Apt. Pictures

Since tonight was FINALLY a calm night and we are officially all settled in, I thought I would post a few pictures of our apartment. It's starting to feel like a real home for once!

From left to right: My room, Living room, Mariana/Jackie's Room, Dining Room Kitchen.

Good news- finally! :)

This soap opera is almost done. We have cable and furniture! We're getting our clothes (washed) tomorrow and i'm all unpacked. Roommates are on their way to buy a router, so we might even have stable internet by tonight. I can't believe how fast/busy/exhausting this week has been, but our apartment is beautiful and I'm thankful I have my own room (and a desk!). Guess everything happens for a reason and hopefully now we can just sit back and enjoy the summer. :)

The Saga Continues...

Well we thought this would all be over by today, but yesterday we made it just a bit more interesting. While we were at work, they decided that they would move us into ANOTHER new apartment. At first, we were like, seriously? We just want to stay in on place! However, the new apartment is nicer and bigger (3 bedrooms) at no extra cost, so we decided to go ahead with it. Since we now have an extra room, we drew numbers to see who would get their own room. For once, luck was on my side and I actually got my own room!

We then spent three hours moving, running up/down stairs trying keys, etc. We now have 12 sets of keys (4 for each apt)! It's hard to keep them all straight! We got everything moved and somewhat unpacked and around 8 pm, we realized that a) we were starving and b) we had no dishes. So we decided to just order pizza. Best decision we ever made! We got 2 larges and ate almost all of it because we were starving! I was happy bc one of my roommates likes thin crust pepporoni from pizza hut, so i got my favorite pizza. As we scarfed down dinner, we commented on how much bonding this experience has provided. We are all getting to know each other well. I'll write about them at a later time.

Because we didn't want to stay in the smoky apartment, we were going to just sleep on the floor in our new apt. However, we quickly realized that wasn't an option because the carpets had been cleaned and they weren't dry. So, trying to problem solve, I realized that a couple of interns had extra beds in their apts. So I made some phone calls and found couches/extra beds for us to crash on for just one night. One girl was nice enough to let Jackie and I stay with her so we at least got *some* sleep. Not great sleep, but some.

We are supposed to get furniture, cable, and dishes today. I sent an email telling them what we need, so ideally, it will be done by 5. Oh, and I forgot one thing. In this whole process, the furniture movers removed our furniture from apt #1 (bug apt) and threw them all on the floor. Smart move, movers. So now they are washing all of our clothes and I told them this must be done by 5 (it has all my underwear except for a few pairs i had in a suitcase!). We'll see how that goes.

Aside from the apt thing, we started work yesterday. It was a rather mundane day of orientation and training, but I'm still really excited about this summer. They have so many activities planned for us and the interns in my dept are all cool. We're all getting to know each other well. Training is a bit slow/boring, but not excruciatingly so. They are giving us free lunch/pop etc, so that's a nice perk. I just have to watch how many bottles of Diet. Dr. Pepper I drink... haha.

Over all, I think this week is going to be down hill from here. We only have a half day on friday (yay!) and we hope to do something fun this weekend. I plan to go look for a bike and start working out this weekend, and then hopefully I can develop a routine. I also hope to post pics of the new, bug free apt as soon as its ready! :)

A stressful two days to say the least.

Well, I arrived in Minneapolis yesterday at around 3:00. Everything with the flight went well (including the departure- only a few tears!) and I was pretty proud of myself for getting around the Minneapolis airport all by myself. Aside from a disgruntled mother in the shuttle to our apartment, all went pretty well. I got to our apartment and met all of my roommates and they all seem really nice! We decided to go grocery shopping and in the midst of being lost, my Uncle Byron called me to tell me he was "picking me up" (even though i wasn't at my house). He and his 2 brother in laws chased me around for a while and then we finally met up around 6 o'clock. I spent about 3 hours with them at the Baker family reunion and met a few of his relatives. Kind of awkward, but whatev. When I got home, that's when the real fun started. First, I couldn't get skype to work but after many tries, rob and I were finally able to talk. I told him I was stressed about finding a grocery store and a target and so I went to bed so I could get up early. After unpacking, as I was getting ready for bed, our two roommates came into our room and were like "Don't sleep on the sheets! There's bugs in them!" My first thought? Awesome! NOT. They were all eaten up and were itchy and we found a bug crawling in the comforter. We switched all our sheets and decided that we would deal more with it in the morning. I didn't sleep at all because i was worried about that, new bed to get used to, and my roommate sleeps with a fan which will just take a bit of getting used to. Needless to say, I was sure to purchase some unisom to make sure that doesn't happen again tonight.

Two of my roommates (Jackie and Funso) and I went to super target in the morning (after a few too many episodes of jon and kate plus 8). I was very relieved to get my groceries/toiletries bought so that was one less thing I had to stress about. When we got home, the apt lady came by and told us we could move to a new apartment on the third floor (which meant not having to listen to noisy neighbors upstairs!) so we willingly agreed. After quickly shoving everything into suitcases, we trekked over to the new apt to discover that it was in a smoking building. It was gross and was not nearly as nice. We weren't sure what we wanted to do. In order to get rid of the bed bugs, they have to heat the apt to 160 degrees for a few hours and then cool it down. So what we opted to do was pack up for the new apartment for 2 nights and then hopefully by wed, we can be back in our good apartment. We wish we wouldn't have bought so many groceries because now we have to move all the food so that the heat won't ruin it! yikes!

I'm exhausted. After unpacking/packing TWICE, I have no energy to work out. I'm trying to conjure up enough energy to shower, but I think a nap is required first. Later this week, once we are REALLY settled in, I'll post pictures of the new place. :)

You know you're crazy when...

You go to the zoo with a bunch of first graders FOR FUN! I spent the day with my mom and 5 of her kids at the Omaha Zoo. It was a good day overall... we saw a lot in 3.5 hours! The kids dragged us to the aquarium, butterfly house, jungle, desert dome, gorilla house, and cat complex. They all passed out on the way home and it was so cute! Needless to say, I'm very tired but glad that I spent a day volunteering because I'm sure the rest of the week will be rather boring!