Oh, Nashville...

One week into my residency at Nashville...And I finally exhaled. I finally have put away everything (almost). This past week has possibly been one of the most trying weeks of my life. I suppose that life changes always bring about this type of joy, frustration, excitement, terror, and confusion. I have never moved this far away before. Moving somewhere that was 4 hours away (Myrtle Beach) was tough, but moving somewhere 10 hours away was sheer hell. Why you may ask? One important life lesson I learned, take as little as possible when moving this distance.

For the move, Tim and I decided to rent a pod-like box for the shipping of the majority of our furniture and books. This ended up being far more complicated, stressful, and destructive than originally planned. For one, not everything fit. There were causalities. We lost our dining room chairs, due to a lack of space. We lost a couple of bookcases, due to a lack of careful planning in the packing. Note: It is not a good idea to put 30 boxes of books in the back of the pod, with cheap furniture in the front. In transit, the books came cascading down, crashing the furniture and breaking about 2 boxes of my favorite dishes and coffee mugs. Besides the obvious errors in packing, using a pod meant that we also packed the crap we own about 4 times.

After packing a pod, we drove a good bit of "stuff" with us...including the cats. Driving 10 hours with cats is not as much fun as you might imagine. Sabine apparently did not appreciate the fact that my truck is unable to run the a/c constantly. She yelped and screamed every time I turned off the air.

We arrived in Nashville on Wednesday night around 9:00pm. As we started to unpack the truck and car, it started to pour down rain. One of our friendly new neighbors informed us this was good luck. Now, how is that again? The first night here, Sabine was also so freaked out (she takes after me, apparently) that she didn't sleep at all. This also meant I didn't sleep at all.

Our first day here was spent with the fella from the cable company. Then picking up the rest of our crap from the pod people. Thursday was not a fun day. Friday was spent unpacking and jumping over boxes. Friday was not a fun day.

Finally, on Saturday, we decided to venture out into the joys of Nashville. In particular the one place we wanted to visit first was the Nashville Farmers' Market. The market is within walking distance from our new home and was incredible. The picture above shows our first purchase from the market. While living in Myrtle Beach, we often would frequent the weekly flea market, which also had a couple of folks set up with some vegetables. No comparison. The market here is overwhelming. I couldn't even fathom what type of vegetables I wanted. There were too many choices. We are actually still eating from the vegetables we purchased. The butter beans were excellent. Absolutely mind-blowing. Saturday was a good day.

Sunday was our record store day. We decided to visit one of the many record stores in town. The record store is Grimey's. Part of our reason for going to the record store was to get rid of some cds...to make some money for trade, but also to free up some space. Grimey's is excellent. Very cool. Very hip. I found a couple of albums there. Another note: I refuse to buy any more albums that do not come on vinyl with the cd/mp3 download. We also ventured down what is called Charlotte Avenue/Pike. There are a hell of a lot of thrift stores, not to mention the Target/Wal-mart/Lowe's.

Monday was one of those days spent unpacking books. Tim has an insane amount of books. Ever since we decided to move, I have been thinking about how to find a way to store all of the books. In Myrtle Beach, the books filled one of our rooms- mostly on the floor, going 3 to 4 rows out. This was not efficient. It was also hell for Tim if he ever hoped to find any particular book. So, we wanted to do something different. After researching numerous shelving options (and having been told by our real estate folks that we are not allowed to make permanent changes to the apartment), Tim mentioned the idea of the old college stand-by. Plywood and cinder blocks. And when we purchased 20 cinder blocks, the folks at the hardware store did not bat an eye. The shelves are up now. They look fantastic.

Monday night, we decided to venture out into what is often referred to as the "tourist" area of Nashville. Perhaps we missed the lights and neon and tourists of Myrtle Beach. We ventured down to Broadway. We had a few drinks at a bar called Robert's Western World and listened to a western swing band. We then crossed the street and had a beer at a bar called The Wheel. At The Wheel, there was a band playing covers...though, I think most of them were Bob Seger covers. Though Broadway seems a little "over-the-top", we are incredibly close to this area- and for the sheer excitement and people-watching, I think we'll spend a good deal of time down there.

Tuesday was the day we spent money. Anyone that has cats and blinds in their home know that cats love to break/bend/tear apart blinds. To avoid this, the cat-owners must seek out curtains to create a barrier. So, we went out spent an obnoxious amount of money on my new credit card to find the appropriate curtains, rods, and other necessities to start to decorate our new home. After the decorating is finished, I hope not to step foot in a Wal-mart or Target again for months.

Tuesday night was quite enjoyable. During the summer, I got to know some of the other incoming graduate students in my program. I always think day one of a graduate program can be pretty nerve shattering- so I thought getting to know some of the other newbies would be a good way to feel more comfortable with the program. In particular, I exchanged numerous emails with a fella named Colin. We discovered pretty early on that we had plenty in common. We both are coming in with our MA. We both love music. We both have cats. So, finally, on Tuesday night, Tim and I were scheduled to meet up with Colin and his girlfriend, Sarah. (I hope Sarah is spelled correctly.)

Meeting up with folks you have talked to over email, but have never seen in person is pretty funny. Mostly because you have no idea if the conversations you have had over email will translate to in person. You have no idea what they look like. It was sort of like a blind date for Tim and I with a couple. We met them at a place called The Gold Rush, which was pretty rad. We had a great time. And yes, the conversations and interests all translated. We all got along famously. I do believe this bodes well for our time in Nashville. After our drinks at The Gold Rush, we crossed the street to The Exit/In, which is a club where Tim and I will be seeing Bon Iver and AA Bondy next week.

Wednesday was a bit less interesting. It was another day of unpacking. We did venture down Charlotte Pike again to another used bookstore/records/dvds called McKays. We decided to take a couple of boxes of cds and books to trade. When our trade was processed, I walked up to the counter and the young lady working told me that we were given 209 in trade. I thought 2.09 sucked for all I brought in, until I realized she meant two hundred and nine dollars. Fuck yeah. So, now we have a credit that will keep us in free books and cds and dvds for at least another couple of months.

And finally today...we have officially been here one week. I have all the windows covered with curtains. I have unpacked my desk and set it up for the ultimate school experience. The last thing left to do in the house is to hang our paintings and pictures. I hope to finish this tomorrow. And it will all be completed. We will be moved in.

The week ahead brings promise. Tomorrow, we'll be visiting an in-store performance by Conor Oberst and his new Mystic Valley Band for free at Grimey's. We will also attend his performance at Mercy Lounge. Saturday, we'll be spending our time at the Tomato Art Festival in East Nashville...and hopefully, seeing my friend, Heather. Sunday, I swear I'm seeing the Nashville Sounds. When I finally make it to my first rock show and first baseball game, I think I'll feel like I really live here. In Nashville.