Greetings from Miami!

Greetings from Miami!

I would like to apologize for taking so long to update you all on my situation in Miami. I don’t have internet hooked up in my apartment yet, and because of Hurricane Faye, it has been too windy and rainy to sit outside at the pool with my laptop, which is the only place with free wireless internet in my apartment complex.

As for Hurricane Faye, I believe I can already call myself a true Floridian since I have survived a hurricane. On Sunday, which was only two days after I moved in, I went to church and was informed of the hurricane by some of the people there. I was pretty freaked out since I had never experience a tropical storm before, but they told me all about how to prepare for it and what to expect. Luckily, I saw almost nothing of the storm. I have heard, though, that parts of Miami were really damaged by it.

Allow me to go back, though, and start from the beginning of my trip.

Thursday night, my best friend Julie showed up to help me with my packing. I really appreciated that since I had not packed a single thing before she arrived. She helped me to pack four HUGE suitcases (which I took on the airplane) and three boxes (which are being mailed to me). She stayed late into the night. I am SO glad that I was able to spend that time with her before I left, but that meant that I got little sleep that night.

Friday morning, my mom and I woke up early for our flight. Trying to give Pip (my kitten) Benadryl so that he would sleep through the flight was a disaster. My mom and I both got hundreds of scratches, and in the end, Pip still found a way to keep the pill in his cheek until we weren’t looking and he got a chance to spit it out. Trying to get through the airport and through security was also a nightmare. Between the two of us, my mother and I were carrying four very large suitcases, two howling animals, and two overstuffed “purses” (which is all they would allow us in addition to the animals we had as carry-ons). Trying to move it all was so hard that we ended up having to kick some of our bags across the airport to the ticket counter. The flight was also awful, since Pip and Francheska (my Chihuahua) were making A LOT of noise. In hindsight, though, it probably wasn’t that bad since the screaming baby in the seat in front of my mom was even louder than my two animals put together. When we arrived at Miami International Airport, we had to wait an hour for the car we rented. We drove to the leasing office of my apartment complex, and were informed that we were supposed to have with us a cashier’s check for a few thousand dollars for the remainder of the deposit on our apartment. We drove to the nearest credit union, where we had to wait an hour for them to fax my mother’s credit union to be sure that she had enough money in her account. On our way back to the apartment, we had to run in to the nearest supermarket to buy a litter box, litter, cat and dog food, toilet paper, and handsoap, while leaving the animals in the car in the billion-degree weather. These were things we thought we’d need immediately after getting into my apartment. We got back to the leasing office, and I had to wait another hour for the lease for me to sign, and to get my key. By this time, it had been twelve hours since I had eaten or since my animals had a chance to get out of their bags. It had been even longer since my animals had had food or water, since I didn’t give it to them in the morning before the flight. Then, I was FINALLY allowed into my apartment. Thankfully, my electricity and water were already turned on. After letting my animals out and giving them food, water, litter for the cat and a chance to go outside for my dog, my mom and I went out for breakfast/lunch/dinner. The rest of the day was spent exploring the apartment complex and putting some of my things away. Beth, my roommate, arrived around midnight that night.

The next day was spent grocery shopping and at stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond and Linens & Things.

On Sunday, my mother and I woke up early to go to church at Trinity Cathedral, which will be my new church and which is only a 20-minute bus ride away from my apartment. The cathedral is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The priest told me that a few of the people who attend church there also live in my apartment complex, and will probably be willing to give me rides. After church, my mom, Beth, Beth’s mom, Beth’s aunt, and myself all took a trip to Ikea, which is about 30 minutes away from where we are living. Since I flew out to Miami and couldn’t take much with me, I had to buy all the furniture for my apartment I will need. The five of us spent Sunday night putting together furniture.

Early Monday morning, Mom left for her flight back to Detroit. About mid-morning, Beth and her family woke up and took me on one last trip to Target, and also to the Social Security Office, because I lost my social security card and need it for City Year registration. Beth’s mom and aunt left around noon for the drive back to Louisiana, and then Beth and I had the place to ourselves! We spent some time looking for our mailbox, the pool, the trash dumpsters, and the laundry machines, and then spent several hours putting together the rest of our furniture. Then we hooked up our microwave and had our first meal in our new apartment (leftovers from the meal our families bought for us at TGI Friday’s the night before), and then went to bed early and exhausted.

That now brings me to today. Hopefully it will be sunny today, because Beth and I have seen nothing of downtown Miami yet, and would like to go exploring in the nice weather.
We have the next week to do that, though, so it won’t be too unfortunate if the weather is awful today.

As for Florida, it is absolutely beautiful. It has been the perfect temperature, even when it rains. The plant are beautiful, there are cute little lizards running around everywhere (including two that somehow got into my bedroom). My apartment is also great. I have a three-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that I will be sharing with Beth and one other person. The bedrooms are kind of small, but bigger than the shoebox bedroom I have been living in for 13 years. We have a nice-sized kitchen and a large living room, which is also where we have the table we will eat our meals at. I can see palm trees outside me bedroom window, and the window in the living room faces the street, but isn’t too bad either since we can hear absolutely no car noises. We are on the second floor, which is good for security reasons, and is okay since there aren’t that many steps. The trash dumpsters that we have to carry our trash to are on the opposite side of the complex, but the laundry room is right next door to us. The complex is large and consists of 540 apartments. We are living in Miami’s design district, which is a small area sandwiched between the downtown area and the ocean. Fortunately, the bus stop closest to us is right next to our front door. We are also .1 miles away from Walgreens and Publix, which is the Florida equivalent of Meijer. All in all, I love Miami and my apartment.

When it is sunnier outside, I’ll go around to take picture to post here. That is, only if I can figure out how!

CYM countdown: 9 days

-Aly