July 3, 2014

With only 24 hours notice, I packed my life into the back of a Jeep Cherokee and took off for Burlington, Vermont at midnight on the dot.

If you’re wondering how many of these boxes are mine and how many are my boyfriend’s, I suggest you hold up all of your fingers and toes at once. Are you ready? Put one finger down. The remaining fingers and toes are equivalent to the ratio of my boxes and bags to my boyfriend’s. Whoops.

One week ago, I thought I would be spending my summer in Seattle, WA. However, every travel nurse assignment available in Seattle was being taken up in just a matter of hours. It was too damn hard to get out there, and we were running out of options. Then, out of nowhere, the nursing agency offered my boyfriend an assignment in either Arizona or Vermont. To this I said, “Desert in the summer? No thanks.” And so, we settled on an assignment in Middlebury and opted to take the agency stipend and find our own place in Burlington.

Three days ago, we thought we had put a deposit in for the short-term rental apartment of our dreams – A two bedroom, two bathroom furnished condo right on the lake and a 5 minute walk from downtown (ideal for me, as I don’t have a car). However, we quickly learned that this offer was a scam, and very nearly lost over $3500 on it. BEWARE to anyone looking to move to Burlington – apartment scams are for some reason, VERY popular here. After just speaking with the landlord of the actual apartment we had hoped to rent (which we got, by the way!!!), I learned that these scams are happening all the time around here, all from people living in Nigeria. A word of advice that I will carry with me throughout the rest of my travels: No landlord will ask for you to wire money without showing you the apartment first. If you want to know more about how to avoid rental scams, I suggest you read about it here.

Just yesterday, I was mapping out my 4th of July plans in Ohio. If you’re not getting the picture by now, this is an accurate portrayal of how far ahead I am able to see into my future lately:

Even after booking it here to Vermont at midnight and arriving at 10:45AM and signing for our short-term rental, we were forced to make last minute hotel accommodations because the previous tenants would not be done cleaning the place until tomorrow morning (UGH). Regardless, the ride out here was beautiful once the fog cleared.

So far I have enjoyed my first half day in Burlington. Before arriving, I learned from other people that the people of Burlington work hard to preserve the beauty of their city by enforcing regulations against tall buildings that impose on views the landscape and also limitations on the amount of signs allowed to be in place. The yard signs I saw on my way up were those that protest against Walmart, which is a bandwagon I am happy to also be riding on. I’ve also noticed that nobody around town seems to wear brand name clothing with noticeable logos. And I have yet to see a Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks, Chipotle, or any food chain that typically comes with gentrified areas.

Finally, I picked up a local paper to check out upcoming events in the area. Thus far, I am super excited to hopefully attend the Band of Horses concert here at the end of July, and possibly a few of the Friday Taps at Lost Nation Brewery, where they crack open a new beer on tap at 5pm at the end of every week. And finally, as a copywriter myself, I will most certainly be attending the weekend’s wine tasting if only to seek out the person who wrote this ad: