In Your SELF Interest: Cornell

Two Fridays ago we left PA, drove three vehicles up to NY (our car, the moving truck, and my parent's car) and then didn't even move in to an apartment. We had an apartment all lined up. We got there and it was not what we expected. We hadn't seen the actual apartment because we showed up Friday afternoon on our way out of Ithaca, desperate to find something that wasn't falling apart. We did not show up with enough notice for the management company to inform the tenant that there was a showing, so the lady there showed us an apartment that was "exactly the same size and layout." It was small, but it would work for a year. We said we'd do it. (I'm not one to pull the trigger on an apartment that I've never seen, but we didn't seem to have any other option).

We arrive on Friday, sign a bunch of papers, but then ask if we can see the apartment before we signed the actual lease since we hadn't seen the apartment yet. We walked in the apartment and oh boy, it was hard to hold in the tears on my part. I immediately knew that we could not live there. It was itty bitty bitty bitty tiny. All of our stuff would not have made it inside. Our bed wouldn't have fit in either of the rooms. It wasn't the place we were supposed to live. I hadn't been feeling to great about things the week of the move anyways, so I wasn't too surprised when things didn't go as planned (not that that made it any easier).

So there we were with a moving truck that needed to go back that day, people we had never met from the branch before that were there to help us move in, and no place to even stay for the night (it was already 5 p.m. by this point). The branch president is pretty much amazing and took us right in. We went to his place, ordered pizza and talked about what to do. We were able to extend our time with the truck and the branch president and his wife said that we were welcome to stay as long as we needed (blessings blessing blessings). My parents had booked a hotel up near Lake Champlain for their anniversary, so they took off, even though they really wanted to help us move.

We spent all morning and afternoon on Saturday looking for a place. A little less fun this time around since poor Shae was with us. I felt so bad for the kid. How many "new houses" were we gonna see? He was bored and surely confused. We did take a little break and spent some time at the park for everyone's sake.

Let's just say, apartment shopping was a bit easier this time around. We had much lower expectations (no expectation of laundry, 3rd bedroom, or anything under $1000). Also, some "nicer" apartment complexes (that I had wanted to look at back in June but didn't because they were just a little out of our price range) were having a sale: if you signed up by August 15th your rent would be $200 cheaper for the first year of the lease. That put the apartments in our higher-than-desired price range. So we did it. (Sometimes planning and preparation in advance aren't all they are cracked up to be--that trip up here in June is looking like a big waste of money to me right about now).

Anyways, that's the long crazy story of our first couple days in Ithaca. On Sunday, we were still at the branch president's house (we moved in on Monday). Life had been crazy, so it was really refreshing to enjoy church so much. The branch seems really great. It's fun to be in a student branch where everyone is kind of going through similar things. Sunday afternoon we got out for a nice relaxing walk which was also quite refreshing. Plus, Cornell's campus is breathtaking which made the walk extra enjoyable. Here's some pictures we snapped while walking around campus. (Pretty sure we didn't even see half of campus though, it is huge!)

Everyone calls this the Harry Potter library. From what we've heard, the inside is pretty stunning and resembles the library at Hogwarts. I was so disappointed when we got there and found out it is closed on Sundays during the summer. I can't wait to see it.