Pink Fuzzy Bunny

If you could, please post what you end up doing. My credit union is also a local thing 14 hours away. So far I've just been dealing with everything electronically, which is great until you have a problem (as I currently do).

Are you me? You sound like me. Also was published many times as an undergrad, went to school an hour away from home, got the NSF, blah blah blah but never went far away from home. I cried every time I thought about moving because I was so close to my friends/family and especially professors. Even the thought of never seeing some of them again would sometimes send me into a panic attack. As an undergrad I kept to myself because I didn't make friends easily, and really didn't have friends until senior year. It took me 4 damn years to meet people, and the thought of losing it just wasn't bearable. But alas, 15 days ago the day came when I hopped in my car and drove 14 hours away with all of my stuff. I thought the trip was going to miserable - that I'd cry so hard I wouldn't be able to see the road through my tears, and that I'd spend the first few days in my new apartment just wishing desperately to go home. After all, that's how it was when I went from high school to undergrad. And you know what? I'm still waiting for the homesickness to set in. I haven't really made any great friends but I really love the grad students I work with. TLDR - I hyped myself up preparing to move to the point where I was considerably depressed beforehand. But it will not be nearly as bad as you think.

I'm with @sjoh197... pay $1.5k or so for a nice desktop, and then maybe $500 for a laptop. For things like Portal and the Sims (two of my faves as well), both would do nicely I think.

Definitely regret paying ~$2k for a gaming laptop. Two years later and I'm already thinking of just getting a desktop...

I actually did read that one as well! I believe it was called "Newton"? @hippyscientist add that to your list as well

@hippyscientist If you get a chance, I highly recommend "Genius" by James Gleick - it's a biography of Feynman himself and probably darn near my favorite book of all time. And in regards to physics-y books, Gleick's other books are simply phenomenal, especially "Chaos". Gleick is one of my all-time favorite writers and the fact that he writes about physics is definitely a plus!

have you looked into Chase? Last time I checked, they waive fees for students (with their student account), and also don't charge fees if you meet other requirements.

You might want to see if your university has automatic document feed scanners... I mean, unless you want to be feeding in pages for the next few months

Isn't that your job though If there's one person to be addicted to books, I'm glad it's you! Also, I just ate an egg sandwich that had been left out for 8+ hours, and the inside was green which I realized after chowing down on about 80% of it... it's been nice knowing you all.

Ooh, what are you using MATLAB for? But seriously, take that month and rest.... don't even think about work-related things! I really love my research group and find the work they do fascinating, which is surprising since I wasn't really excited for it until very recently - this week-ish in fact. The other graduate students are great, but I feel bad for following them around like a lost puppy since I'm not skilled on anything enough to, you know, accomplish anything. I have only ever done theoretical physics, so until this week I had never used any sort of microscope, spectrometer, chemicals, or anything. Thank goodness for Google so I don't have to bother them with questions like "what is a microscope slide cover?" Also, @Cat_Robutt, isn't Gilmore Girls the BEST THING EVER?!?!?!?!

Wow congratulations! I think you'll be surprised how restful that month will be, and hopefully moving across the pond won't be too stressful in regards to red tape.

I do have set feeding times but maybe I will try a small amount of wet food twice a day or something. What do you all think, half a can in the morning and half a can at night? Or what? Keep in mind he gets about 1/2 cup of dry food twice a day at well. Also, I'm feeding him Blue Buffalo, which is grain-free.

Thanks for all the helpful info. This is the first cat I've owned by myself but we've always had family cats... sadly I don't have the time or the money to feed him wet food but I do the rest of those things. I wish there were an automatic wet food dispenser - if I only fed him wet food, I'd have to leave work early to come home and feed him since I don't think he would be happy being fed at 6AM and then not again until midnight or so, so I'm stuck with dry food for now.

I'm not sure! I might ask the vet about it. I did look into it but it's like $150 a year, and at the time when I thought I'd have a healthy cat I was expecting to pay only $50 a year for an annual vet visit. I wonder if they will decline a pet based on pre-existing conditions, like people insurance? Who knows

Well... the cat I adopted on Saturday is pretty sickly. Nothing says "welcome to having pets" like a several-hundred-dollar vet visit, am I right?

I also enjoyed the answer about libraries Neist! I felt it was a stupid question to ask, but now I understand it better. Also, first day of research done... I really love my group so far and hope I can continue to work with them for the next 6-7 years - at least, that's my opinion presently. And I have no idea what's going on

I start research today with a group at Cornell... mommy hold me...

Don't get me wrong, I love snow... but only from, say, October through April.

So I don't know how I feel about New York... it's snowing...

What makes you think another program would be different? People are assholes everywhere.

Congratulations! Also, those cheddar bay biscuits... I would go through a 4-year degree and graduate JUST so I could have some cheddar bay biscuits.

If you go to this page: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/workspaces/11844/ , you can choose a tabletop. I think I got the "Linnmon" for $30. I have an unreasonable amount of stuff that I pile on top of it (monitors, laptops, printers, textbooks...) and the poor thing has stood the test of time. Once you choose a tabletop, you can go to http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/workspaces/11845/ and choose legs. I got the Krille (the wheels with caster), so it's easier to move around in case I want to rearrange... the wheels lock and I've never had a problem with them unlocking.

I'm with you on the huge IKEA desks. I got one for... maybe $60? You chose the top (I chose one that's like 5 feet long by 3 feet wide) and then got legs for it. Big desks are the best desks. Also, I'm still learning how to be an adult apparently. I never had to check mail at my old place since utilities were covered... but my postman just came by with my mail like "You gonna get your mail? Or nah?"

For some reason I just got a bill from Cornell for "2015-2016 health insurance"... *laughs nervously*

Yes I hate that! You want to get rid of stuff but it's hard until you start actually packing!