Day 11

It's hard to believe that it's not even been two weeks since I arrived here in Grand Forks. Already I'm settling in and feeling like it really is my new home. I know that once the blizzards roll around that feeling might change, but for now the only blizzards in my life are the ones that come from the Dairy Queen four blocks away.

I spent my first two days here moving all my stuff and the furniture we'd brought into the apartment. Of course, I also made more than a few trips to the Super Target for essentials that just didn't fit into the cars. My favorite purchases included a pair of nice muslin-ish lamp shades for the glass lamps Mom and I found in the attic before I left and a rolling "island" with drawers and shelves and a butcher block top for the kitchen. Since counter space is at a premium it is definitely an improvement.

Speaking of the kitchen, I know that I promised pictures of the apartment, but so far all I've put together is a view of the kitchen:

You can mostly get an idea of the layout, and yes, that IS a mustard-colored stove and an avocado-colored refrigerator. Imagine my surprise when the rug I brought from my apartment at school just happened to match them both perfectly! It made my design sense extra happy.

My favorite part of the kitchen is definitely the dining set, which Matt picked up from a girl who was selling most of her furniture off around graduation time last year. It was definitely a steal, and makes the apartment seem much more like a home to me.

By the end of the work-week, I had also begun to make greater Grand Forks into my home also: I signed up for a membership at the gym, got a local cell phone number, and even a North Dakota Driver's license!

(Not bad as far as license pictures go...)

Even though I enjoyed just settling in and exploring my new neighborhood and city, I knew that before long I would need something more, esepecially with Matt going back to work and being gone so often. The point of me taking this year "off" is to gain some experience in the diverse fields that I could possibly be interested in and figure out which direction I want to go next. Part of that is reading "I Could Do Anything, If Only I Knew What It Was," a book my mom got me for graduation, and which I'm enjoying so far. The other part is actually going out and finding a job (or two) here in Grand Forks.

Now, being as introverted as I am, the idea of walking into law and accounting offices all over town unnanounced to drop off my resume was less than appealing. But I knew that it would have to be done. Over the weekend I perfected my resume (marking the first time I've actually ever had a completed resume), and Monday morning I hit the mall for the fun part: Work clothes. Obviously since I've never had a "real" job, the idea of work clothes is still extra exciting to me, so I enjoyed myself immensely. Matt was a good sport and came along, even though I think I drove him crazy as I gushed about my "sensible black pumps." We also picked up some nice resume paper and "borrowed" the laser printer at Matt's office at the airport to print off a few dozen really nice copies. Tuesday I devoted to searching the phone book and internet and compiling a list of what I pretended were likely hits, but were probably more randomly chosen than I may have hoped.

And Wednesday was The Day. I stopped into three accounting firms, Sylvan Learning Centers, and about a dozen law firms. By the afternoon I definitely had my doubts about whether I was making any sort of impression at all and whether anything was going to come of the blisters from my new sensible black pumps.

To my great joy and surprise there was already a message on my phone when I got home - one of the lawyers called to say that although they didn't have any positions open, he was very impressed by my resume. That call definitely made it all seem worthwhile.

The next day Sylvan called about a math tutor job. Technically I can't "teach" there since they require that all their teachers have certificates, but it sounds like I'll be able to work something out in some other capacity.

AND on Friday another law firm called, this one actually in need of part-time help around the office. Moreover, the office is just three blocks from my apartment! It seems too good to be true, so I'm really crossing my fingers for my two interviews next week. Law in the morning, tutoring after school - pretty much exactly the sort of experience I'm hoping to get in my year off! Hopefully it all works out.

That's the update so far. Now that I have the digital camera software all installed on my computer I hope to get more pictures of the apartment up, and I think my next big entry will be all about the neighborhood, which I'm loving. Thanks for all your comments last week and thanks for sharing my experience with me!

On the Road Again

My Grand Adventure began early Saturday morning, July 30. Matt and I were in Sunnyvale, having gone down the day before in order to see some of my friends and go to the last concert by their band, Big Robots. We left the Bay Area by 9:00 that morning, just as we had planned. This on-time departure would prove to be quite the anomaly.

By lunchtime we were back in Folsom, stopping only long enough to load up my car since we had to make it to Elko, Nevada that day. Fitting everything I wanted to take into my Corolla was quite the challenge, but luckily it's exactly the sort of puzzle-solving that I love to do. Soon my car was filled to the brim (almost - I still had plenty of room to see out the back and into all my mirrors) and we were on our way!

We hopped onto I-80 and set off on our 400 mile "short" day. I had a rough time leaving first the Sacramento area and then California, but I tried not to think about it. Unfortunately, there's not a lot to do when driving through Nevada besides thinking. I managed to distract myself with my fabulous new iPod that has over two days of music already loaded onto it.

I also didn't mind the scenery as much as I usually do. Normally I find the drive through Nevada to be mind numbingly dull, but this trip was rather pretty. Perhaps because I've been noticing how dirty the Sacramento Valley air has been I was more appreciative of seeing the mountains far off in the distance and watching the freeway snaking out for miles in front of us, semi trucks glinting in the distance.

We arrived in Elko at about 8:30, ordered pizza (my comfort food), watched some TV, and turned in early.

The second day was to be our longest: Cut off the corner of Nevada, head north through Idaho, and penetrate about halfway into Montana.

Though we made it out of the Motel 6 at 9:30, only half an hour behind schedule, it took me a while to get up to speed and I had to crack open a Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper at about 10:30 that morning.

The strangest thing about the drive is that I recognize most of the places we drive through. I've made this drive four times in one direction or another, so the juxtaposition of familiarity and foriegnness is odd.

We stopped for dinner at a fantastic little restaurant in Butte called The Uptown Cafe. Though we were both boring and ordered the pasta with meat sauce, it was nice to take an hour out of our travels to enjoy food much less greasy than what can usually be found on the road. We also had really fabulous cheesecake and coffee before pushing through to Billings. We arrived quite late and fell asleep almost immediately.

Sleeping felt great. So great in fact, that I accidentally snoozed my alarm and woke with a start at 10:07. Though it was a lot later than we'd meant to get up, I think those extra couple hours of sleep really helped get through the last leg of the journey. We got ready in record time and hit the road - I-94 all the way to Fargo and then north to Grand Forks.


This third day contained the longest leg of our whole trip: 7 hours from Billings to Bismarck without stopping. By that time spending hours in the car seemed normal to me, so it didn't seem that rough. I sang along with my iPod, listened to my CD copy of The Da Vinci Code audiobook, and amused myself with the walkie talkies Matt and I had to make sure we could keep in touch.

Somewhere between Billings and Bismarck we ran into a thunderstorm. It seemed pretty intense to me, being used to mild California weather. But we also got to follow an amazingly clear rainbow for quite some time, so it made me feel a bit more comforted about my move.

We had dinner in Bismarck and then pushed on through to Grand Forks, my new home sweet home. We even had enough time and energy to move a bunch of stuff from my car to the apartment before bed!

But it's way past my bedtime now, so pictures and accounts of my settling in to the aparment will have to wait until another day.