For about two weeks now I have been living in my first apartment. Ok, ok, it's an "on-campus apartment," so I'm not yet paying real-person rent, and I don't have utility bills yet, but other than that, I've pretty much got the whole shebang. While it is ridiculously expensive, I got a pretty sweet deal going on here. I'm living with three other girls, and we each have our own room, own walk-in closet, and own bathroom. This will most likely be the only time in my entire life where I can say that, and that is pretty exciting. However, I have found over these two weeks that there are many-a things people do not tell you about living in an apartment that you might like to know beforehand. Maybe you can relate:
1. You will not be provided with a trash can. Nor will you know where the trash room/dumpster is. The first week I used wal-mart bags as my trash cans, and it took me the whole week to figure out where to put them.
2. You will find yourself needing a screwdriver, and you will not have one. I bought a bookshelf that required assembling, which required a screwdriver. I did not realize this until I got home from target and I thought, "Nah, I don't need a screwdriver. I'll use my fingernail or a knife." Nope. I needed a screwdriver.
3.You may go to your kitchen for breakfast in the morning in your pajamas complete with no bra, messy hair, and your glasses, and find your roommate's boyfriend making breakfast with her. Don't panic. I know it's been a while since a boy has seen you in this state. Just get your coffee and go back to your room and everything will be fine.
4. You and your roommates will want to name your apartment so you can hashtag every picture you ever take there appropriately. Me and my roommates named our home "KEGG," which is the first letter of each of our names rearranged into an ironic word that fits our setting. #socollege am I right?
5. You will still get zits. Ok, this has nothing to do with living in an apartment. But, growing up, I always imagined myself as an adult living in my first apartment, doing sophisticated things like staying up late reading the newspaper and drinking wine with classical music playing in the background. I imagined myself cooking adult meals, that consisted of more than macaroni and cheese and eggo waffles. I imagined myself with glass coffee tables, clean throw pillows, and vases with real flowers around me. But let me tell you, in this picture, I did not imagine myself with zits. And it turns out, you will get zits even when you are not a teenager anymore, and you will also most likely have none of these things. Perhaps I will have to wait until I get my first house to live the dream.
6. Your living room will not have lighting, and you will need lamps. The first night may be very, very dark.
7. You will finally be able to make real food for yourself. You may have even forgotten what a home cooked meal tastes like, because it's been so long since you didn't have to eat dining hall food. While you're not yet the chef your mother is, you at least have her recipes and can enjoy her lasagna (most likely burnt, of course) whenever you feel like it.
8. With the fresh excitement of having your own kitchen and being able to make your own food, you will invite all of your friends over for dinner. Shortly after you cook them an enormous amount of food you will also realize that you just gave away a lot of your food for free. But, at least you have friends.
9. You will be amazed at the amount of closet space you have compared to living in the dorms. Because of this you will bring all of your summer and winter clothes, even though you probably will not wear half of them.
10. You will have so much wall space to decorate that you will not know what to do with it. You will also most likely never fill up this wall space because it is overwhelming. The only decoration we have in our living room so far is KEGG, (as you can see above), so everyone knows what we're all about.
11. You may have a dishwasher, and while it is probably kind of jank and frighteningly loud, at least you have one. No more plastic silver wear and paper plates for you!
12. That being said, be weary of the garbage disposal. It is also kind of jank and very loud and aggressive and might break unless you're very nice to it.
13. You are going to want to set a date or time to clean your bathroom. If you don't do this, it probably will never happen.
14. You can now poop in your own bathroom without worrying about anyone judging you.
15. You can go several days without seeing any of your roommates. While this may be nice at times, please leave your room once in a while. Eventually you will get lonely, and if you don't socialize semi often, your friends may forget about you. Then who will you invite over for dinner?
16. You will have the time of your life with friends you will love forever. #KEGG4ever
