When I first moved to the city, I was really excited.
It was the first time I had been away from the farm and my first time to be out on my own.
I had an excellent job opportunity and I had an apartment that I didn’t need to share. I never realized how much different it was going to be in the city as compared to the small farming community I came from. It wasn’t just the people that were different, but it was the climate. With all of the people and the asphalt, it was a lot hotter than it had ever been at home. It didn’t help any that I was moving in the middle of a heat wave. I couldn’t wait to get into my apartment. It was supposed to have heating and air conditioning included. I thought this meant that I would be comfortable and away from the heating. What it really meant was that I had heating and air conditioning that was controlled by the building superintendent. Since he didn’t live in the building, the thermostat was set to what should have been comfortable in a single home, but not in an apartment building with thirty apartments. Even if I had a window, I wouldn’t have been comfortable because of the 100 plus degrees it was outside. I had the air conditioning on high, but it wasn’t giving me enough AC to keep me even slightly cool. It was better than if I didn’t have any air conditioning, but not much better. At least I was able to get some sleep before I started my new job in the morning.