Getting Settled In

I have had a couple of busy months recently. I moved into a new apartment at the beginning of October, which was an experience to say the least. Moving in New York can be a stressful experience, but overall the move was pretty successful. After breathing a huge sigh of relief, my roommate and I went straight to work to make our new place a much homier space. Upon hearing that I had moved, a receptionist at one of my assigned schools urged me to make my apartment my comfort space simply because “one needs to find a way to escape from the hustle and bustle of this city.” I have taken his advice very seriously and have made countless of trips to furniture stores, Target, Marshalls, TJMaxx, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and Kmart. I must admit that I still have to get used to the rules of city shopping. I need to just come to terms with the fact that most stores only have a limited amount of items. I also have to acknowledge that the majority of stores do not honor weekly Sunday ads unless you bring them in. I guess these are the little things you learn as you try to search for home décor on a Princeton Project 55 budget.

Moving to a new neighborhood also has its perks. I am now living on the Upper West Side, which is full of shops, cheap restaurants, and bars. In addition, I am now very close to Riverside Park and able to go for an evening jog whenever I feel like it. However, the best part of my recent move is that I am literally 10 minutes away from work. It is quite amazing!

Things at work are also falling into place. Over the last five weeks, I managed to meet with every single one of my 89 students; I was quite proud of this accomplishment. I learned quite a bit a lot from this first cycle of visits. I now am aware of the logistical difficulties that may prevent me from meeting with students. Additionally, I now know that kids have such a short attention span, that you have to barrage them with reminder emails and phone calls. I am hoping that all of these strategies will make my second cycle of visits run smoothly. Overall, I finally feel that I am getting settled in and love it!