Change is Good

I really like apartment hunting, although it occurs to me that this is really the first time I've done it seriously. I like combing the internet, remembering the names of apartment complexes as I run by so that I can look them up later, stopping in at the offices and getting tours of the model apartments. But I think it probably gets harder as you become more serious and move from imagination to anticipation to commitment.

I think it's also harder when you already know the area well and are moving across town instead of across the country. Moving out here to Ann Arbor, I knew so little about what I was getting myself into that I had very few expectations to be met or shattered. So long as I had my own room and was reasonably close to campus, or at least a bus route, I was going to be happy because I didn't know what I might be missing out on.

Now that I've been here almost two years, I have enough experience to create hopes and expectations. I know what I like about where I live, and I know what I don't like. This means that I have inadvertently created an image of the ideal living situation that is a compilation of the things I like and the lack of the things I don't. Actual apartment-hunting is the best way to dispel the idea that such a place exists. It doesn't. The reality is that to get some of the things I want, I will have to give up some of the things I have now. The trick is to determine what is most important to me, and then once I have made a decision (along with my roommate, of course) to determine in advance that I'm going to be happy with the things that will inevitably be less than perfect.

And I will be. I've discovered over time that, so long as the annoyances don't cross over a certain threshhold, it's quite easy to adjust to whatever situation I might be in. I worry in the initial transition, when I first face those annoyances, that they will become even more irritating over time, but we are adaptable creatures, more than we sometimes give ourselves credit for I think. When I moved here, for instance, all I could do was compare Ann Arbor to Provo, and because I'd lived six yeras in Provo and I liked it, Provo almost always came out on top. Nowadays, however, Ann Arbor may have the upper hand, but I don't know if it has anything to do with the relative quality of the place. Rather, Ann Arbor is where I live, it's what I'm used to, and so I'm prone to like it.

Or for a smaller, and more recent, example, there is my new car stereo. It was my birthday gift, so that I can listen to my iPod in the car, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. But for the first few days after it was installed I experienced some major buyers' regret. Little things, like the unfamiliarity of the display controls or the fact that my car no longer said hello to me when I turned the key, really bothered me. Such losses had seemed completely worth the benefit of being able to hook my iPod up to the radio, until I actually had to face those losses. Then I felt certain that I had made a horrible mistake, and I couldn't go back on it, and I couldn't tell my parents. Now, several weeks later, I kind of laugh at those initial feelings. Sure, I sort of miss my car saying hello to me. But I'd much rather have my iPod hookup. It's not the change itself that's the problem - it's the process of change, the proximity of the new to the old and familiar.

So in that spirit, I am preparing not just to gain some things in wherever I choose to live next, but also to lose a few things. And I'm prepared to be okay with that. One thing that I will gain no matter what is a change of scenery. I like change, but I have rearranged my room four times, each time resulting in a better arrangement than the last, and there is no longer anything else I can do with my living space to make more palatable. Believe me, I've given this some thought. I used to laugh about people who obsessively rearrange their furniture until I became one of those people. I'm looking forward to a change.

I will also, hopefully, get carpet and closet space. More space in general, in fact. Maybe I'll get a washer and dryer in the apartment. Maybe I'll have my own bathroom. Maybe there will be a fitness center in the complex so that I won't have to drive to the gym on cold mornings. Maybe I'll be within walking distance of a grocery store. As long as I have carpet and closet space, I can probably survive without these other things. But they'd be nice to have.

The one thing I will probably have to sacrifice is location. Chances are pretty darn good that I will not be within walking distance of school anymore, which is sad. Chances are pretty good that I will have to change up my running routes, which is also sad (but at least I know the town well enough that I know which locations have good running potential and which do not). And chances are pretty good that I will not be in the neighborhood I am in now, and I really like my neighborhood. Still, chances are also pretty good that after the initial transition it's not going to bother me to take the bus (most grad students do anyway), and that I'm going to enjoy exploring some new running routes, and that I'm going to find that other Ann Arbor neighborhoods are also quite pleasant.

So I'm excited. I'm looking forward to finishing my two major papers this week because then I can legitimately begin looking at apartments. In the meantime, however, I need to remind myself that the move is not until August and that, therefore, there really is no rush. As much as I may want to spend my time touring model apartments, the time will be much more wisely used in my office up on campus for a few more days.