This year, I’m living at Gateway, an apartment complex on the corner of Jefferson and Figueroa. I was a little bit scared moving in this semester, because this is the first year that I’m not living in USC-owned housing. I was unsure of how to pay rent, parking policies, and other common things.
Here’s a picture of Gateway:
So far, it’s working out pretty well. I haven’t forgotten to pay rent, and I’m really starting to realize how convenient it us. Gateway is right across the street from USC, and I live on the campus side of the complex. Actually, I’m only about 2 apartments down from the elevator, so it’s been super easy to go downstairs and get to class quickly. Furthermore, I’m on the 7th floor, so I have a pretty good view of school from my apartment.
While Gateway is right across the street from Campus, it’s on the opposite side of the school from most of my Viterbi classes. This is perfect for me, because I enjoy walking through the campus on the way to class.
Besides being close to campus, I’m close to any type of food I want. Figueroa St. has a ton of food places: Chinese, American, Thai, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, Sandwiches. Basically anything. Some places are fast food, and some are sit down restaurants. So there’s no shortage of food.
I keep my car across the street in one of the USC parking lots, but next semester I will have a spot in Gateway parking.
I was also surprised to learn that there are some programs put on for Gateway residents (after all, most are USC students). They had this in USC housing, but I didn’t expect there to be similar opportunities once I left USC housing. A couple of nights ago, they had a Salsa dancing night. It’s nice that they have opportunities to meet other residents, but unfortunately I was busy on the night they had Salsa Dancing. Maybe In the future, I will be able to participate in the other programs.
Also, I’ve been really impressed with the facilities at Gateway so far. There are a number of study rooms, a workout room, and televisions in the lobby for relaxing. It’s been really good so far.
Anyway, that’s it for this week!
