Saturday, May 4, 2013

First summer on-campus (Part 1: Work & School)


I had been writing about the journey that got me here.  Last time I wrote, I was up to my first internship.  While I had worked temporary positions since high school, this was my first "real job" out in the corporate world.  As I wrote, it wasn't the easiest of journeys.

There are a lot of movies and tv shows out there about U.S. culture, that promote one's Sweet 16th birthday as a time for a big celebration, lots of presents, possibly even a car.  My Sweet 16 was nothing like that.  I was allowed to invite a handful of friends over for the night, and I asked for no presents, and I certainly didn't get a car of any age.

During the internship, I was able to get a ride to work with another intern.  My roommate and I, both car-less, could also get rides to the grocery store, the bank, or the post office, when we needed to, but the apartments were not in walking distance of most of those needs.  I walked to the library, I walked to church, and mostly stayed in the apartment and read when I wasn't at work.

But as the semester wound down and I prepared to move back to campus, I needed my own ride.  It took a lot of looking, a lot of evaluating what I could afford, where I might get a loan.  I had tried saving up during the semester, but did not have enough.  In the end, an uncle lent me the money, and I paid him back over the next year.

My now-husband worked out the details for how we would make it through the summer.  Since he was in school the usual spring-fall terms, he usually went back to live with his parents over the summer.  When I first got the job, I had feared that we would be living in different cities the entire year.