Go West Young Man

While it was nice to be in DC, and to see all my old friends, I’m happy to have finally moved out to Denver. I didn’t really know much about Denver before I moved out here. I’d been to Boulder a few times, and I remembered that Colorado was very pretty, but I didn’t know much else. I got an apartment online, a risky proposition, but since I didn’t know anyone in Denver I had limited options. As soon as I got off the plane, I had to take a series of buses to the management company office to sign the lease and pick up my keys. Luckily, they were nice enough to give me a ride to the apartment so I didn’t have to take any more buses.

Denver has a pretty good public transportation system. It has a mix of buses that run on all the major streets and a light rail that is open very late. That being said, I’ve been surprised how much of a driving city Denver is. I guess it shouldn’t have been such a shock since the West is known for its sprawling cities. Still, I’ve been shocked how spread out it is compared to any city back east. I guess I’m just not in DC anymore.

My apartment is better than I had feared. It’s not that big, but I don’t need much room. It came unfurnished, though, which meant I’ve had to buy a ton of stuff. The apartment itself is nice if a little dated. The stove and counters look like they’re from the 70’s, and the shag carpet probably would have been pretty stylish then as well. I made so many trips to Target I think they now know me by name. Most of the larger furniture came from IKEA. I got quite a bit of stuff pretty cheap there including a couch. After I had all the necessary stuff, I turned to Amazon for the rest, since I didn’t need it immediately, and I was getting tired of carrying things all over the city.

The area around where I live is nice, and not surprisingly, very college focused. There are a ton of bars and restaurants that pretty clearly cater to students. The campus itself is beautiful. The buildings are red brick, and the style is a mix of southwest architecture and the more traditional look for a university. Many of the buildings are really nice and fairly new, so I wonder if the school came into a lot of money in the last 10 years.

The altitude is a lot higher in Colorado, but it’s not so high that you immediately notice the difference. The effect comes in things like getting dehydrated more quickly, since you breathe more when the air is thinner. I guess it might affect cooking a bit also, but I doubt that will be a huge problem for me.

Unfortunately, my wrist is still bothering me, which makes me doubly nervous with classes starting so soon. At least I’ll be back on a real health care plan in a few days. I tried to make my room as ergonomic as possible.

The weather has been good, but surprisingly hot. It’s drier than DC, but it has been in the mid 90s a number of times. I finally had to get a portable air conditioner so I could sleep. The weather is as sunny as they say, but there are also storms that seem to come out of nowhere. I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually.