Apartment Hunting

I still have many other adventures to talk about, but I wanted to mention the newest. I spent the last three days in the Durham/Portsmouth area looking at apartments for when I move down here at the end of the summer to work in the lab at UNH. All of the apartments I ended up seeing were in Dover. Most of them were really nice, but not quite what I was looking for (e.g., sometimes parking was a nightmare, sometimes laundry wasn't at the building (and I do laundry at strange times of the day/night), sometimes they wanted a year's lease with no potential to sublet if I'm up in Maine again next summer . . .), but I found one that seems pretty perfect for what I need right now. It's a quirky place on the top floor of a building, so there are slanting walls from the roof here and there. However, it really does seem to have most of the things I was looking for: a nice (if somewhat small) kitchen, a nice living room, a nice (and clean) bathroom, coin-op laundry in the basement, roommates (one boy and one girl) who are close to my age, plenty of parking (even enough for a guest!), and a nice-sized bedroom that comes with a bed(!!!), dresser, bookcases, desk (no chair, though), and large closet. Also, the landlord is okay with painting the place (hence the quirkiness, the living room and some of the trim are a sunny orange color), so if so motivated I can really personalize my room!

Dover is also a really neat city. There is a great downtown with lots of neat shops and restaurants, and my parents and I had a fun time exploring. On Sunday night we had a delicious seafood meal at Warren's Lobster House in Kittery, ME (stuffed shrimp plus their wonderful salad bar, yum!). For lunch on Monday we ate at a little cafe, the Cafe on the Corner in downtown Dover, which had yummy sandwiches and beverages. Monday night we ate at the Third Street Grille, which was delicious. I will definitely be going back there at some point. Tasty spinach and artichoke appetizer, delicious grilled sea scallop meal, and yummy mixed drink (Pomegranate Jewel: Pomegranate vodka, triple sec, pomegranate juice, orange slice). Yum!

I think I am going to really enjoy living in Dover.