My last post was about my moving fiasco of showing up to my apartment on Labour Day Monday with the wrong set of keys. I was also upset about the misconception of the apartment being on the third floor when it was actually on street level and had asked my leasing agent for other options. I ended up going two more days without a place to live (and without my leasing agent returning my emails and phone calls), however, I am happy to announce that I did move into a new place that is on the twelfth floor of a newer building. If you are considering a move to San Francisco, you are welcome to contact me to hear about all of the issues that I have been having with my property management group, as I would not recommend them to anyone. (Unfortunately, I'm stuck with them for the next nine months.)
Other than my problems with my property management group, it has proven to be rather difficult moving to the United States as a Canadian without a Social Security Number. To set up my cell phone, cable, internet and electricity, I had to go into the offices of T-Mobile, Comcast and PG&E to prove my identity and put down deposits. This was rather time consuming but once I was at each office, the service was fantastic.
Not having a vehicle has been a difficult adjustment, much more difficult than it was moving to London or Macau. I'm hoping that I will soon adjust to using the public transit system here, however, in the meantime, Uber has become my best friend! In fact, if you sign up for Uber and use the code "ashleyj1370", you will receive a free ride (up to $20) and I will get a free ride too!
I am still getting used to all of the homeless people around my building (one morning I counted over 30 on one block), however, for the most part, they are harmless and mind their own business. The area I live in used to be really bad but the city is trying to reform it and there are many luxury high rise apartment buildings being built. There are business men and woman, as well as families with children walking in and out and we have 24/7 security at the front desk which is comforting.
In the end, I regret not coming down prior to moving to physically tour apartments and assess neighbourhoods. If you have a move planned in the future, I would highly recommend doing this if you are able to.
Other than my problems with my property management group, it has proven to be rather difficult moving to the United States as a Canadian without a Social Security Number. To set up my cell phone, cable, internet and electricity, I had to go into the offices of T-Mobile, Comcast and PG&E to prove my identity and put down deposits. This was rather time consuming but once I was at each office, the service was fantastic.
Not having a vehicle has been a difficult adjustment, much more difficult than it was moving to London or Macau. I'm hoping that I will soon adjust to using the public transit system here, however, in the meantime, Uber has become my best friend! In fact, if you sign up for Uber and use the code "ashleyj1370", you will receive a free ride (up to $20) and I will get a free ride too!
I am still getting used to all of the homeless people around my building (one morning I counted over 30 on one block), however, for the most part, they are harmless and mind their own business. The area I live in used to be really bad but the city is trying to reform it and there are many luxury high rise apartment buildings being built. There are business men and woman, as well as families with children walking in and out and we have 24/7 security at the front desk which is comforting.
In the end, I regret not coming down prior to moving to physically tour apartments and assess neighbourhoods. If you have a move planned in the future, I would highly recommend doing this if you are able to.