I've also had some good news: I will have an apartment sooner than expected! Back in June things were looking pretty grim and I faced the possibility of living in a hospital apartment. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with that but all the docs out there can see the irony of finishing residency but only to live in a hospital. (For the non-medical types out there, the term resident historically referred to the fact that trainees once lived in the hospitals they were learning at). The Housekeeper told me the good news and showed me the apartment that was available. The building is named "The Old Orphanage Apartments". As you can see from the picture below, it has the classic Charles Dickens bunker-style architecture.
It's actually not that big (another doctor with a family turned it down because it was too small) and may actually be comparable to a 2-bedroom condo in Toronto (~800-900 sq ft?). The other downside is that it has a relatively small living/dining room which isn't a dealbreaker since I'm not expecting to have large numbers of guests over. It was also recently renovated and everything inside was in pretty good shape. Since I'm upgrading from a bachelor and I'm having my rent cut in half (only $430/month with utilities included) this is quite an improvement. When I was told that this was a pretty quiet building I took it on the spot. With my worldly possessions arriving tomorrow, this means everything can be immediately moved inside and I'll have plenty of help to do it.
The previous Tenant left behind a Queen sized bed, a dresser, and a wooden table. Most excellent! (Although I'll have to really check out the bed and make sure it's clean). I'm still living like a student with the mismatched furniture but I'll only splurge when I'm sure I'm staying put. There's a furniture leasing store in town and I think I'll at least lease a decent 3-seat sofa. I'll also look into getting a flat screen TV with satellite HDTV. Do you guys have any suggestions for which brand I should go for?
