Sh*t I wish I knew

6. Apartments: LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION

Let me preface this by saying that I loved my apartment. I loved the fact that I got my own room and bathroom at a fantastic price. I didn't realize this my first year but there were 2 main areas that upper classmen lived: behind the corner and on JPA. I lived on the latter.

Good ol' JPA. via the Chive.

People always gave me this "oh poor you, you live so far away" bit when I told them where I lived, and yes I will admit that socially I lived in the boonies. I was in the complete opposite direction of the bars, frats, and social scene in general, which brings me to another part I loved about where I lived: it was quiet. My location allowed me to step away from the raves and the parties and take a quiet breather. And to it's defense, it was a good location for class. I was a hop skip and a jump away from the football stadium, the AFC (gym), and psych. buildings, and was just a short uphill bus ride away from the center of grounds. I couldn't complain.

What my apartment made complicated was when I wanted to go out. Walking (if I missed the bus) took 15 minutes in the cold or heat. And since I wasn't the type of person that was ok with just crashing on a friend's couch at the end of the night, I had to constantly watch the time to make sure that I would be able to make the bus before it stopped running at 2 a.m. And let me tell you, I've had several of the straight-out-of-the-movies times when I've been standing in the rain, shivering, waiting for a damn bus that I wasn't sure was going to come (completely pitiful). So yes, this made going out rather complicated, and I think it might have played a factor in me maybe not going out as much or as often as I would have. This also maybe helped shape my desire to start having fun early so I could end early (seriously, waiting until 10-10:30 to go out? We're wasting valuable time here people!).

There was a house with chickens in the yard on my ave. That's a pretty important to me. 

I don't know if you can have it all, but for me having my own room/bathroom along with reasonable rent was more important than the location of my apartment. Like I said, I'm glad I lived there and I'm glad I chose to stay there instead of moving each year; however, for those social butterflies/future apartment hunters, I write this as a cautionary tale. Do your homework and plan accordingly! Strike a good balance between what's important to you, whether it be location, price, floorplan, etc.