South Bend-ness

Whenever I get a new job I always make myself wait two weeks before deciding whether I like it or not. You can't really know until a couple weeks have passed how you're going to fit in, if your boss was just having a good day, if the rain was really a bad omen, if you're incredibly under qualified or spectacularly overqualified for the job, or if the co-worker chemistry is going to be easy or if it will take some patience, etc. Well, I've made myself wait even longer to decide if I like South Bend. And while I still have much of South Bend to experience, I've made some preliminary judgements. So here's the breakdown on the pros and cons of South Bend:

Pros:
- Our apartment. I love our little place. It's just right for two newlyweds. It's quiet, clean, and has great kitchen counter space, which I am really excited about. I especially love the pond in our backyard.
-Our ward. Everyone seems very friendly and welcoming. I've enjoyed it so far. Mike and I recently got called to be primary teachers (CTR 5-6 class) and we like being with those cute kids every Sunday, even when they jump from the window sill and over 3 chairs, sprint accross the room and steal the chalk from you and then proceed to draw all over their clothes.
-We live walking distance from a library. This is a dream come true for me.
-Notre Dame. It's a beautiful campus and hosts some great football games. Thanks for making us a little smarter (by letting Mike into the law school) and a little richer (for employing me.)
-We're close to lots of fun things like Chicago, and this really cool Amish district not too far away.

Cons:
-Our fire alarm goes off almost every time we turn on the oven. Today it even went off when I was using just the stove. Annoying.
-Bugs. I hate bugs with all my soul. Really. I honestly cannot convey the depth of my loathing (though I made a good attempt at describing it here.) And there are a lot of them in South Bend. In fact, I killed the largest spider in Indiana the other day which was inconveniently in my living room. (Mike, rudely enough, was at school and thus wasn't home to do his duty of s-word massacring. This necessitated some very brave action on my part. It took all my courage to get that close to it, but after smooshing it with a shoe (Mike's), drowning it in poison, and vacuuming the remains, I think it's dead. I was very proud of myself. Mel- 1, Bugs- 0.)
-Notre Dame. Yeah yeah, I know, it's on the Pros list. But the sheer amount of time it demands from Mike to read assignment after assignment merits its place on the Cons list too.

Okay, I think that's a good enough list. In conclusion, South Bend is a good place to live. We're having fun being poor. Wish me luck against the bugs.

(PS- I just realized how parenthesis crazy I went in this post. Wow.)