downsizing

after our apartment hunting trip to the wheaton area, i'm beginning to understand the reality of our move. we spent the morning on campus taking care of health forms, etc and both walked away thinking "was undergrad this big of a deal to set up?" either our parents took care of nearly everything, or our alma mater was significantly more simple in their operations. it's probably a little bit of both.

prior to heading down to chicago-land, we had scoped out apartment complexes online. the first thing we did was drive around those places and found the pictures online to be pretty deceptive. after asking at the housing offices on campus, we found a few private rentals and called one property owner to try to visit. we went and saw a basement apartment of a family that is a few miles away from campus and only a few blocks away from the train station. it is definitely the most affordable we've found and includes a lot of amenities (like a private washer and dryer!!!!). the  downside is that it's a one-room basement apartment, so there isn't a "bedroom" per se. we know that we can make it work, but i am still a little nervous about not having any division between the rooms...it will make our mess more difficult to hide :)

anticipating the move, we already downsized to one vehicle and i've started mentally purging our furniture. it will be good for us to live more simply.

walking around campus and not seeing anybody i knew also brought home the fact that this is a new start. a really new start. i am not convinced i like that idea, yet.