It's a pretty well-known fact that moving can be a hard process. Between finding a brand new place that fits all of your needs, cleaning out your old one, and actually getting all of your belongings to where they need to go, it's usually a pretty daunting task. (This, of course, includes the countless hours of packing and unpacking, as well as replacing the things that magically disappeared along the way.)
It seems as though the only thing that could possibly make the process even worse is if you're like me- a college student who is headed back to campus for the school year. If you thought that those "back to school" commercials would be less terrifying as an adult, you're wrong.
Now that I've spent the majority of this past weekend getting all settled into my new campus apartment, I can thankfully look back and laugh at some of the more frustrating parts. Nevertheless, the thoughts going through my head while moving in were definitely real in the moment-- here are just 10 things I found myself thinking while moving in!
1. Seriously, no parking?
Now, thankfully after three previous years at Eastern Michigan University, I was smart enough to plan out a mental map of how the move-in day would go. From looking up maps online to plotting the easiest routes to take, when move-in day came I was ready to go! Unfortunately, there are only so many things you can plan on...
When both cars finally arrived outside of my apartment building, we were surprised to see that there was no available parking- at least, not nearby. Instead, Eastern had set aside a small area of sidewalk for cars to temporarily park, unload everything, and then drive away to another, actual parking lot. Which, of course, means that the process was a lot harder than necessary.
What made the whole thing even worse was that the section of sidewalk available to unload wasn't even outside of the building. Yup, you head that right. So really, we had to unload the cars, then move all of those things to the outside of the actual building before we could really take everything up to my room. Again, a lot harder than necessary.
2. Okay, wow. No elevator, either.
Now, if you're like me and you were hoping that, after all of the unloading and moving, there'd at least be an elevator to take everything up to my room on the top floor, you'd be just as disappointed as I was.
That's right- in addition to not having any available parking, the building is also lacking in the elevator department. Granted, my room is only on the fourth floor, but when you take into consideration all of the things that needed to be moved as well as the fact that they had already been moved from a far-off sidewalk to the front door, you could understand my frustration.
To make matters worse, a second apartment building (which is literally attached to my building) does have both parking and an elevator. But, of course, you can only get to the first floor of that building, which means the elevator is useless. So, after already doing a full set of moving, we found ourselves moving yet again- only this time, up the stairs!
3. No A/C either, huh?
Yes, my friends, you read that right. Upon finally arriving to my room after lugging my things upstairs, I opened the door to find that my room (which clearly advertised air conditioning) was hotter than it was outside.
So, as we continued to haul everything up the stairs, all the while hoping that the A/C would magically kick on, we soon found ourselves tired, sweaty, and very disappointed.
4. Okay, this place is ​small...
Thankfully, this isn't an actual picture of my place. But you get the point- it's small. I definitely wasn't expecting a mansion by any means when I moved in, but I also wasn't expecting to open the door for the first time and be able to see every room of the apartment at once. Granted, it is just me and my kitty living here, so we don't need a ton of room.
Still, as we started to bring more and more things into the room, my family and I soon started to run out of room. It was definitely scary, considering how much I had brought with me. At this point, the long day seemed as though it was just going to get even longer.
5. Wait- fake drawers?
Do you know how a lot of girls' pants have fake pockets? If you think that fake pockets are annoying, imagine moving into an apartment to find that half of the drawers are fake- as in, you literally can't pull them out because they don't actually exist.
If I wasn't afraid of the small amount of room before, I was definitely getting nervous once I discovered how many of the drawers were fake. It seemed not only impossible, but also completely unnecessary to have so many fake drawers in an apartment. It was almost like seeing a model home with fake fruit and furniture- except those model homes look (and smell) a lot better than this place.
Clearly, this apartment was not what I was expecting it to be, and it seemed as though every turn lead me to another unwelcome surprise.
6. Seriously, though. The smell.
If you'd guess that I'd have more air fresheners than I do real drawers, you'd be absolutely correct.
It's pretty well-known that apartments (especially old ones) can sometimes have a smell to them. But upon opening up the drawers that actually work, I was met with an ungodly smell that was pretty reminiscent of what everyone is scared their apartment will smell like.
Thankfully, between a handful of dryer sheets and two hands full of fresheners, my apartment is doing much better now than it was on move-in day. Of course, the continued lack of A/C isn't exactly helping. So, as a future warning to anyone moving into an old building: INVEST IN AIR FRESHENERS!
6. Alright, this isn't that bad
It seems as though every move-in has the eventual moment of relief. Once things have been packed, unpacked, and squared away, you start to realize that this is the place you'll be in for a while. In my case, this is the place that I'll be for the rest of my college career. After realizing that, and after drinking a few large bottles of water and sitting on the couch for 20 minutes, I started to come to peace with my new home.
By the end of the day, I found that everything I brought had a place in the apartment and that the fake drawers weren't actually needed. And even though the apartment still has a lingering scent (and a sweltering feel) I've actually come to like it. With a few decorative pieces here and there to make it feel a little less like a prison, it's not so bad.
Though it may seem like it, the point of this article isn't actually to make EMU or their apartments look bad. I'd be lying if I said my place doesn't need a little bit of work, but in the past few days I have come to see it as my new home. And now that my cat Athena has stopped hiding in all of the nooks and crannies, I think that she's beginning to like it, too.
The real thing to keep me going through the disappointment is the fact that, at the end of the day, I have a roof over my head and a place to sleep at night. The bed provided is practically a box spring, but it's still a bed. And every time I start to think the place is a little small, I try to remind myself that I'm lucky to have so many things to fill the apartment.
It can certainly be a stressful process to move from place to place, and the added stress of school makes it even more difficult. Because of this, it's easy to forget all that we have to be grateful for. The truth is that there are people who would love nothing more than to have an old, small, smelly apartment with fake drawers.
So, after a lot of ranting, here is my message for the day: be thankful for what you have. I'm thankful that I had family members to help me move in, despite the fact that the process was so frustrating. I'm thankful to have my fridge with a broken pull-out drawer and way too many air fresheners. I'm grateful to have a "mattress" on my bed, even if I wake up a little stiff in the morning. I'm thankful because so many people don't have those things, and I'm very lucky to be in this position.
So, the next time you move- take a minute to appreciate all of the things you're unpacking, even if your place doesn't have A/C!
