Well! I got my first good look at East Lansing, MI last week! And it's...well, East Lansing is a lot like Gainesville. College-y, diverse. The rest of the Lansing area? Not so much. I've never lived in a city before...a REAL city...so it was very different.
The trip up was long. Georgia is the longest freaking state EVER, followed by Indiana. UGH. But we didn't do them in one day. We left at about 5am, made it to Ohio with relatively little difficulty (only one huge traffic jam), and spent the night with the fabulous Chase and Sarah. We hit the road at 9am the next day and powered it through the 6 1/2 hours to West Michigan. My adorable nephew was at my mother in laws, so we played with him for a bit.
Anyway, you don't care about that, you care about moving and LANSING! We got there on Tuesday, and the MSU campus is HUGE. Way bigger than UF, even though they have less students. It's just really expansive and spread out. We found a great apartment, in a community called Ville Montee'--820sq ft 1 bedroom. Coin laundry, but it's on the same floor so I'll deal with it. It has a really nice porch and a big sliding glass door, so kitties will be quite pleased.
I also found the office of a woman who has been particularly helpful to me in my job hunt. I did not get a position in her office, but she directed me to another position she thinks I would be excellent at (and, lo and behold, I am in consideration! They contacted my coworker for a reference! But, another post that is.). I thanked her in person for her help, and we chatted for a few minutes.
It was HOT HOT HOT in Lansing most of the time we were there. I don't know how people live without AC! Most places didn't have it. But I guess heat is more important than AC there!
Now the interesting part. I wish I had this on video. We flew back from MI, leaving Dr. Bug's car there. Our flight left Grand Rapids at 7am. We got there an hour early (had already checked in, just had to get through security)...and stood in security for an HOUR. We almost missed our flight! We ran and made it, and then they held it for 10 minutes because so many people were still stuck in security. Got to Detroit, got on the flight, all is well. Get to Atlanta...
...our flight to Gainesville has been delayed. Fine, cool, whatever. Then another text message--our flight was CANCELLED. Cancelled?!?! NOOOOOOOOO! I scan my boarding pass in a kiosk, and they print out a phone number and a $6 "meal voucher." SIX BUCKS? Umm so I can buy...a bottle of water? A baggie of peanuts? Maybe a coffee?
I call Delta. They put us on Standby for the next two flights, and confirm us a flight in the morning. First flight, D concourse, so we go from C to D--overbooked. Second flight, back to C concourse--overbooked, asking for volunteers to give up their seat. SIGHHHH. By this point, we had a whole pity party of people hanging out who got kicked off the flight. I made a new friend, named Jess, who is a horse person too--she breeds Arabians and is a blacksmith who is a barefoot expert. She was on her way to a conference in Gainesville from Boston.
Well, the little crew of us got sick of waiting, and we all stormed the Delta counter to demand our hotel and meal vouchers. This group were the ONLY Delta reps who were even remotely nice to us. Jess demanded that she be put in the same hotel as Dr. Bugs and I. We take the shuttle (which we waited 45 minutes for) to the hotel, clean up, and hit the restaurant. More hilarity ensues.
These people didn't even know what was on their own MENU. They told Jess they had onion soup, she ordered it, and got...LOBSTER BISQUE. What? "Oh, we don't have onion soup today." "But you said that was your soup of the day!" "Okay I'll go make you some." "But you just said you didn't HAVE any....just bring me a salad." I got a chicken flatbread, and this chick comes out of the kitchen yelling "Who ordered a...uhh...pizza?!" Craig got his salad like 30 minutes before the rest of us got food. What a hot mess.
We finally got home Saturday morning. Jess managed to get on our flight too, even though she wasn't confirmed until a later flight that day.
Sunday I woke up sick. BOO. But I'm better now.
But, I'm starting to get excited about moving. Our lease begins on August 20th! Now we have to figure out how to get our stuff up there--and also what we keep, and what we sell. We will for sure be selling our washer and dryer, our table and chairs (it won't go through a long distance move), our recliner (SNIFF NOOO), a bookshelf or two...
On to the decluttering phase (meaning making my husband not a packrat)...
Stay tuned! Photo post to come!
I recommend Penske over U-haul, they're always cheaper!
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