The Roommates, and a Brief History of Real Estate

When I chose McGill, I didn’t have a clear idea about what I’d be studying. I knew I wanted to do history, but I didn’t know much about the department or the professors in it. It wasn’t a major drawing point. The decision came down to three things: the appeal of living abroad, the appeal of living in a city, and the appeal of McGill’s particular housing situation. Students are only guaranteed a place in residence for one year, and many—most, even—of the options are not traditional dorms.

For my year in rez, I got my first choice: a single in one of the converted brownstones. The next year, I moved into an apartment with one of my housemates, but that only lasted a month before I found myself alone on the lease. My ex lived with me in practice, but not on paper, and when I decided to move, the apartment hunt was per my criteria and my criteria alone. I found a place I loved and, when he and I broke up the day before our third year of classes started, began living alone both on paper and in practice. I stayed there for two years, the longest I’ve stayed any place since I moved out of my parents’ house, and still hold the lease for it, although I’m subletting it right now.

So here I am in my third apartment. It’s not necessarily a place I would have chosen on my own, but it has its advantages.


Advantages!

It also comes with two roommates, henceforth Flyover and Florida—so named for reasons of geography, although as I later learned, Florida grew up a few blocks away from my parents’ house in Westchester—both of whom I met in the summer of 2009. There’s a photo of us from a party, which I jokingly refer to as “Why I Live Here Now.” The night it was taken was the first time I met Florida, and we talked about sports because that’s my default when meeting new people. We didn’t have another conversation until the day before I moved in. It’s probably fortunate we get along. Sure, he sometimes plays Call of Duty: Black Ops for hours at high volumes, but at least he roots for the Giants.

Which brings us to Flyover, who was a 2007 bandwagon fan but otherwise more closely allied with losing franchises from all over the Midwest (no, seriously, in order of rooting interest: Bengals, Lions, Rams). We’d only met once before the party, and he thought I hated him, so he bought me drinks and we started an ongoing argument about whether the 2004 draft day trade for Manning was a good idea. Since then, we’ve been friends. Whenever I came back to New York during the year, he provided me with a non-suburban, non-dorm place to crash. And he’s the one who suggested I move in when I mentioned that I was returning to New York.

Could I say more about them? Probably. But for now, this summary should do.

[insert your favourite cliché about beginnings]

In the interest of saving time, to get started without several posts composed purely of (the admittedly requisite) backstory, I'll tell you this about myself:

Often enough, "I'll go to Fairway tomorrow" turns into "shit, I haven't bought groceries in two weeks" turns into "FreshDirect it is... what do you mean, it can't be delivered today?"

Now you know things about me! Whatever else you extrapolated from that anecdote, I think it's obvious I have a penchant for procrastination and live in New York. In fact, I celebrated my 22nd birthday here last month, just like I'd always assumed I would. However, I could never have predicted the context.

For the past four years, I've been here:


Montréal, any given day between November and March.

Based on those numbers, I wouldn't blame you if you logic-ed it out and concluded that I've graduated from college and am still adjusting to the Real World, where I am neither supposed to treat my apartment like a giant walk-in closet nor display empty bottles of alcohol like hunters' trophies.


Nope, still at it!

Alas, that's not the case. I'm currently on leave from school because I was too stubborn to take off last year and so screwed it up. Even though I needed this break, I hope to be back in class by summer term because my current situation is transient and I feel like my life is on hold.