Ah, The Anxiety!

Today is the day the graduate student housing office is supposed to be sending out offers on apartments.  That means today is the day I may or may not find out whether we have a place to live next year, and where.  I say "may or may not" because after I was informed that today is the day, I realized I am unsure whether these offers are being sent by snail mail or email.  Based on what I have read, I am fairly certain the offers are coming by email, but I don't know for certain, and if they are, why don't I have one yet?  It's almost noon! Does this mean I am not getting an offer?  They may not have an apartment available for us now, which means we will be in limbo for quite some time while they work themselves through the waiting list when people accept and don't accept the offers.

How long do I wait until I call?!

Can someone please figure out how to shut off my anxiety-induced push-the-refresh-button-every-ten-minutes-on-my-email-page behavior so I can focus on my work today?  Seriously! 

Twice I drafted an email to the graduate student housing office to inquire about whether the offers were coming by snail mail or email, and twice I deleted these draft emails for fear that if I sent them the person who has patiently dealt with me for months would finally lose it with my constant questions and decide not to offer me any place to live at all.  [Edited to add: I finally sent a quick email after writing this post.  I am just going bonkers waiting!]

I am losing my mind.  So in an effort to direct this nervous energy, let me share with you some more details. 

The housing application allowed us to request three places to live.  We started with the limited "family housing" apartments, of which there were basically two.  The first one looks something like this:

There is a very simple playground appropriate for younger children, in three sections, and there is a community room and kitchen in addition to a "Parenting Coordinator" (as well as a couple "Preschool Coordinators") who are supposed to facilitate community life.  There are outdoor grills and picnic tables.  And I understand the community is really lovely and diverse.

All the apartments have two bedrooms.  This is the sample apartment floor plan:

There are hardwood floors in the living room and bedrooms and linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom. The only overhead lighting is in the kitchen and bathroom, so it looks like lamps will be important.  There is some extra room for storage in the communal basement, and there is coin-operated laundry on site.  Heat, hot water, and wireless is included in the rent, but electricity is not included.  An "upgrade" to three bedrooms is not available because all units are two-bedrooms.

The next family housing apartment complex, which I hope I requested on my application (I am paranoid about all this stuff, I submitted my application at three in the morning, and my memory is failing), is:

There is a simple playground and there is a community room in addition to a "Residence Life Coordinator" and arts and craft programs for children and adults (as well as a "Preschool Coordinator") in order to facilitate community life.  There are outdoor grills, patios, and picnic tables throughout the complex. 

There are two and three-bedroom apartments available.  Here are their sample floor plans:

There are hardwood floors in the living room and bedrooms and linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom. I don't know what the lighting situation will be.  There is some extra room for storage in the communal basements of each building, and there is (coin-operated?) laundry on site.  Heat, hot water, and wireless is included in the rent, but electricity and gas (for the gas stove) is not included.  An "upgrade" to three bedrooms is available for just a little more than the rent of all two-bedrooms in all the complexes we requested.


The final option, which we consider our backup because it is the smallest and least family-friendly, is the housing that is on the exact campus where I will be.  It belongs to my particular graduate school.

There is a very small, simple outdoor play structure outside the apartments, but they do not often serve as family units, so we may be the only family in the entire complex.  I do not believe there is a community room, and I understand that the housing tends to attract "introverts" because it is not set up to provide a sense of community.  There are no grills, picnic tables, etc. with these apartments.  I think these apartments may also be the smallest.

The floor plan for this option is already posted here.  Just click the "where" tab above.  I also have some pictures of one of these apartments posted.  Just click the "tiny kitchens" link on the right side of this page and look for those pictures in the posts that pop up there.

There are furnished apartments available, which might be helpful if we decided we didn't want to move any furniture, but I didn't request one at this point.  The floors appear to be all lineoleum throughout these apartments, with basic carpets laid down like large rugs on top. I don't know what the lighting situation will be.  I also don't know if any storage space is available, but there is coin-operated laundry on site.  Heat, hot water, electricity, and internet (wireless?) is included in the rent.  No three-bedrooms exist in this complex.


All the complexes basically have the same cost, with the difference between them being mostly in what utilities are included and whether an "upgrade" to three bedrooms is available.  The first complex I show here is just $10 more than the others for a two-bedroom.