College Digs

While Mike and I were on our road trip we stopped in Utah to have breakfast with Emily's good friend, Laura Flannery.  Laura is attending grad school at the University of Utah this year while Emily is going to grad school at UC Berkeley.  Thus I got to see two college residences in one week.

Laura lives in an apartment building.  As you enter the ground floor you walk right into an open space that contains a pool table, fireplace, two big screen televisions and has doors that open on to a tanning bed or a hot tub or the theater room.

However to be frank, what impressed Mike and I the most was that her bed was made when we toured her very nice one bedroom one bath apartment.  Possibly she always makes her bed (if so good job Mom Amy and how did you do that?) but as no one in my family with one exception (me) does that we were rendered momentarily speechless.

Two days later we drove up to Emily's house in Berkeley California.  Her house was built many years ago but has since been converted to a rental property.  Her bedroom is on the ground floor in the former dining room.  She shares the living room, two baths and kitchen with three other students who live in the three bedrooms that are on the ground floor.  Another group of students has their own entrance to the top floor where they share living quarters.  The house has enough driveway space for those who live there to park their cars off the street.  They are one block from a Starbucks and Whole Foods and about a half mile or so from the college campus.

Emily's room was furnished with a bed, dresser, built in hutch, an armoire some lamps and a desk.  Mike helped her gain more space by building a
chest/coffee table from a kit we found a Walmart and showing her how to lay her suitcase open, fill it with stuff and shove it under the bed.  He also bought her the Cyclone fan at Walmart because when you need a fan you need the biggest one you can find.

Finally we finished setting up Emily's room.  Besides building stuff, Mike handled the technology set ups for the new printer, old television and DVR and introduced Emily to Google Chromecast.  With Chromecast and its app, she can use her phone to stream her favorite TV shows and music on to her television.

Mike and I went home well pleased.  We had seen first hand that both girls were happy and excited to be in their new homes and eager to start their next phase of life.