Alright, so I've already told you about the seemingly million and a half things I had to do while preparing myself for moving back into school. But what I didn't know at the time was what living in an off-campus apartment would really feel like.

It's a little bit of a mix of feeling independent and being proud because I'm that independent now, and feeling super nervous and worried whenever I leave the apartment.

I feel super independent since I've had to constantly be in contact with our landlord for renovations over the summer, etc., gotten internet, figured out what kind of furniture I needed and how my roommate and I would split what we needed to bring. We didn't even have to go through the hassle of getting the keys to our place through residential services on campus, and could even move in earlier than those living on campus. We've decorated the whole place and made it feel much more homey than the first night I was here. We put our rugs down and rearranged the furniture to our liking and now we have a cute little place for ourselves!

However, living in an off-campus apartment means that there are a lot of extra things to worry about, too. Such as, we have to remember to consciously close and lock our door every time we leave, unlike the dorm rooms where they locked automatically and you didn't bother to think twice about it. And we are lucky in the sense that all of the people living in our building are students, but that's not necessarily the case in the buildings surrounding us on the street. If we have any kind of problem with our apartment, we have to go through our landlord to get things done, which is probably going to take a bit longer than the campus maintenance guys. We are also responsible for making sure our internet bills get paid and that we keep everything and everyone in our apartment safe.

So needless to say, life as a first time apartment leaser is kind of stressful, but it definitely has its perks to it too!