After my graduation last month, Anne, her parents, and I took a two week vacation to Germany to visit her family. It was great to be able to relax without any deadlines, emails, or a ringing cell phone. The experience made me wish I had practiced my German speaking skills. Perhaps UTK has a German club where I can chat with some natives.

So, what does a trip to Germany have to do with the MBA program? Well, the one piece of advice all the first year students gave was to take a break before classes begin, two weeks if at all possible. We had to take a break before the moving to Knoxville. After we arrived, Anne had job interviews and we had to deal with all the little things that go along with a big move: setting up utilities, driver’s licenses, car registration, insurance, banking, address changes, etc.

Surprisingly, the most difficult task was finding a place to live. The market for apartments and rental houses in Knoxville is very tight. Most of the places we found that me our needs had months-long waiting lists. This may be why customer service (and common sense) is sorely lacking at many of the “professionally” managed properties. When we asked about anything out of the ordinary, it was as if we were talking to a rock. For example, when we informed the leasing agents that we wanted to pay 12-months rent in advance, we were told “We don’t do that. It’s a Fair Housing thing.” After speaking to someone at corporate headquarters who actually understands business, we were able to give them our advance payment.

My advice to anyone moving here is to start looking for housing several months early and be very patient.