An unexpected difficulty arose from the issue that I had to leave the apartment I called home for the past three years. It was not until then I really realized that I liked that place so much.
I probably will always remember the afternoon I found this apartment. That was about four or five days after I entered US. I remember by that time I was desperate for a good apartment to settle with. My original plan was to stay close to school and avoid buying a car until the end of my first year. But I was not satisfied with the apartments I checked out around campus. They were either in a not-so-good shape or too expensive, and in most cases both. I felt a bit worried after several days of fruitless searching, so I started to expand my acceptable commuting distance. If I happened to find something good I would take it and try to resolve commuting issue, perhaps getting a car.
With this type of mood I walked into an old apartment built in the 20s. It was a hotel for some years and then converted to apartments for rent. When I entered the room on the fifth floor by the afternoon, the sunlight came through the windows and lay beautifully on the floor. It was almost immediate that I knew this is it. This is the place I had been looking for. Without any further consideration, I jumped into the rental car and drove directly to bank for a money order, and directly came back to get my deposit paid. It was a haste, but I felt the place is too good to let go.
And it turned out to be my only home in LA for the three years. I was almost completely satisfied with the place. Yes it was built long ago (even older than my grandparents), but there was no problem with that. The room is large and well-lit, and the view from the fifth floor is surprisingly good: I can see all the way to the horizon! More importantly, it is not too hot during the summer and I never feel the need for A/C although it does not have one. It is also not too cold in the winter and I had used the heater only once. There are also a grocery store, Korean supermarkets, food courts, and MRT station in walking distances.
I visited many friend's places and check out apartments with new students during these years. But I never found a place that I would consider moving if compared with this apartment. I became really sad when I understood that I wouldn't live here anymore.
I think it had more to do than just my simple fortune of landing this apartment three years ago. This place was also the first place where I learned to live independently and handle all things under the roof by myself. I stayed with parents for my entire life before coming to the US. And of course, one can never learn some things until he has to face them alone. Simply put it, three years ago I walked into the apartment as a 26-year-old half-matured boy, and I walked out now as a fully-grown man. Independent living had taught me many things and trained me in various ways. There were so many different lessons I had while staying in this place. To me it is more than an apartment. It becomes a symbol that I learned the value of independence. I think this place had played a very important role in my life, and will always have its place in my memory.
Saying goodbye to my furnitures
I figured that it is cost inefficient to bring my furnitures with me. So I had to sell most of the large items before I left. LA is a big market so this should be easy, but I didn't want to wait until the last minute. I started selling off things from early July.
Luckily my things went quickly. Even for some items I considered difficult to sell eventually found their buyers. Through the moving sale, I got to know several new students at USC, and the problems they faced reminded me a lot of my own suffering and fighting three years ago. That was a unique experience. Coming from aboard to US takes a lot of adjustment and effort to re-establish oneself. I once described the process as "being born again". The difference is, I came to the new world with all the complex needs of an adult (in addition to food and shelter, as an adult we have needs for communication, information, emotional attachment, education, entertainment, etc.) and there was no parents to take care of all those. We international students have to figure out the system and make things work mostly on our own. This is a very good learning experience. I almost forgot what I did three years ago, and it was a good reminder for myself by helping the new comers out.
Packing up
This is the nightmare that I wish to forget about this moving. I still cannot understand why I have so many things to pack in my studio back in LA. The difficulty of packing started to show when I gradually got rid of my furnitures. These were the photos I took at the height of the chaos in my old place, when I brought most of the contents out of the shelves and temporarily put them on the floor awaiting for my final decision.
That was really horrible. I had to get a lot of boxes to pack my stuff, so during the summer I developed the new hobby of picking up boxes from the recycling carts at USC. There are many boxes in various dimensions and thickness, but it is really difficult to find a proper one. I thought I was a little bit addicted to the new hobby towards the end of the summer: Although I had enough boxes, I kept checking for good ones every few days.
Finally, two days before setting off, I got all my stuff packed (in 16 boxes, much more than I thought!!). This was something I wished I will never do again. It was a very frightrning experience when the packing became seemingly endless. I was totally amazed at how 3 luggages of personal items I brought with me to US multiply themselves into 16 boxes. I know that I have a bad habbit of keeping anything that seems to have little marginal value. But 16 boxes? I must be kidding!
Well eventually I got them all packed in two days of non-stopping hard work and shipped them with DHL ground on August 14, a Monday. After that, I was ready to hit the road, with a very sore back.
