Moving

After weeks of packing, I've finally moved. I've lived in Virginia for more than a week now and even have a VA driver license. Over all the move went really well with just a couple of bumps. The morning of the move I got a phone call from the movers saying that they were not far away and would be there soon. Then I waited and waited and waited. Eventually, they called again to ask about the railroad overpasses near my apartment. I tried to give them directions to avoid them, but apparently they could not. After a long wait, they showed up at my door, but without their truck. They said that between the railroad overpasses, low wires, and tight turns, they could not get their semi into the apartment complex. Luckily, they had a backup plan. They went and rented a Uhaul and shuttled my stuff to the semi with it. It felt weird to just stand back and watch them without helping, but I thought it best to stay out of their way. It didn't take them long to get the place emptied and head on their way. I grabbed a quick lunch and cleaned my old apartment.

I started my drive to VA at the perfect time to hit traffic in both Baltimore and around DC, but it wasn't too bad. I stopped at a gas station before I left to fill up my car. The pump stopped on exactly $10: a good omen, I think. Moving to a new state and doing so alone, well, it's a lot. I was happy to get a call from a friend on the drive down.

I knew it would be too late to go and sign my lease and get into my apartment, so I planned to spend the night in a hotel. I got there without a problem and went to check in. At check in, they said I had a room with a king size bed. I didn't think that is what I reserved, but the price was the same so whatever. It turns out that the room also had a huge jacuzzi. I wasn't sure if I wanted to get in, but eventually I did and it was relaxing which is just want I needed. I did some work, watched TV, and got a pretty good night's sleep.

I got up early the next morning and arrived at the leasing office moments after they opened. There were a lot of papers to sign, but fewer, I think, than I had to sign for the movers. One of the maintenance men took me to my apartment and showed me how everything worked. It was the first time I got to see my actual apartment and it looked a thousand times better than my old one. I'll take you on a tour in my next post. I was only in my apartment for a little while when the phone rang. It was the movers. They weren't scheduled to deliver my stuff until the next day, but we had agreed when they picked it up that they could deliver it early and then get their weekend off. I wasn't expected them until late that evening, but they said they'd be here very soon. It took them a bit of time because they took a wrong turn, but I got moved in just a couple of hours after I arrived. It could have taken up to 10 days. There were a lot of boxes and a lot of stairs, but the two movers did a great job and were very nice. I was very stressed about the move and still am about some things, but getting my stuff from one location to another really went well. I got almost all of the boxes unpacked in just a couple of days and have started getting settled in. It took just a day to get my phone and cable working. Both required a visit from a technician, but I "borrowed" someone else's wireless in the meantime. I still want/need a bunch of furniture and things and need to learn the area a lot more, but overall I'm pretty happy here.