This September, I finally made the big move to an off-campus apartment. Days of swiping in my off-campus friends into Student Village I are now over. Nights of avoiding the RA because I felt guilty about skipping a meeting or missing a dorm bonding activity are now a non-issue. Yet, whether it’s trying to figure out why my breaded chicken recipe ended up with barely a bread crumb still attached, how to open a jar of tomato sauce, or how to put my bed frame together, living off-campus continues to present new challenges.
This week, the biggest challenge has been caring for my new puppy. At only 9 weeks old, my puppy, Alice, unfortunately has a bladder the size of a pea. Despite five mostly sleepless nights, I can’t imagine living without her. She is, after all, one of the cutest dogs in the world. Sure, I know that every dog owner must say that. Dogs are a bit like babies in that way, since every new mom and dad thinks their kid is the absolute cutest in the world, even if everyone else knows that the kid kind of looks like a frog. However, in the few days that I’ve had my puppy in Boston, I have yet to take her outside for a potty break without at least five people making a comment about how adorable she is. Today, I took her for a walk on Newbury Street, which led to a massive person roadblock, as hoards of people knelt down to say hello to my puppy. Along with cuteness comes the challenge of being disappointed when a good-looking guy running shirtless stops to tell me how wonderfully adorable… my puppy is. Sigh, such is life.