Settled Finally

My mom and I arrived at O'Hare at about 10AM Saturday morning. We had checked four large rubbermaid containers that, sadly, contained all of my earthly possesion within them. It's kind of depressing knowing that in 22 years you've accumulated only enough stuff to fill four rubbermaid containers. Amazing really, how compact we can make our lives. Regardless, we lugged the four containers to an Avis rental place and loaded them into the rented SUV. We continued our journey with a stop at Ikea. The place is amazing. We fit all my possesions from Georgia, plus every piece of furniture I could possibly need from Ikea all into this Suburban Utility Vehicle. I know they're bad for the environment but I couldn't have cared less at this point. It was a blessing that my dad wasn't there. I know he would've liked to have been but the entire process would, without a doubt, have drove him insane. The first half of the move was quite smooth. When we arrived at my new apartment things got bad quite quickly. The doorman informed us that, not only had my roomates failed to leave permission to allow me to enter the apartment, but that there was no moving in on weekends. This was, obviously, a huge setback. Eventually with much convincing, a near bribe, and a call to the building manager, the doorman allowed us to move my stuff in at about 7pm. Seven hours, six beers and a bottle of Chardonnay later, my mom and I had put everything together. Bleary eyed we went to bed. Funny, I had to sleep on the couch my very first night in the apartment, but she is my mom, she did help a lot and certainly deserved the bed.
The next day we went back to Ikea, in the suburbs and bought a few knicknacks, couple things at Target, a few school supplies. We spent most of the early evening putting some things together and putting the finishing touches. The place looked considerably better than when we got there and I was quite satisfied.
The weekend was kind of strange. I felt devoid of sentimentality which is strange for me. I am a sentimental man and expected to be considerably more emotional when my mom left. I wasn't though. I'm not sure if I'm just overwhelmed by the dramatic changes that have occured in my life in the past few weeks or if I'm simply growing up. Leaving my parents, my brothers and my girlfriend for undergraduate was so traumatizing it was pathetic. This was different though. This was my new life and if I was upset about starting it, something was wrong. It was kind of a relief that everything was so easy on me emotionally. The troubling aspects of the lack of sadness was replaced with a sense of relief that I was in Chicago, I was alone, and I was now responsible for my own happiness or lack thereof. That being said, my first full day alone was, well a little lonely. My roomates and I watched a couple movies and some TV but it certainly wasn't like being with my friends at home. We don't know where each other are at every given moment like we did in Athens. We don't know each others plans for the day, each others problems. It's better that way though. Best friends that live together don't always worked out well. I am lucky though. I'm living with good people and will meet more close friends soon. I really can't wait for school to start, to meet new people and to return home and hug the people I've left. I miss 'em but I have no regrets and will be very happy here.