Well, I’ve been in my new house in Savannah for almost a week now, and things are going great. Last Saturday, my dad and stepmom took me to Target and to the grocery store, moved me in, and left. I didn’t realize how used I had gotten to living with them until it was time for them to go, and I got really sad. In the week since I’ve been missing them a lot.

(I realize that you all might be thinking, you know, duh right about now, but I’m not very close to my mom or stepdad, so when I leave their house I don’t feel very affected by it. This “missing the parents” feeling is a new, pleasant experience.)

My two roommates are great and very friendly and helpful, but I’d spent the last month basically hanging out with my stepmom all day every day, so I’ve sort of been going through withdrawal not seeing her anymore. Apparently she has too; we’ve talked on the phone almost every day and she’s already talking about picking up my friend M and coming for a visit.

In the same way that every month I get sad and weepy for a day or two and for some reason NEVER CONNECT THE DOTS that it’s due to my period, I forgot about my tendency to get sort of depressed and anxious each time I arrive in a new place. I remember when I first moved into my DC apartment – I had been living at my mom’s for a few months, and I moved in on Valentines’ Day of 2003. As if that isn’t an odd enough moving date, it happened to be a Friday, the day before the whole East Coast got hit with that huge snowstorm. So my mom and stepdad (and also that ex-boyfriend, the one from Detroit) moved me in and then took off to get back home before the blizzard hit.

Aaaaand…the blizzard hit that night. Remember how it snowed all weekend, and then nobody had to go to work for like three days the next week? Well, those five days were pretty much my introduction to living alone. It was more than enough time to get my IKEA furniture set up, hang things on the walls, and hang up my clothes. It was lots of time to sit around. Alone. In a one-person apartment. Talk about moving-in depression – not knowing anyone in my building (or in all of DC, actually) yet, I had lots of time to get to know myself.

(Ew, not in that way.)

Moving in here was easier, definitely. I mean, I have roommates this time, which helps a ton. And they are wonderful. (On my first night here, we made a late night beer run. I was in my pajamas. They did not mind.)

The school had made this big song-and-dance about Savannah being a pedestrian city, cars are discouraged for students, all you need is a bike, blah blah blah. Which is true, technically. But they sort of overlook that period when you first arrive somewhere, and you have large items to buy and things to sort out, and all those superstores are located out in the strip-mall suburb-land. So I have really lucked out that my roommates have been so cool about helping me out.

The girl took me to the pawn shop to buy a bike, and Oh! what a bike it is. I love it. I was expecting to get just a rusty, junky, generic street-riding bicycle, and instead I found one that looks like it belongs in Back to the Future, or possibly Grease. It is really cute. The body is sort of thick and black and it has silver cursive writing on it. The day after I got it, I rode downtown to get a chain and a lock, and it was soooo nice to be whizzing down the streets instead of trudging along in the heat. Of course, when I got to the main downtown avenues I had to get off and walk it down the sidewalks, because I am a dork and a wuss and not ready to brave traffic, but other than that this whole bike-riding thing is terrific.

And yesterday my guy roommate took me to buy a mattress. I got it from this guy who had an ad in the paper, and it sounded super-sketchy, what with the whole “meet me at my storage unit” thing, but the mattress is fine and it was brand new (wrapped in plastic!) (for all you Twin Peaks fans, heh) and it was very cheap, so that’s the important thing. I think.

The two of us did have a good time together in his car on the way home, freaking out over whether we’d done a good enough job tying it to the roof or not. Thankfully we had. (Or, he had, if we’re keeping score over these things.)

Not everything has gone swimmingly: my ipod, which is BRAND FREAKING NEW, doesn’t work. I had to send it back today and apparently I’ll get it back, fixed, in a few weeks. Wah whine etc.

Also, I am still using my roommate’s computer for all internet stuff (thus, no blog-reading still, and yes I am all twitchy and panicked from quitting you guys cold-turkey like this). Did you know that wireless cards for iMac computers are really really expensive? You did? You knew that? Why did you not tell me? I am always the last to know. So I am putting that off for a bit. Between the ipod, Target, the new bike, and the new mattress (and, um, tuition), I need to not buy any more new crap for a few weeks now.

Anyway though, Savannah is FABULOUS, you guys. It’s not crazy hot (yet) and the town is just so beautiful and unique. My favorite place ever is London, and this is pretty much the closest thing to London you can get in America, I think. I just love the squares, and the trees with Spanish moss, and the amazing old houses. I love walking and exploring, so I think I am going to be really happy here. Classes start Monday and I am mildly terrified, but I’ll be strong.