First of all, it turns out that the apartment is NOT in Sugarhouse, as I originally believed. I wrote the address wrong when I talked to the landlord over the phone, and I totally would have ended up in the wrong place had I not left the address at home and called the landlord again.
Thankfully I was still heading in the right direction at the time, so no harm done. I just had to kind of recalibrate. The apartment isn't right next to Sugarhouse park, it's actually right down the street from my grandma! So it's still a good spot, even if there's not a big beautiful park right next door.
So I woke up early on Saturday morning to start my long journey to Salt Lake City to check out the new digs. I got on a bus at 9:00, which took me to the Frontrunner station here in Provo. The train left at 9:50, and got me to Murray Central Station at around 10:30. From there, I took TRAX up to 33rd south. I waited a half hour for the bus to come, and then finally arrived in the right neighborhood at 11:30.
But I made the mistake of getting off the bus a little too late. The apartment complex was right behind me, but the street to get there was down the road, only like ten yards. It would have been easy to backtrack, except it's right on a very busy road and there was no sidewalk--not even a bike lane.
Rather than risk running down a busy street lane, I walked up to the next stoplight, crossed the street, walked down the opposite side of the street to the stoplight down where I SHOULD'VE gotten off of the bus, then crossed the street again to finally make it to the complex.
It was all worth the long hours of travel and the extra walking around. The complex is really nice--only like five years old, and just far enough away from the busy road to feel sheltered and peaceful.
I met my new landlord/roommate, Rachel. She's pretty much amazing. She's 31 (but looks WAY younger) and is a very successful civil rights lawyer. She travels the world on a regular basis and seems pretty darn wealthy, so the apartment is well-kept and has amazing decorations from her personal collection of travel souvenirs.
Here are some pictures of the place. I really REALLY like it:
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| This will be my room. Except I own no furniture at the moment, so none of this will actually be there. I hope I'll be able to make my room even a LITTLE BIT as cute as this. |
The only thing I'm anxious about is the fact that none of that stuff in the room is mine. I have to bring all my own furnishings--even a bed. I didn't anticipate that, but I still feel good about the apartment, so I signed up, got a key, and it's mine! I'm so excited to live there! I'm just praying that I'll get a good job to pay for it. I need furniture. And a car someday. Right now I feel really poor and really young, especially compared to Rachel.
She told me that the average age range in the ward is 27 to 30. I'm going to be the baby of the ward! That's such a weird concept. I feel so old in my current college town singles ward, but when I move to SLC I'm gonna be the one who has no furniture, no car, and no permanent occupation.
After I got the grand tour and bonded with Rachel a bit, I went and hung out with my relatives just a street away (I'm SO EXCITED to live that close to them!!). Then, at 2:00, I began the long journey back home. My uncle dropped me off at the station in central Salt Lake, but I had a half hour to wait for Frontrunner. So, brilliant mind that I am, I looked at the schedule for TRAX and saw that it would get to the Murray station just a few minutes ahead of the train. I thought, "Eh, might as well get on TRAX now and get some traveling done, then meet the train in Murray, rather than just wait here for a half hour."
BIG mistake.
TRAX did not, in fact, get to the station a few minutes ahead of the train. I MISSED the train. By TWO MINUTES. And since there are less-frequent trains on Saturdays, I had to wait a WHOLE HOUR for the next one. Way to save time, Carly!
But I made it home by 5:00pm, completely worn out and feeling gross. I was going to blog about this on Saturday night, but I actually fell asleep at 8:30PM, I was SO TIRED. And I slept until 8:00 the next morning, which is pretty much unprecedented for me.
Anyways, I learned a lot from this trip to Salt Lake, and it made me really happy that I'm going to be living there soon.
If I absolutely have to work and live in a big city, I'm glad it's Salt Lake City. Yeah, the outskirts are kind of dingy and gross, but downtown itself is beautiful, as are the suburbs where my relatives live (and where I'll probably spend a lot of my time).
While I resent not having a car to take me wherever I want whenever I want to go, I'm glad there's such good public transportation to take me around. You get such a different view of the city when you rely on public transportation. You actually see people. I've driven around SLC so many times with my family, and I just never realized how many different types of people live there. When you get on a train, though, you get a very good sampling--businessmen, young families, the homeless, all mixed together.
The smells of public transportation kind of make me sick, and I'll definitely be investing in some hand sanitizer once I live there. Also, I ran into some very sketchy-looking people. That used to freak me out like no other when I was younger, but the mission taught me not to judge too much by appearance. I learned to make eye contact and smile and just remember that we're all people here. I know it's not all the same here, but in Paraguay I chatted with groups of drunk men, prostitutes, and thieves-for-hire. They're not my preferred company, but I learned that we all have the human experience in common, and so many people are friendlier than they seem if you just give them the chance. I don't have any right to be aloof or condescending.
I was afraid that I would come off that way when I was on TRAX. I was dressed very nicely because I wanted to impress my roommate, but all around me in the car were people who looked like they were wearing everything they owned. It made me feel like a snob. I'll be dressing MUCH nicer if I get the internship I want, but I need to learn to be a friendly, smiling, accepting nicely-dressed person, not an entitled rich kid (I'm definitely NOT an entitled rich kid, but I don't want to even SEEM like one).
I have an image to maintain, though. At the TRAX station, I ran into a guy who eagerly asked me if I smoked (he was probably looking for a hand-out). I just smiled and said, "Nope." He laughed and said, "You don't look like you smoke." I smiled bigger and was this close to saying, "I take that as a compliment." I really did. I like looking drug-free and in control of my life. I've got to keep that up.
Anyways, that's just a recap of my visit to Salt Lake. I'm sure I'll have many more experiences to share once I actually live there. Stay tuned!
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