Well, my first apartement was technicaly a small cabin that I shared with the biggest pot smoker in the Sierra Nevada. Here is my story.

Spring of 2004. I was tired of living in Los Angeles. The traffic. The overcorwding. The weather. It was all getting to me and I felt that I was losing my mind. I had to get out of there and move away. I was still living at home so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had always wanted to work up in Yosemite National Park and I went ahead and applied on their website. A few months later I was hired and all set to move on up. It was about 6 hours away so it wasn't too far. I took with me a few essentials. Some clothes, small TV and DVD player, some movies and a few other little accessories.

When I arrived I was assigned to a small cabin and a roomate. This guy had already been living up there for a few years and he hadn't had a roomate in a while so it took him a day or so just to get his crap out of my side of the room. In the meantime I was staying at a tent cabin nearby while I waited for Troy to clean up my half of the room. 48 hours later I moved into our cabin. It was not at all what I expected. First of all, he was a huge pothead and I think his diet consisted on beer and weed and not much else. He rarely bathed and hygene was not on his top ten list of priorities (and he worked in the kitchen of the Yosemite Lodge). This guy was such a pothead that he actually used to smoke in his sleep! I was up late reading one night and he suddenly sits up in his bed, reaches over for his pipe and takes a few hits. The whole time he did this his eyes were closed. After a few days of this I had to confront him about smoking indoors because his smoke was causing all of my clotes to stink like weed and I didn't want people to think I was some stoner. Then his friends would come over and since the place was so small they would sit on my bed when I wasn't there and his friends were just as dirty as he was. He also had a friggin Iguana as a pet and he let it run free in the room which I didn't really care for because the damn thing kept crawling on my while I slept and when I would wake it would be damn near sitting on my face. The final straw finally occured when I found a dead mouse in our fridge. Apprently it got inside and was trapped and died. I went back to the housing department and got another tent cabin by myself.

I thought that living in the most beatiful place in the world would be a special treat and in many ways it was. After my experiences at the park I realized that it is much better to visit as a tourist than to live as a local.

I'm still in my first apartment, six-and-a-half years later. The first month or so was tough. I moved to a new area and didn't know anyone so I cried a lot. But I got used to living on my own pretty quickly. I had lived in dorms at school so the apartment noises were pretty similar. I had a few run-ins with management, once because they entered my apartment without asking me first, but for the most part it's been a positive experience. I've told myself "I'll move" every year but never do. The maintenance staff is on top of things, and I haven't had anyone above me for three years now so it's been very quiet for the most part. I'm also only 3.5 miles from the office.

vw-driver, I hope you enjoy your new space as much as you seem to have your old one.

My first apartment 45 years ago. It was so much fun. I shared with another girl who worked where I did. (Back then, it was frowned on for a girl to live alone.) We lived in the back part of an elderly woman's home. The rent was $75 a month for what we now call an "open floor plan". The room had been a sunroom and she partioned one section off for a bath with kitchen on the other side of the wall. Rest of the room was living/bedroom. Windows all around. The decor was to die for, my dear--wallpaper was black with a sickening green and pink flowers. Rug was beige with other flowers and the many windows were draped in white with aqua/brown slashes in it. It didn't matter. We had the best time!

I moved in to my first apartment last winter. I had owned a single family home and had to sell it to get some moocher family members that kept pulling me down and wouldn't leave. I bought a 2 unit that is a semi detacted brick home converted in to two apartments. my moving day was a total hell as the moochers never cleaned out all ther stuff, nearly cost me the sale of my house and I had to go back and clean it all out, then call a junk man to haul it away since it was way more than the trash would take. I barely got many things moved in to my apartment by 11pm, just some boxes and my washer dryer and freezer. my dad had some friends come help that night and the next day. that friday night I slept on a blow up camping mattress on the floor since my bed was still in the truck. saturday morning the cable guy came at 7 to connect me, I had no TV in the house and had to dig my modem, router and laptop out of a box in my car for him. by 3pm I got all my stuff in with help, also got the truck returned too. I really didn't have alot of furniture since I gave some of it to my mother and sister so some rooms were nearly empty. now I have the place full enough.

the life in an apartment did take getting used too. I was not used to hearing occasional noise from my tenants and the people that lived in the house attached to mine. it was also the first time in years I had lived alone with no one except my cat, I had almost always had a room mate or family living with me. once I got the unpacking done and was settled in I was one minute thankfull to have the peace quiet and solitude and the next feeling a little lonely. Now I have adjusted fairly well the light random noises from neighbors I hardly notice, I go out and visit with friends a few times a week to keep from feeling lonely and when I get bored at home I work on painting and other improvement tasks. I now i like being in my apartment and I am fine with being alone, in fact I prefer it over how I used to live and what I put up with. Plus I am building equity in this house as I fix it up and the rent coming in sure is nice.

One hard fact of moving, is I'll hardly have any money for myself. At least that's what my first move in was like. Besides the pro-rated rent, there's the deposit, the first months rent, and then the very first bills. After a month or so of comning into the regular billing cycle, all seems well. On the bright side, I'm getting my $200 deposit back from my current apartment. I'll need that money for sure.

I miss my first place! My boyfriend and I were moving in together (my now husband) and neither of us had ever had our own place before.
We looked at the place on a Sunday,and the landlord approved us right away (we had deposit money in hand) and moved in two days later.
We had no furniture at first,LOL. I think a twin bed as a couch. But it was perfect for us and had a lovely patio that overlooked this field. We had table and chairs out there,and sometimes I'd make us dinner and we'd eat it out there.
WE did have this one weird neighboor though...
a lady in her fourties that was always in our business.
I caught her spying on us through our window one Sunday morning while we were in bed.(she pretended she was tending to the flowers)
We finally moved cuz it just wasnt big enough once we were having our daughter.
Alot of great memories there though.

I moved into my first apartment 8 days ago. Its a pretty spacious one bedroom with a good closet and a nice balcony. The neighbors downstairs already complained that I am loud- even though Ive been alone. Its hard living on my own because I am used to having people around me- its different coming home to an empty house. I cry a lot too. lol. I just noticed underneath the counter that some wood is misssing. I was thinking I should tell the apt. manager but Im not sure- I dont want to be charged wiht it when I leave. It does take some getting used to to live alone.