An exquisite domicile is now in our possession!

       “What does that mean?” “Umm… Exquisite is grand or beautiful, a domicile is a place of living, and possession is ownership."

You can thank my snarky English-major housemate for my catchy blog title, but the point is that we finally found a house for next year! The lease agreement is itching to be co-signed, but it’s been quite the journey to get where we are today. I started looking at houses about a month ago, and I thought I’d found The One (of the three that I’d seen). We all applied for my “dream home”, which is more problematic than you’d think due to two of my future housemates still abroad in China and the twelve hour time difference! We had everything in but the signatures and deposits, and then it slipped from under us to a group who had everyone on campus. The trouble with a small school like K is that when things like this happen, you know who stole your house. It was no big deal, really, but fourth and fifth week are when midterms and papers all start stacking up, and I’d bitten off more than I could chew.
Finally I saw the light at the end of the tunnel last week when a landlord called to follow up because our ideal (if a bit pricey) house was still available. With a couple of emails and phone calls, we had all the applications in, and the two housemates on campus went with me to see the house a second time. The group we have will be good together, but we’ll need space – and with its two living rooms, spacious bedrooms, porch, and tiny backyard – this house offers plenty. We’re a super diverse bunch: none of us have the same major or are from the same region. We’ve got majors in Environmental Studies, English, Anthropology and Sociology, Theatre, and International and Area Studies focused on East Asia. Our SIP topics include water policy and soil erosion in China, a graphic novel, a study of the correlation between minorities and drug/alcohol abuse, and a performance of Peking Opera. We hail from northern Michigan, the suburbs of Chicago, LA, Hong Kong, and suburban Detroit… but that’s the beauty of people at K.

Despite all of our different backgrounds and interests, for the most part we are very close friends. A few people are going into this blindly though, and will formally meet on move-in day – so campus isn’t too small, but most of us have lived in close proximity to each other at some point in our college careers. Between the dynamic of this group and our future house directly across the street from campus, I think we’ve just set our senior year up to be magnificent!