Eccentricities of Eastgate

First things first. Yes, "eccentricities" is a big word and yes I had to look it up to make sure I was spelling it correctly and yes I read the definition to make sure I was also using it correctly. Which I'm not 100% sure that I am but I like the alliteration.
For the summer we are living in on-campus family housing in a high rise building, Eastgate. I've talked about it before and shown some pictures of the outside, but I have yet to show the inside. Here are a couple of pictures for you.

To live here, you have to either be married, have children, or have a "partner."  Since Chuck and I are not married yet, we fall into the partner category. Funny side note- the only verification the office wanted from us to prove we are engaged was a wedding invitation. Don't they know someone could easily make that up and print it from their home computer!? And if we give them an invitation, are they going to think they're invited and show up at our wedding!!? We don't have room for them!!! I digress...

There are several good things about living at Eastgate. The convenience factor (to Chuck's classes, my job and the train station) is probably the best thing. Other perks are that we are a 2 minute walk to the river and beautiful scenery, the surrounding neighborhood is nice, the mall is a 12-15 minute walk, the building we're in is secure and safe, and it's a (relatively) cheap place to live in Boston/Cambridge.

Sadly, we lost the apartment lottery for the fall and spring, so we will be moving out in August, right before we go home to Kentucky to get married. Because of this, I like to think of Eastgate as our Engaged apartment and our new place as our Married apartment. When we come back, we will be immediately moving into Married apartment just one train stop away from MIT. (More details on that place later...) And while I love Engaged apartment, there are definitely a few things I won't mind leaving behind.

Exhibit A: The oven dials with no numbers or markers of any kind.

How the heck are you supposed to cook anything without knowing what temperature you're setting your oven to? Luckily we were given a sweet toaster oven at one of our wedding showers and I've been using that as my oven. Works just the same. I've even cooked a Stouffer's lasagna in it! And now that I've come this far,  I'm making it my mission to go the entire summer without using our numberless oven once.

Exhibit B: The louder-than-a-jackhammer-outside-your-bedroom-window AC unit.

Most apartments in Boston don't have central air (Married apartment does!) so you have to buy AC units. It does a fine job but MAN this thing is loud, especially when you're trying to watch TV and not disturb your super nice neighbors. Also, the unit was too small for the space so we had to cover the surrounding area with cardboard that occasionally starts to come off and requires re-taping.  Fun times.

Exhibit C: The time someone got mad and punched the poor, tiny bathroom door.

Please note, Chuck did not do this. He does not punch walls or doors. When we moved in, someone made a comment that someone must have been mad at their girlfriend/wife/partner. I quickly pointed out, "Be real. We're at MIT. Someone probably got a B on a test or something."

Exhibit D: The strange sound we hear several times a day but can't figure out for the life of us what it is or what it comes from.

I have no picture for this one obviously, but this is something that's puzzled us since our first week here. Every once in awhile you will hear a sound that, as another LGO SO living in Eastgate noted, sounds like someone dropping a marble on the floor of the apartment above you. And yet that's not it. Because if the other SO is hearing it in their apartment on a different floor, it must happen in every apartment, and surely not everyone is walking around dropping marbles on their floor! The source of this sound will haunt me until I die.

Exhibit E: The Eastgate hallways and elevators.

When you're inside our apartment, you can forget that you are basically living in a dorm. But the hallways and elevators don't let you forget it. The elevators are the slowest elevators in the history of Earth. And sometimes the doors take a while to open and make you think you're about to be trapped forever. And the hallways? Let's just say I don't think these carpets see a vacuum very often. A couple weeks ago, someone down the hall from us moved out but left a nice memento for us all in the hallway. A dried up anchovy. Just one, dead, dried up little fish. It still had eyes. And it stayed in the hallway outside that door for at least 3-4 days. I have a lot of questions about how the anchovy got to be there in the first place and why, but unlike the mysterious marble sound, the dead fish is something I don't want to continue to think about.

I know it's starting to sound like I hate living here but I really don't.  I enjoy it a lot actually. And I embrace Eastgate's eccentricities. Probably mainly because I know it's only temporary.