Motel, sweet Motel

Well, when I got into Whitesburg Monday afternoon, things were looking good. Although there had been some rain on the drive down and my three-disc mix-made-especially-for-the-drive compilation wouldn't play in my CD changer for some reason, the sun was shining when I got into town and the smell of honeysuckle was almost overpowering (in a good way).

Then I checked in. (Eric has documented this in a much more succinct fashion.)

Although I had been told that I would be paying 300-and-some-odd dollars for my month's stay at the Super 8 (I have a $440 stipend to cover housing for the month and some gas), the desk clerk informed me I would be paying $65.87 PER NIGHT, for a whopping total of $1646.75. I had no choice but to accept it, at least for the night, but I almost started to cry. I don't have anywhere near $1600 to my name at the moment, as I am completely out of financial aid for the semester. And the clerk was so confident that the rate was right, that I felt I had to believe her. When I told her that I was told I would have a special rate, she replied, "We have people who have lived here for 3 years and they still pay $65 a night." At which point I wanted to laugh AND cry. Who lives at a Super 8 for 3 years? And who would put up with that kind of rent?!?!?! Especially in Whitesburg!

On top of that, they gave me a smoking room, and said they didn't have a nonsmoking room I could stay in for 25 nights in a row -- I'd have to move every 3 or 4 days. So for now I'm in the smoking room, which admittedly doesn't smell all that bad, especially since I've had the window open. The room has no refrigerator or microwave (although I can rent them for an additional $5/appliance/night), so I have limited in-room food options. Luckily, there is a grocery store, Wendy's, and Long John Silver's within very short walking distance, and a Mexican restaurant and coffee shop (a real coffee shop!) within not-much-farther walking distance. The rest of town is just a short drive away.

The rent has been sorted out -- it's going to be $320 for the month. The daytime manager wrote me a note apologizing for the mix up, which I appreciated. His schedule and mine don't match, so I haven't gotten to meet him in person. Instead, the only person I ever see is the surly desk clerk from check-in day, who is here every night. I don't like her, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me, so I haven't yet complained about the dresser drawers that don't work (forcing me to live out of my suitcase). I'm waiting to catch that daytime manager.

So, for the next few weeks, this is my home away from home:

Pros:
Housekeeping service every day
Free continental breakfast
It's one of the newer Super 8s with two stories and inside hallways (as opposed to the kind where the motel room door opens onto the parking lot) -- safer.
Free wireless internet

Cons:
It's still a Super 8.
Continental breakfast consists of coffee with powdered creamer (I like milk), bagels, bread, and donuts. Ideally I'd be eating cereal with milk -- and fruit wouldn't be bad, either.
Dresser drawers don't work. Room is tiny.
Housekeeping service every day means I have to keep my clutter to a minimum. This makes using all my toiletries/makeup a pain in the butt.

I actually brought a lot of my own food -- snacks, cereal, etc. I think my new plan is to make a trip to the grocery store every couple of days to buy bananas and a small carton of milk. I can keep the milk cold in the ice bucket for no more than 24-36 hours at a time -- and in the meantime, I'm going to start figuring out how to steal patients' milk from the hospital, like I do back home. This is all one big survival game, only instead of Man vs. Wild, it's Holly vs. motel living.

Lots of fun stuff has happened on the medicine side of things the past two days -- updates to come!