I'll be sharing a gorgeous turn-of-the-century house with an older woman named Phyllis, who is really cool and works as a community organizer in Philadelphia. The house is in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, which is basically a suburb and looks like the older, fancier parts of West Hartford (but with even more giant, beautifully landscaped houses that had Heather and I hanging out of the car window and gaping like peasants at every turn). It's a Craftsman house, which as Phyllis explained was a movement that focuses on workmanship and detail in architecture, so the house is full of these period details like leaded glass windows in the living room, an original chandelier in the entry hall, decorative woodwork, handmade tiles in the fireplace, etc.
Anyway, we drive into this neighborhood and it's just so gorgeous that I'm willing to take the apartment practically sight unseen. Then we meet Phyllis, who was really nice and down to earth. She bought the house in 1995 and has shared it with a succession of housemates; she was prepared with a rental agreement that stressed that it's a house share, not just renting an apartment, and that she always wants it to feel like a home. The house has three floors: the first floor is the kitchen, living room, dining room, etc, the second floor has four rooms that include her bedroom, office, and a really awesome-looking study/library, and the third floor (where I'll be) has two giant rooms, a storage room, a bathroom, a cedar closet, huge windows, and best of all, built-in bookshelves! There's even a backyard filled with flowers. You can imagine I was kind of in heaven. Did I also mention that there's a cat? His name is Thomas, he's gray and very adorable, but he's also small because he has the feline version of HIV, which is sad. So cute though. Phyllis mentioned that she doesn't really allow him to go upstairs, so hopefully if he stays out of my area it'll be OK for Sean when he's around.
Anyway, we talked with Phyllis for a while, and she seemed very easy to get along with. She was originally from CT and went to UConn for sociology, then she got a M.A. in finance so she could actually make a living, and now she works for a non-profit in Philadelphia called Impact Services. In the end, I gave her my application and left with fingers crossed, because she had one other woman coming by. As I told Heather, I didn't know what I would even do with myself if she didn't pick me! Luckily, she called me back about an hour later with happy news, and now I have a home to look forward to in Philadelphia. It's a couple of blocks from a train station on a line that goes right to Temple, too, which is just awesome. Plus, I feel a little better about moving to a city where I know no one, because at least I'll have some human interaction, instead of potentially going home to a tiny, anonymous apartment every day.
I can't even say how good it feels to know exactly where I'm headed. I don't have to spend the next month freaking out about having a place to live and whether I'll be living in the ghetto (which is where the apartments we looked at on Saturday were kind of located). Instead I can enjoy the fact that as of today, I have exactly one month left of employment! Whoot!