apartment update & other stuff
So, I figured everything out! The landlord and the property manager came by on Wednesday and looked at the apartment after I wrote them an email complaining about the state of the place saying it had been misrepresented and that I wanted out by the end of the month. They didn't seem to be aware of just how horrible things were and were pretty understanding and tried to offer a solution suggesting to call a meeting with the other roommates and bring in maintenance to clean the place up but I remained adamant in my wish to move out. Seeing that they would not be able to change my mind they finally suggested that I could move into the other side of the house. A room would be freeing up in September and they said I could look at it.
We went up there. It's exactly the same room on the third floor just on the other side and it's still not the nicest house (it could really use some renovation) but it looks so much nicer. It looks lived in but not dirty as fuck like this one. I know two boys live in it, one grad student and one other guy, I have no idea what he does but he's also a Yale student of some sort. I met him briefly because he moved in on Wednesday and he seemed nice. I can't wait to make the move. The owner also got in touch with one of the two roommates who apparently has a reputation for being really messy and had some choice words with her about kicking her out if she didn't start keeping things clean, so the state of the apartment has improved. The two girls have cleaned. It's still dirty but it's cleaner than before and the common area isn't filled with R.'s stuff now but I still don't want to go in there. I'm keeping everything, even bathroom stuff, in my room because I don't want to spread out too much since I won't be here long. I can do that once I'm in the other apartment.
And apparently I raised hell enough for the landlord to get involved and have the gas turned back on. That's not really his job from what I've understood but I'm not complaining. That'll make it a lot easier to find new tenants though because the two people I showed my current room though were understandably pretty put off by the fact that the gas had been turned off.
I went to the African American Studies Dept. yesterday and met the registrar who is just so nice. I'm still not sure what a registrar does since we don't have one at my university but she was great and we sat around and talked for a while. She showed me my mailbox and was so happy that I was so excited to be there. I was also given a key to a kitchen that is bigger than my entire apartment in Konstanz, had really comfortable couches and a fireplace and a graduate lounge. Starting on August 26 I'll be given 24/7 access to the building. And free access to the copier/printer! That's just amazing considering that my boss in Konstanz is only allowed to print for about 20€ a year.
I also got assigned an advisor. I've never had an advisor before. I just picked one for myself and that happened to be my boss because I had taken several classes with her and we clicked (which is also why she hired me) but mostly I advised myself. I'm not sure what I should talk to him about. My master's thesis? And I need to meet with the director of graduate studies twice before finalizing my course selection. That's pretty cute because I've never been advised about what courses to take though I do of course appreciate it and look forward to it.
My mom arrived yesterday and I showed her around New Haven some, then we went shopping for some stuff I still needed. Sheets, towels, a nightstand and mirror. I'm not sure what to do with her tomorrow. I went into the Beinecke Library with her today to show her the two Gutenberg Bibles and we spent some time pouring over this small exhibition of some letters by the last Hohenzollerns. That was pretty fun because the letters were in English and German and we read them aloud but talked about them in Portuguese, so it was a real confusion of languages. I always love that.
Oh! And I finished my exposé for the thesis. I sent it of to Melanie so she can read it and then I'm going to hand it in unless she says it's horrible. Then I might have to reconsider but it should be okay. Only two more assignments for Konstanz left to do. One I have a pretty good draft done of and should be able to complete over the next couple of days. The other I need some books from the library from and haven't mastered the courage to go in there yet because it looks so impressive. The greatest part of Konstanz's library has been closed since 2010 because they found asbestos in there. It's supposed to reopen in Spring 2015 but I think they just found more asbestos, so there might be more delays and I haven't had a real library to my disposal during my studies. I shouldn't complain though, Konstanz tries really hard and makes books available as quickly as possible. The ones that aren't accessible all the time (Konstanz's library is open 24/7) are stored in warehouses and you order them online and they'll usually be ready for pick-up the very next day. But all this rambling is really to disguise the fact that I'm lazy and don't want to write the last paper...
Anyway, off to bed. I'm sleepy. My mom has been asleep for about two hours now and will probably be up at five again. She's very quiet and even though she sleeps against the wall and has to climb over me to get out of bed, she manages to do so without waking me but I don't want want to be up too late since I know she's still on German time.