A week later...she looks for an apartment.

There are several things to do in lieu of going to grad school. Turns out looking for an apartment is one of them.

The apartment hunt, dutifully led by my cousin with whom I will be sharing a "lovely 2BR apt, in a quiet location, with a lot of light, shiny hardwood floor, high ceilings, brand new ceramic tiles in the kitchen and bathroom, brand new electric appliances," has commenced. (Notice we only get one hard wood floor, but multiple high ceilings-- I've learned it is important to pay close attention to details such as these.) 

We have yet to find an apartment, that isn't
a. located atop a sketchy barbershop....

b. at the end of a long hallway overlooking a dimly lit alleyway full of garbage and abandoned furniture,

c. reeking of cat litter....used cat litter.

And when they say electric appliances, they mean the standard refrigerator and oven. Don't get excited. Nobody's throwing in a free toaster or smoothie-maker. You will have a refrigerator. You will have an oven and a stove....they will (most likely not) be brand new. You will deal with this.

At the end of the search, exhaustion sets in, but ultimately you're stuck in a dream world. It looks like this:

2 BR loft only $1550! No broker fees, in a beautiful, safe area. Not a barbershop in sight.
Available exactly when you're ready to move in and not a moment before!

Snapping out of this dream world, you will be faced with the fact that your first-ever apartment will probably resemble this:

$1625/mo. Pets under 30lbs welcome.

Good to know. Now, where's the damn scale?

I promise, the search is tons of fun. And by June, I know I will have that lovely apartment with hard wood floor(s) that I'll probably cover with an area rug, wall-to-wall furniture, and eventually lots of clothes, clean and dirty. I have just negated the appeal of hard-word floor(s), but I ignore this realization. Floor or floor(s), half of it is mine, all mine, and I can't wait :)