Has it been a week or a month?

Tonight it is exactly one week since I arrived. And what a week! I will start with the good things:

I have furniture! Yay. This means I no longer spill soup all over myself while eating dinner in the floor and I have a real mattress to sleep on. I got my IKEA delivery Monday night and right on time. And despite a few Flottebo couch hiccups (such as inserting one side of the steel frame the wrong way. Sigh) I had everything assembled by Tuesday night, and I now get home to this:

Still a bit minimalist but way better than before!

I have really nice new colleagues. Especially an older scientist, who happens to also live away from his family and has a 1BR in the same complex as me. He picks me up every single morning and gives me a ride to work. And if I happen to go to the workplace gym at night I can also get a ride home (I do plan to get my own car though).

Work is awesome. I can already tell it will be good! I have the first bit of an idea about what I will be doing and I am currently trying to get an overview of other studies testing the same system for drug development purposes. And within my first week there has been seminars, a “black history month celebration” in the cafeteria with wine, food, and jazz, a happy hour, and a request to block out a few days in May for an overnight department trip.

There are trains going straight to Philly, so that’s where I went today. I booked a ticket for the annual flower show, which was really nice. And quite crowded. My absolute favorites were little miniature landscapes with scenes from books. Here’s an old car lady with the last little piece of nature in a neighborhood, where new construction is everywhere:

And I kind of fell in love with a very hippie camper-in-the-desert display (live size - this was not miniature)

On the not so positive side is that I am terribly homesick for Ann Arbor and my family. I just really really really miss my life there and I feel so lonely. I keep repeating to myself that it is temporary but that doesn’t help much when every week feels like month and half a year by myself extends into feeling like ages.

And this apartment sucks my soul out. I don’t know how else to describe it. The floors and walls are so thin I can literally hear my upstairs neighbor snoring at night, and there is absolutely nothing to do in the neighborhood! I tend to go to bed quite early as I don’t know what to do with myself. But once I get a car I hope this will help. Kristian will help me find a good deal when he visits in a couple of weeks. Until then I look forward to next weekend, where I will be flying back. Can’t wait to see the kids. And Kristian. And Bailey❤️