MeghanIsMe

Trying to figure out the Syracuse public transit system is like deciphering encryption. The website sucks, the trip planner on it doesn't work, Google Transit doesn't seem to have the routes in its system, and the proliferation of route numbers on the PDF map are beyond comprehension. If I wasn't carrying a bunch of heavy books, a laptop, and four days of clothing, I'd just walk the two-and-a-half miles. It's not that far.

Danae and I are leaving in an hour or so for Sault Ste. Marie, MI. We're going to drive around the lake and through the lower peninsula on the way there, which means we get to cross the Mackinac Bridge! On Friday evening, we'll drive to Marinette where we'll spend the night, then wander the city on Saturday and head home around the other side of the lake.

This will be a wonderful weekend!

I'm driving to Syracuse next week. I'm leaving Evanston with Danae around 5 in the morning, hopefully. I'll drop her off in Hamilton, Ontario and visit her parents briefly, then drive on alone to Syracuse for a visit weekend for prospective students. I'm in a mild state of surprise that this point has already arrived.

Anyway, I've been poking at housing options in the area, both on Craigslist and on the university-operated housing boards called Orange Housing. I've also looked around for a co-op, because I've been enchanted by the idea of communal living for years. I'd like to give it a try.

I did eventually find a co-op near the university. It's a place called Bread and Roses; they were advertising some openings on Craigslist. They own a couple of old houses, Victorians I think I read, on adjoining lots. Rent is income-based, and residents also commit to devoting twenty hours of work per month for the collective.

I love the idea of having a ready-made community to share my time and company with, if I fit in. I also feel like this kind of living makes a tremendous amount of sense in terms of resource use and economics. Sociality is the biggest hole in my life, and the idea of coming home to hot food and pleasant company on a regular basis is *so* appealing. The food is all vegetarian, and mostly vegan, so that could be a problem for me. Maybe I could manage to work with it; I'm getting, lot better lately, and if it wasn't for my food texture issues, I'd have considered becoming vegetarian already.

But I also worry about my feelings of stress surrounding time and control. I haven't had full control over my own living space, outside my small room, for a very long time. I love the idea of a busy, sociable house full of people to interact with. There's some romanticism in my thoughts, I'm sure, but I think people who choose to live in a co-op are probably a lot like me. I want to be a part of something idealistic, political, purposeful. But just as much, I love the idea of having my own space that is totally mine, wherein I am accountable only to myself. I love the idea of having full control over my time; shopping, cooking, cleaning, relaxing entirely on my own schedule. The very idea is just such a relief. I've felt tightly bound by external constraints for a long time; maybe the best thing for my mental state would be some time and space all to myself for a while. I haven't decided for sure yet, bet at this point I'm leaning toward renting a studio apartment for my first year in New York. Then, after that, maybe I'll think about giving up a bit more control of my surroundings in order to have that communal experience.

Just because I'm living alone doesn't mean I can't develop a social network and have people over to my space on a regular basis, or visit theirs. But it does mean never stressing about being on someone else's schedule outside of my academic commitments. That's deeply appealing in its own way, especially at this point in my life.