot, but when you've been driving seven hours to and seven hours from, five really feels like about three.

*

And yes, I need to mention that apparently I'll be surrounded by New York Giants fans. That thrills me to no end. Hopefully I'll be spending Sundays watching them in HD on our new TV, which I've been wanting forever but have agreed to wait for until we get married.

But should bars happen (and of course every once in a while they will to watch the game), I predict myself making fast friends. No more being surrounded by Redskins fans.

Plus they should be on pretty much every week. On cable I mean. Glorious.

*

The only city I didn't really drive into, funnily enough, was actually Binghamton. BU is in Vestal, and we also looked at apartments in Johnson City and Endicott. And yet there was still plenty to do. I don't need to live in Chicago or New York City to be happy like some folks. Smaller towns are perfectly fine with me, and the plus side is in this shit economy, you'll always be saving money in the smaller places.

But when we move hopefully around mid-August, I'm sure Jess and I will be exploring the city a bit more. Plus I didn't really go to BU, which I'm also looking forward to checking out once we're up there, moved in, and settled.

*

And Jess and I will be getting married in exactly one week.

This year flew by.