Settling in

Having a chance explore New Haven the past few weeks has been quite fun. Cassidy and I were on a housing/apartment search and were hitting the pavement around town. We did a number of driving and walking tours, concluding with last Saturday when we walked approx. 10 miles around the city.

Our 20th apartment was the last that we looked at--when we called Carol the leasing agent, she did not want to show us the place due to its messy nature. The house was run as an acupuncture office and the first two rooms were relatively clean, but the back of the apartment was extremely dirty. The current tenant told me that we could keep our dog in the attic; I am not sure what he meant . . .but through the grime and muck and smell of stir-fried food, we saw a real gem. We will move in around August 1.

I have made some attempts at bar studying as I am sitting for the CT and NY bars at the end of July. Sitting and studying is a bit hard after so much non-studying type of fun, that it is challenging to sit down and get focused. I have studied at the public library here in New Haven--think lots of homeless dudes hoping for a dime or two from the copy machine; and at the Yale law library--think studying in a cathedral of sorts, with wan and very skinny academic type men with large heads and very frail looking hands moving quietly throughout the library. It is quite a contrast. I had to get a flimsy piece of paper to use at the law library; on the back it states, "This is not a Yale ID and does not indicate any affiliation with Yale University." I just find that so funny--I am still unpacking why.

New Haven has a lot of great things--plenty of restaurants, farmers' markets, bike paths, and parks. It is a much smaller city than Baltimore and I am surprised at how much it has to offer. Cassidy starts his residency orientation on Friday.