Adios Albuquerque, Bonjour Berkeley!

 

Has it been an inexcusably long time since my last blog post?  Yes.  Do I have an excuse?  Of course!  July has marked the beginning of a remarkable journey in which I have bid farewell to my hometown of Albuquerque, and hello to a new life in California.  My journey to Berkeley has been to pursue a Masters degree in Architecture, and begin an odyssey into a new chapter of my life.  My mom and I loaded up a moving truck, I took the reigns, and we drove across the country to sunny California!  I will have to say that one of the most strenuous parts of any move involves the packing and unpacking of stuff.  The unbelievable amount of stuff that one accumulates over the course of many years can be nothing short of overwhelming.  Without having too much of this 'stuff' to pack, I somehow still ended up with boxes upon boxes piled in my apartment.  Very slowly these boxes are being unpacked; and I am attacking them with the same ferocious procrastination as I attack most things. 

However, where there were gaps in the 'stuff' that I needed, Ikea came to the rescue!  Being an Ikea virgin up until my arrival to the Bay, there was much pent up excitement for my very first visit.  Driving up to the blue and yellow building, watching satisfied customers emerge with their boxes of Swedish goods; how could this not be the most terrific place on Earth?!  I'll tell you how it cannot be, because it is, contrary to popular belief, still subject to the laws of retail crappiness.  After winding through the seemingly endless aisles of unpronounceable European named furniture and accessories, we had compiled our list of aisle and bin number combinations.  Both my mother and I had the preconceived notion that once the maze directed us toward the flat-packed warehouse wonderland, that all previous bewilderment would be forgotten.  We were wrong.  The aisles were filled with carts left to the wayside by other disgruntled and disheartened customers.  Employees acted as though they too only spoke the language that was used to name the furniture, ignoring any request for help.  With steadfast determination (and only a few things on our list) we made it out alive!  But only to wait in line behind a shopper with lest modesty than we.  As the couple ahead were ringing up cart after cart of their modular home goods, we could only smile and think, "Well, at least we won't have to do this again!"  Wrong once more...

Just several days later we had to return a casualty of Swedish design.  My poor little chair had decided that it just didn't want to be put together, so we surrendered it for one of its more cooperative comrades.  I cannot say just yet whether I have made a solid verdict on Ikea.  I love my little dining set (thus far) and the assembly directions are simple, almost to a fault.  With access to something as awesome and all encompassing as Ikea, who isn't going to expect a little flub here and there?  Fortunate for their affordability, I will be returning...

Other than my Ikea anecdote, these last couple of weeks have been a blast!  More to come soon, so stay tuned!