Seriously, BYU should have something similar to the reality TV show Survivor when it comes to finding an apartment. For those of you outside of the realm that is zoobieville, aka Brigham Young University, BYU has a policy that all apartments rented by students must be approved apartments by the school that promise they will obey certain guidelines and rules such as provide an environment where the honor code will be enforced, certain amenities in the apartments, etc. It is a great idea and I think it has its place, but in all reality, the desired outcome for BYU approved housing is not what a student truly gets. BYU has set up a two-mile radius around campus and has said only housing in that region would be approved, which actually sort of limits the number of apartments a student can rent and I have seen several great apartments outside of the region which are really good. Well, by the laws of supply and demand, limited housing means less supply, so rent goes up, and since students have less options to choose from, the quality in the apartments tend to be, well, really bad! This is what the typical BYU student is dealing with and it truly is a journey of survival to find a good apartment that is at a good price is not falling apart. Hence my journey on looking for an apartment! Oh the joy.
I am in a unique situation. I live in Provo, I have grown up here, I went to Provo High School (it is right across the street from BYU), and I still live at my parent’s house. I have some sweet digs, my own private room which is bigger than any of the rental rooms I have seen (that includes the Avenue private apartments), my food is made by good ol’ mom and dad, and I have a lot of space and privacy. Oh, and parking is never an issue. With that said, some would say I am crazy for wanting to move out, I mean come on, moving in to an apartment would really lower my quality of living and I would be paying for the decrease rather than live for free in a house!
But for some reason I have really been interested in just getting out and experiencing life a little bit more. While I was in Brazil, I lived in apartments, I cooked my own food (alright, we actually ate a lot of prepared meals by the church members there almost every day, I love Brazilian hospitality!), and I felt more free to make my own decisions. I was independent and I want to feel that again for at least a little while. And although I am quite the specimen and I am totally awesome, my social life tends to be non-existent since I live so far away from everybody and it is really convenient to stay at home. Getting out of the house for a little while and finding a rented apartment will let me feel more independent and just increase my social life. Plus let’s be honest, I will probably end up moving back in to my parent’s home when I kill these “needs”. I will finally realize why it is so good to live at home!
The search has been interesting. I went to Liberty Square and King Henry Apartments, hearing they have an amazing social life. I can see why with their large complexes and their hordes of immature girls which lead to the coveted sophomore fling by the crazy guys, but really the cost kind of scared me with the quality of living you get out of the apartment. I checked out the apartments around the South Side of campus and realized, I would have to park at the Provo Tabernacle just to have my car close by. Parking in that area is horrible, not to mention all the apartments I looked at were . . . run down to put it nicely. Why is that area so desired to rent from; besides the fact it is as close to campus as you can get and you get to chase awesome ducks every morning by the pond on your way up the stairs of death to campus?
My price range makes me a cheapskate at the range of $250 - $300, so most of the apartments I would find were tiny apartments with a really tiny kitchen and shared rooms with a tall bunk bed in an area with five other men and one bathroom . . . oh the insanity. Oh they all seemed to have a weird smell to them.
But hey, the apartment search is fun! It is great to get to the office and find a married lady who always seems to be pregnant who runs the place. These ladies always have the funniest stories about how the tenants are insane and all the messed up things they do. I think I’ll just go apartment searching just to hear their crazy stories so I might stay entertained. But the search continues for an adequate apartment to my liking which won’t kill my budget. Maybe I am downgrading from luxury to a small damp room called an apartment, but it will be a fun experience as I go along with it.
