I'm here! It's hot!

This is officially my first blog post from Wilmington, Delaware! Some of you probably know that I am starting a graduate program in American Material Culture at the Winterthur Collection, which grants a Masters' degree through the University of Delaware. Well, that all begins next week... Here's what I'm doing now.

I moved in on Monday, July 5. My mom, Aunt Barb, Kurt (my boyfriend), and I drove out here in a two-car caravan that took about 13 hours total. For the record, I don't recommend the Pennsylvania Turnpike for anything. Over the next two days, we moved my things into the house, shopped, and failed miserably in keeping cool. We had heat indices over 100 degrees, so that was an impossible task. But it was so special to have some of the people I love the most with me for my big move!

After Mom and Aunt Barb left, Kurt and I worked on making me an official Delaware resident: driver's license, license plate, parking permit, etc. Little did we know that all of those things required other things (like bills to my new address) that I wouldn't have for weeks. I tried to speak to a Chase banker about making online payments, when I learned that the three Chase office buildings in downtown Wilmington don't actual house any bankers... The nearest friendly Chase banker is in Trenton, New Jersey. We also learned that Wilmington has a pretty disappointing library. It was a dismal few hours, with a heat index of 107, so we called it a day, went to the RedBox, and laid around in the air conditioning all evening.

Wilmington is a strange city... There is a downtown area full of office buildings, mostly housing credit card companies (check your next bill, it will probably be from Wilmington!). There is a nice residential area on either side of the beautiful Brandywine Park. For those of you from SE Michigan, there is a shopping district similar to the Great Lakes Crossing area in Auburn Hills, or the Lakeside/Partridge Creek area. None of these areas really seem to have much overlap, though, and there aren't really simple ways to get from place to place. It's a little strange to live "in a city", too. I live in a nice little neighborhood, full of townhouses and other multiple family homes built in the early 1900s, but our property manager said that we shouldn't walk around at night alone, especially in the aforementioned park. So I have been very wary of the areas I go into and what I do when I'm by myself, which I suppose is probably a good habit anyway. Still a weird feeling, though.

In the past week, my two roommates have moved in, which has been an experience all its own. My first roommate to move in is Shoshana. She is from Berkeley, California by way of Atlanta and Chicago. She is a kosher Jew, which I have learned a ton about in the last few days. She is very open about her faith and her practices, and I look forward to learning more about what she believes. There is a synagogue directly behind our house that she plans on attending, so I may go visit there with her sometime.

My other roommate is Ariel, and she just moved in two days ago while I was at dinner at my Uncle Todd's in Baltimore. I haven't had much chance to talk to her yet... Unfortunately we have window air conditioners in the house, so we have to keep our bedroom doors shut all the time. She seems really nice, though, and all three of us share an affinity for The National, and we are already planning a trip to go see them in September!

Finally (this is turning out to be very, very long), I am visiting a new church tomorrow! I know I mentioned on here before that I wasn't sure about being Lutheran anymore, but I found a church called Good Shepherd that is ELCA just a few minutes away! So, I am going to start my church visiting tomorrow and see how it goes. I'm looking forward to worshipping in an ELCA church!

Ok, I know I sort of just stopped talking about what Kurt and I did last week, and I know there is something I forgot to write, but I will update again soon. Let's be serious, it's not like I have much else to do until Thursday...

(I'll post pictures next time, too!)