Thursday, 04.27.17
I’ve recently developed a small, but quickly growing, obsession with Highland Park, a small borough with two sides surrounded by the Raritan River. It has an quaint, old-town vibe with one main street running through the entire borough and small, residential streets orthogonally branching away from it: one side going towards Donaldson Park, which borders the river, the other side reaching towards Rutgers without quite getting there.
It’s a very lovely place: very green, very colorful (especially in the spring, very lively, and very walkable (drunk me and friends can attest to that). I love that there’s such a sense of community around here. During my morning visit to take these pictures, I saw so many people out and about walking their dogs. There are a lot of community-held events like outdoor movie showings and farmer’s markets. I’m seriously in love. It feels like the one place in New Jersey that somehow manages to filter rude New Jerseyans and only let in nice ones.
I can imagine Dmitriy visiting and falling in love with the area as well. I low-key fantasize about us returning to our happy cohabitating lives here in this wonderful place, picking up where things left off in Irvine: after-dinner strolls to nearby parks, unplanned visits to ice cream parlors, jogging in the morning, etc.
The apartment I’m interested in is located off of Raritan Street on 3rd Street. It’s a few small blocks away from Raritan St. and a 10 or 15 minutes walk down to Donaldson Park. My roommate situation is a bit up in the air right now. I potentially have 3 options:
- Room with a girl who’s entering my program.
- There are a group of girls already in my program hoping to get her to room with them. Honestly, she would be a good fit with me, but she would fit in SO much better with them (and her rent would be way cheaper). I wouldn’t mind if she switched over since I was also looking to find someone who would fit better.
- Room with a friend from the program.
- He’s the nicest person, we get along really well, and we would have an awesome time experimenting with different alcohol cocktails together! But he doesn’t currently have his license nor a car, and Highland Park isn’t exactly walking distance to school. Also, he’s not anally retentive about cleaning like the other people I’m considering. I’m also hoping for a female roommate because there are things that are just more fun with a female roommate.
- Room with a random girl who’s just contacted me whose interests and wants for the apartment is very similar to mine.
- This girl seems really promising! She likes living in a calm and aesthetically pleasing environment, which is exactly what I want! I’m hoping to talk to her some time soon to finally make up my mind.
Hopefully, I’ll have everything figured out by June.
A Study in PhD 