An update of the last few days

So I am in Bismarck! (And have been for six days....)

It is alright here, although I miss Idaho and the familiar and already miss my family (yes, there were tears although I held it together until they left... barely). It will take me a while to get used to it here, I am not good with change and this is a major change. I honestly didn't expect it to be so different from Nampa, ID. I expected smaller but not any great changes, boy was I wrong. Bismarck feels like a strange combination of new and outdated. Some aspects are so modern that it almost blows your socks off but they are subtle things. Others take you back into 2008 or 2003 or (in the case of my kitchen stove) 1972.

The people are a similar enigma. They are a strange mixture of laid-back and gruff, as if they can't quite decide which to be so they chose both. They aren't, so far, as chatty as those in Idaho but their overall demeanor isn't mean, just reserved. You would think that with all this space they would be more secure in being big but I suppose that it could be the opposite. Because there is so much space, it is overwhelming and they stay to themselves. They certainly don't make as much eye contact as I am used to.

I wonder what they make of me?

My apartment is nice. Spacious. Perfect... well... Almost perfect. As I mentioned, my stove is from the 70s and only has 3 working burners. The AC unit is not made for 100+ degrees. And, most importantly right now, my toilet is mostly broken (not flushing, leaking around the base), backing up into the tub, and leaking into the apartment below me. I hope it is fixed today because I would really like to shower... or flush my toilet.

Also I don't have a couch (as of right now) or my chair. The couch was supposed to come yesterday but now won't arrive for another 2 days (estimated). The chair won't be here for 2.5 more weeks. Luckily I have kitchen chairs to sit in. But my couch would have been nice.

I will make a separate post about work and the end of my online class (once it ends!) when I have a bit more time.