Nicolai Bursuc

I’m an impulsive person, I’ll admit it.

Irrational, illogical, slightly stupid with a hint of what the hell are you doing oh my god- they’re all fairly accurate descriptions of me. Quixotic is the preferred nomenclature though, and that’s the word I stick to when my ill-fated plans blow up in my face.

It’s no surprise to anyone that I’d fall madly in love over the course of a week and decide at the end of it to move across the country on a whim. No surprise at all. This would be my first time off my parents’ tab and out of their home.

It’s been one month and I’m ready to share what I’ve learned in this brave new world that hath such people in it called adults.

Protip One: Plan Ahead at Least a Few Weeks and Have the Resources to Match

I left my car in a field and walked to the airport with a few hundred dollars in hand and the promise of fifteen-hundred more in as soon as a cheque cleared back in Chicago. (That cheque would prove to take nearly two weeks, a slight concern because I blew through my pocket money rather quickly and was on the verge of eating my own shoes by the time it finally did.)

If not for the help of several people taking me in and offering advice, I’d either be dead or listening to a man with five teeth and a meth addiction sing sweet nothings to his reflection on the DART right now.

You do not want to go into your move unprepared.

I love chaos; thrive on the stuff, but the kind you’ll find if you don’t cross your I’s and dot your T’s isn’t fun. There are big bugs in Texas, ones that swarm around the light of laptops and fly into the hair of the people clutching them in their hammock at three in the morning. If you don’t plan, you get bugs.

You do not want bugs.

Protip Two: Don’t Panic

It’s scary. It’s very scary. The entire world is actively working against you like some kind of pedestrian Gestapo, and at any given time in your first month you’ll have at least three good reasons to run around like a crazy person and cry your little eyes out.

However, that solves nothing.

I still don’t have a steady job, have no clue how I’m going to pay my rent beyond month three, and don’t have a clue what half the forms I’ve signed say. There is two dollars and change in my wallet, at least five-hundred due within the next week, and I have nothing more than a loaf of bread and pepper in my fridge to last me at least three days.

These are all perfectly legitimate reasons to panic. At the same time, they aren’t. I’ll get money, I’ll get food, and I’ll get some sense of direction. The best thing to do is to sit down and make a plan.

Protip Two and a Half: Plan.

There is a metric ton of resources available for every little detail of your move. Need boxes? The post office ships them free. Need an apartment? Websites like rent.com and rentmoney.com pay you for leasing. A bed and couch? Craigslist.com can save you hundreds of dollars. Jobs can be found on Craigslist.com and Monster.com catering to all levels of skill and qualifications- the former being great for part time gigs like tutoring and care-taking as well.

Another good idea is to fall back on any web communities you belong to and trust (ie, not 4chan.org). Being an active member of the social media site Reddit.com, I was able to find fellow Dallas-area members with couches to spare in the space between my flight and my leasing. Not only that, but they’ve helped me move and get set-up as well. If you’re hundreds of miles from everyone you know, the internet is an amazing way to make contacts which will help you tremendously in the long run.

Protip Three: Panic.

Ha, no but seriously. Don’t.

Protip Four: Deposits are The Man’s Way of Keeping You Down

You’re going to need money to do this. I’ve blown through at least two thousand dollars, and I don’t even have furniture yet. Without credit, you’re going to be putting down a $400 deposit on electricity, a $200 on Renter’s Insurance, another $200 on water and sewage, and at least a month’s rent for your apartment.

If you can find someone older to co-sign on everything with you, you’ll spare yourself most of the burden. The problem with that is that you can ruin them financially if you have the reputation of a guy who likes to drop all responsibility and take a flight to wherever on a whim.

Needless to say, I didn’t co-sign.

It’s cost me a lot of money, but so will everything else. Ikea and Walmart will be your best friends for furniture (and all that crap you don’t need but want anyways,) but even then you can expect to pay at least $1000 or more for getting set up, and that’s not going to cover bills which will run me $500-1000 per month until I’m back on the road.

Protip Five: Enjoy it

This will be stressful, scary, and a massive pain in the ass financially, but think of the bright side.

You’re free.

You can eat nutella on a Snickers for breakfast and a single carrot dipped in peanut butter for dinner, and there’s no mom to tell you otherwise.

You can stay up past 4AM playing Battlefield at full volume and dad’s not going to walk in and unplug your computer right as you’re about to snipe a helicopter pilot.

You can hang your pants from a ceiling fan and paint Hitler’s face on your lamp shade, and there’s no one to say you can’t.

It’s awesome.

Everything about it is awesome, and you can have a great time if you let yourself. Take things as a joke but don’t become soft. Take things seriously but don’t become stiff. You’ll find your feet in time, and with that you’ll begin the part of life that school does nothing to prepare you for.

A month and three days ago I left my car in a field and jumped on a plane to the other side of the country because I’m in la-la-la-la-love. I have no money, no food, and no clue. My parents think I’m on holiday, my friends think I’m an idiot, and my girlfriend thinks I’m insane.

I couldn’t be happier.