The Apartment Search

As I've looked for an apartment over the last couple of weeks, I began to grow nervous about my future living situation. Although I had been looking on Craigslist for possible roommates, I hadn't really gotten a lot of responses to my initial email and thought that maybe people weren't interested in living with a Texan who said things like "y'all" and "darn". Or maybe it was the fact that I didn't have a job and wouldn't be moving for another few weeks that scared them. Nonetheless, my apartment search is now over.

I've signed a one-year lease for a five bedroom, two bath duplex in Wrigleyville, so named for it's proximity to Wrigley Field, where the Chicago Cubs play. The duplex is two stories, with a living room area on each floor, one bathroom on each and two bedrooms upstairs and three downstairs (I'll be on the first floor). I'll be living with four roommates and couldn't possibly be more excited about that. I mean I'm moving to city where I have one friend, so having a lot of roommates is going to be a really good way of meeting people. They all seem really cool and I think everyone is from a different state: NY, NJ, IL and of course TX. There's actually one I have yet to talk to so I'm not sure where she's from. I think it's going to be an awesome experience to live in this tiny melting pot of a duplex, and I'm jealous that some of the roommates are already there. I'm sure we'll have lots of roommate bonding time when I get there, so I'm not too worried about it.

Here's a little map of where the neighborhoods in Chicago are:

I know it's kind of basic, but it get's the point across. Wrigleyville is inside of Lakeview, and this map shows them as sort of interchangeable, but I think that's just for the sake of space on this map. Anyway, it's right above Lincoln Park, which I've heard is one of the nicer areas and one of the ones I was definitely interested in living in. The Loop is the downtown area of Chicago, and I'm just a short train ride away from the heart of it. It's going to be so weird seeing the Chicago skyline from my doorstep, but that's one of the things I'm most excited about.

Out of all the apartments I've looked at, I was most excited about this one. I don't have the listing for it on Craigslist anymore, so I don't have any of the pictures from the realty agency but I'll post pictures as soon as I get there. I cannot wait to live here and get to know these people that I will be living with for the next year.

Here's a link to a site with information about Wrigleyville, and a semi-informative video. http://www.chicagotraveler.com/neighborhoods/wrigleyville-feature.htm