ABC

I'm pretty sure I'm only going to be able to afford to live in the ghetto in University Land (aka the new area where I'm moving to do my Ph.D.). I'm flying there on Sunday with my mom to hopefully find a place to live beginning in August, and I'm freaking out because everything I've seen online so far is
a) Nice but out of my price range
or
b) Affordable but tiny. Incredibly tiny.
and
c) Probably in the ghetto.
I don't mind a little bit of ghetto, really, I don't. I don't care about how a place looks on the outside as long as it's decent on the inside. I don't even care if the neighborhood harbors some shady characters. There were plenty of those at my old apartment complex where I did my undergrad degree and it was never really a problem. And let's not forget that twice the police have knocked on my door here to question me about my sketchy neighbor across the hall. That's not ideal, but it doesn't really bother me. But as a single woman I need to fundamentally feel safe and I worry about the chances I have of finding an apartment that makes me feel safe for the amount I can afford.
I'm hoping all this anxiety is for nothing. I'll let you know how it goes, obviously.

Tomorrow is my last day of work at the restaurant where I have been working parttime since July. I am pretty thrilled about being done with this job. I haven't hated it, I have enjoyed the extra money it allowed me to save up over the course of the year, but I can't say I'll miss working there. I especially won't miss the idiot managers, and I can't honestly say I'll miss most of my coworkers, either. It's not that I don't like them, it's just that I never really got close to any of them so there won't exactly be a void in my life without them there. There is one guy in the kitchen that will apparently miss me, however. I have known he has had a crush on me since December, and for the most part I have just ignored the situation. I have no desire to date him for a variety of reasons (I don't find him physically attractive, he's extremely innocent and naive in a not-appealing way, he does nothing but cook at the restaurant and play videogames and he willingly--even proudly--admits this fact, etc.). So whenever he would start talking about how great he thinks I am, I would leave the kitchen, and whenever he suggested we do something together I always had an excuse (P.S.-I know there's something to be said for giving guys a chance, but sometimes you're just positive that a guy isn't right for you, you know? So why waste the time?) Well, today at work when I went to the back of the kitchen to get something, he surprised me by getting down on his knees with roses and asking me what it would take to get me to stay. I almost died. It was crazy. And all of the little Mexican women that work in the back were giggling at us. I mean, the flowers were sweet and all, but REALLY. I ended up just telling him that there is absolutely nothing in the world that could convince me to continue to work at this restaurant if I have another option for earning an income. And then he tried to tell me that I should want to stay here because my friends are here, and I pointed out that
a) I have left friends behind before. I have even left a guy I was madly in love with behind before. So that argument doesn't hold a lot of weight with me
and
b) Good friendships don't end just because you move
and
c) I'm pretty sure I will be capable of making friends in University Land. Maybe. Hopefully.
Then he tried to figure out a time we can get together and "hang out" before I leave town, and I hemmed and hawed and said, "Oh, well, I'm going out of town and my sister is graduating and I have to pack, so..." and that was the end of that. Maybe that makes me coldhearted, but oh well.

My sister really does graduate tomorrow, so I'll have family in town all weekend, and then I really am going to be out of town until Wednesday, and then I really do have to pack. So none of that was a lie.