One Month in Atlanta

It's been exactly one month since my little Toyota Corolla cruised into Atlanta, Georgia and what a month it's been. I started my first full-time job, found a roommate, signed on an apartment, started up the blog again, met new people, made new friends, and have started to navigate my way around my new home.

I moved to Atlanta with zero furniture. Everything I owned was packed into eight plastic storage bins, four space bags and three duffle bags. I lived in temporary housing for two weeks and finally moved into my apartment in Midtown a few weeks ago. I found a roommate on a young professionals of Atlanta Facebook group and three days after messaging back and forth, we signed a lease. We both just graduated from college days prior and knew nobody - what could go wrong? Well, it couldn't have worked out better! We live in a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment that looks out over the heart of Midtown with a great view of the sunset.

Although the month has been dominated by me Google Mapping everything, trying to meet new people, and also learn the layout of every Target in a five mile radius, I have to say my first month in Atlanta has been great. All throughout my junior and senior years of college I thought I was going to move north to New York City, Philly, or Boston. Never did I think I would travel south to Atlanta but I'm thankful that God led me here.

My first night in town my parents were here! They helped move me in and after a long day of driving eight hours and unloading boxes, we headed towards the Virginia Highlands area to grab a bite to eat. Georgia's been slowly opening since the beginning of May so it was our first restaurant experience in months. We ate at Fritti, a delicious contemporary Italian restaurant with al fresco dining. Virginia Highlands was the first area I explored when I moved and this little neighborhood is so. cute. Little townhouses and split-levels are woven in and out of bars and restaurants and string lights line the street. The next day at 7a.m. my parents hugged me goodbye, my dad handed me an envelope with a letter addressed to me, and they drove away leaving me officially alone on Atlanta.

After two weeks of living out of two bins, I moved from my temporary housing into my first Atlanta apartment. I looked at apartments for weeks on Apartments.com and probably saved 50+ locations. After I met my roommate through Facebook, we quickly narrowed it down based on budget and location. We both had the same budget and wanted to be in a walkable but safe part of town close to restaurants and bars. Her siblings live in town too so it was important that we were close to them. I knew my years of watching House Hunters on HGTV would come in handy! 🙌🏼 After we chatted about location specifics, we were left to tour three or four places. I toured our current place on my lunch break one afternoon and the next day we put in an application.

I slept on the floor for a few nights, then upgraded to an air mattress, and am now finally sleeping in a bed. We're slowly filling the place with furniture, but things are coming together! Since all of my college apartments were furnished, I've been buying a piece or two of furniture with each paycheck. Thank God there's an IKEA literally four miles from our place. So far all of my furniture is new, but I'm keeping an eye on Facebook Marketplace. My roommate and I are going to road trip down to the Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and Free People furniture outlet soon! See how I decorated my bedroom here! Don't worry, an apartment tour is coming, but not until it's fully decorated!

A lot of people have asked about who I know in town and the answer is simple...nobody! I knew nobody before moving to Atlanta. I'm getting to know my co-workers and the city at the same time. The first person I really got to know was my roommate and we met the day we moved in. She and I are both from out of state so we're meeting people at the same time. We both work at different companies and so this past weekend we got together with a few of our co-workers and all met one another. We ended up going to a bar (which is open in Atlanta) and sat outside and had a few drinks. It was so nice to meet new people and make some friends around town. I've also met a few Atlanta bloggers this past month!

I'm a fairly independent person so moving away from my home and my family wasn't as scary as it would be for some people. The thing that made it tough was doing so during a pandemic and protests. My first night alone was also the first (and most violent) night of protests in Atlanta and it was scary living in a new place with new people while feeling unsafe. While most protests were very peaceful, things across the country did turn violent in some cities - Atlanta being one of them. Another thing that's been a tough adjustment is budgeting. In college, I was mostly self-reliant with money so saving, allocating funds, and sometimes putting things back on the shelf isn't new to me. It's just on a much larger scale now which is daunting!

The best part about moving is making a city your own. Finding the best Target in the area or your favorite place to get pizza or grab drinks after work. I swear I got a rush when I managed to make it to and from work without Google Maps. Learning a completely new place and slowly having it start to feel like home is such a unique and rewarding feeling. This time last year I was preaching about how I wanted to move to New York City. Honestly, if Coronavirus didn't happen, I probably would be sitting in a shoebox apartment with 4 other roommates sharing one bathroom in the middle of Hell's Kitchen. And yes, it's scary dealing with bills, and the first hail storm, and navigating a new highway system at rush hour, and having to trust a roommate you've never met before but so far Atlanta has surprised me and taught me so many things in just 30 days. I'm looking forward to what else it'll bring me!