Finding New Jersey Shelter

My summer internship does not help with housing or transportation. The question of where I would be living was constantly on my mind and what I prayed about. About three weeks before coming to the east coast, I used craigslist.com to find a place to live. My grandparents are skeptical of anything of the social-networking sort, such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, but I explained I just knew I found the winner after talking to a certain lady over the phone. Its inexplainable, but I knew I just had to rent her room. However, my grandparents weren't convinced over my "feeling" which was based on a phone conversation, so I expanded my options and made a list of the most important aspects when renting a room:

• Roommates: to live with a family unit, or have a fabulous ladies' house
• Kitchen: it is important for me to cook and eat healthily
• Location: against traffic commute, within 30 minutes of my work
• Washer/Dryer: I know, I'm spoiled, but three months is too short to be spending time at the laundromat
• Extra: Furnished/Internet

With these things in mind, we departed from West Chester, PA and took all these windy country back roads. The route numbers constantly changed, and even though my eyes were glued on the GPS (its called TomTom), I am positive if I tried this route I would be lost and end up driving towards the great big plains.

After about 2.5 hours of driving, we arrived to our destinations in Morris County. I only had two places to look at so I really needed one place to work, otherwise I would need to ask my grandparents for a tent so I can camp in Lake Hopatcong.

Room #1
The first contender was a room, showed by a gracious host who showed us the house that was 2.5 miles from Lake Hopatcong. It was easy to see the whole family loved baseball. The community is full of lake homes with boat decks, and is a popular destination for New Yorkers hoping to spend a weekend by the beautiful lake. Inside, it was a big multi-story house, and a converted room in the basement was what was available for rent. There was some antique furniture in there, dimly lit by a small window at the top of the room. The walls were showed it was build out of rock. A smell which reminded me of damp redwoods and something else lingered in the air. From the room, we walked through a room that contained a lot of storage to the separate bathroom. A private door opens out to beneath the patio and the gravel driveway, where the only route to the Lake is on the left, traveled by many vacationers. There is a tree house with a slide to use if I were feeling adventurous.

Room #2
Our lovely host met us in the driveway, and was careful to point out to not touch the freshly painted white walls. The home was probably built in the 1950s, and there were many flowers to welcome us in. The room was on the second story, and the walls were painted lavender. The room was decorated with white wicker furniture and a blue rug, and a New York guidebook was sitting on the dresser. The bathroom had its own floral shower curtain. I couldn't meet the other house mates, meaning the 4 cats, because they had to stay in another room until the paint dried. The kitchen was painted yellow and welcome for any attempts at cooking. The house was decorated in a modern contemporary style with many artifacts from different cultures.

Which place did I choose?

After much deliberation and having my grandparents' seal of approval as well as living, walking references for the hosts, I went with Room #2. The moment I saw it, I said I loved the room and would really like to live with them. I wrote my first month's check, received the house key, and look forward to move in this Memorial Day. So is it safe to judge whether I would like a room based on a phone conversation? In this case, it worked!

I am very happy and thankful and I believe this living situation is just perfect for me, and I am also glad my relatives will be at ease. Also, none of this would have been possible without grandpa showing me how to navigate the crazy roads, and for my grandmother to help me seal the deal. :)