Real Life Stuff

[brigdh]

Lately I've been going through the various hoops to secure housing for next year. It's a process made even more complicated than it already is by the fact that I somehow didn't get word that I was supposed to be doing anything at all until two days after the deadline (I suspect the original email got caught as spam; I've been having issues with my school email lately. Thirty pieces of spam within a few hours is not normal, people, especially since the freakin' Yahoo account I've had for seven years usually only lets one or two pieces a day slip through), and then the first time I sent the forms in, they got lost in the mail.

I still don't know exactly where I'll be living; it'll be one of three places, but the ultimate sorting depends partly on who you get as a roommate. They've set up a discussion board for people to see who they might be compatible with. Of course, everyone else started this over two weeks ago, so I'm not sure how many people are left for me to choose from.

Things that are not appealing: writing up a description of yourself, your interests and habits, while trying to simultaneously seem likeable to the type of people you would be interested in and unattractive to anyone who would annoy you. But I sat down last night and trudged through it, then posted it before I went to bed.

Pros: By the time I got up this morning, I had already gotten an email from the girl whose own description I had found most appealing on the entire site.
Cons: She already has a roommate, just wants to be friends, and I've gotten emails from no one else.

...I don't know if I'm encouraged or depressed by this.

Comments

[kessie.livejournal.com]

That's sucks. :( I'm currently freaking out about housing, as well: cross your fingers that Trinity will give me a place in one of their on-campus student halls. Since Trinity is plonked right in the middle of Dublin city centre, housing prices are hideous, and I doubt I'll be able to go if I don't get on-campus housing. If I have to live with a family in digs, I will, and try and find somewhere better, but that's my absolute last resort.

If I do postgrad stuff in my current college, it'll be fine as I'll be able to stay where I am currently. But no one really does postgrad stuff in the same college as their undergrad, and I'm looking forward to going up to Dublin for a year. :(

Yeah, I've been freaking out about this for a while.

I hope your roommate search improves. :|

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ooo, yes- good luck with getting student housing. If you don't get it, though, could you try looking on the outskirts of the city? There's likely to be cheaper housing there, and it'd be better than nothing.

And yeah, it's nice to be able to go somewhere new, especially if it's somewhere cool.

Thanks, and you too!

[kessie.livejournal.com]

Well, in my aplication I'm applying for everything - on-campus, off-campus, single and shared rooms (with, er, slight preference for on-camus single), but I'll take literally anything they'll get me. Living through the college accommodation is much cheaper than renting from a private landlord/agent. I'm not a great person to share a room with, but it's for a year, and god, I'll cope. T_T

I'm hoping the fact that I'm at the opposite end of the country might work in my favour. Haha. But, really, as long as I get a roof over my head, I'll take it. :D

Outskirts of the city is a definite desperate resort. I'm also trying to see if I know anyone-who-knows-someone-who-has-a-bit-of-leeway-with-a-landlord kind of thing. Hee, whatever works.

I just need to get away from home. Desperately.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I'm not a great person to share a room with, but it's for a year, and god, I'll cope. T_T

Hah, I'm just the opposite. I'm incredibly zen with roommates and nothing bothers me, but I don't want to live in a single because I'm afraid I'd become a hermit. I already have way too many introverted tendencies; I see no reason to encourage them.

I'm hoping the fact that I'm at the opposite end of the country might work in my favour.

Yeah. I bet the people who make these decisions take that into account. I'd be surprised if they didn't, really. Good luck either way, though!

I just need to get away from home. Desperately.

God, I feel you. I don't know if I could have made it all the way through undergrad living with my family, and mine's not even that bad.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Eh, it's not terrible! I mean, I know I'll be living somewhere, and while I'd like to have a roommate I'm friends with, it's not really necessary. I've always been pretty zen about roommate issues, and have never had any real problems, so I doubt I'd end up in a diaster.

Um. I don't know when the next deadline is, actually. I should totally look that up.

No, I could do it on my own, but this is easier than Craig's list since I'm several states away from New York. I'd be wary about renting an apartment without being able to see it first.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

NYU is in the Village, where housing prices are insane even by normal New York standards. I'm guessing that student housing is at least subsidized enough to make it possible to live there.

Apartment hunting in the city is legendarily ghastly. This sounds pretty icky too -- the mere thought of having to write up an enticing-but-not-too-enticing description of myself and waiting to see who might still be available makes me shudder -- but I suspect it's still a huge improvement on what happens when you leave NYU's sheltering arm. At least, for the first year.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that student housing is at least subsidized enough to make it possible to live there.

That's right, though it's still impressivly high compared to the rents I'm used to. Man, am I glad that I'm not paying for this out of my own funds.

I'm not loving this system, but it's actually a much better way of doing things than any other I've seen. It's certainly a step up from the "leave a flyer on some billboards around town" method of finding a roommate.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Well, I think having a potential friend would be nice in a new area. But eek, hope your roommate issues work out. I think there should be one or two people who were late in applying.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. I'm very glad that I got a response from her at all.

And I've since gotten at least one more, so things aren't terrible, just eh. Now I'm trying to balance the people who sound most interesting against the building I most want to be in, and either way I'm going to have to sacrifice something. This whole real life thing, man, it's so annoying.