I will probably cease my "weekly" updates soon as I am no longer living the life of a jet-setter, but I will try and continue to post whenever I have any major news. I feel like moving to another state, starting another job, and starting a new degree all merit a journal post.
Of all things to leave on the island, I managed to get away without my camera, so we'll have to wait until I go back for Labor Day to reclaim it.
So...the big move to Tallahassee. Where to begin...
We'll start with the day before the move. I flew back from Martha's Vineyard on the 2:00 jet to DC, and for fear of not having my checked bags make an earlier connection, I scheduled myself for an 8:45 flight into Atlanta. As soon as the plane landed at Reagan International, I made the game time decision to take an earlier flight (about 5 minutes to connect between flights), and so I made it back to Atlanta by about 5:30. Unfortunately my bags did not. Dad picked me up and we drove back home to Marietta, where I grabbed a quick dinner with the fam before getting back on the road to drive to Athens, drop off my old house key, pick up a few items, and drive back to Atlanta to collect my bags which had just arrived. Made a few trips between the car and baggage claim, and made it back to Marietta around midnight. If only I had taken MARTA, I could have claimed travel by planes, trains, and automobiles...
The next day, I slept in with the intention of being on the road by early afternoon, thinking (foolishly) that I can pack in 2 hours. What a joke. Fast forward to 5:00PM, after a few panic attacks and enormous amounts of frustration, I finally get on the road in my mom's vehicle (which I have lovingly dubbed the "GRT" for Giant Redneck Truck) and begin the 5 hour drive to Tallahassee. Thank goodness for GPS. Without it I probably would have never made it to my new apartment.
I roll into my complex around 10:00PM. It's pretty dark, so I can't see much, but from what I can see, the place looks old. OLD. I was starting to second guess my decision to sign a lease until I got inside. My roommate (Megan) and I are leasing from twins that own the town home and just graduated from FSU. They were nice enough to leave the whole place completely furnished (complete with kitchenware and cooking supplies---nice!). All of the rooms are painted, we have a front and back porch, an attic, a shed, 3 linen closets, 10,000 square feet of workout space, an Olympic size swimming pool, 8 full length basketball courts, 10 racquetball courts, 2 squash courts, and a partridge in a pear tree. (For those of you that missed the humor, a few of those are a reference to my former UGA campus tour---can't let the dream die).
The complex itself is less than 10 minutes from campus. We are supposedly on the "undergraduate" side of Tallahassee, but our complex doesn't have any undergraduates because the units are for purchase, not lease. I joke around and tell people that we basically live in a retirement home because everyone is considerably older than us, but we love it! It's safe and quiet--can't ask for more than that. The neighbors are very friendly--especially "Fancy". Fancy is super sweet, but she's basically the living embodiment of Magda from "There's Something About Mary" --even down to the miniature dog, Budreau. She's great. What a character.
I am physically unable to leave boxes unpacked overnight, so I was up until the wee hours of the morning getting *completely* settled in to my room. I'll post pictures eventually. The next morning, Megan invited me to join her and cousin Katie (visiting from Atlanta) on a kayaking trip down the Wakulla River. What a great introduction to Tallahassee! The river was beautiful and full of wildlife. We saw turtles, egrets, an otter, and 3 alligators! There are also manatees in the river, but we didn't have a chance to see any on this trip. When I retold the story to Mama G, she totally freaked out when I got to the part about the alligators. Further research indicates that the Wakulla River has been the site of a handful of alligator attacks, so I will probably refrain from kayaking with my feet dangling over the edge of my vessel next time...
The next day was my official first day of my new assistantship. I am working in FSU's Center for Leadership and Civic Education, which is basically the FSU equivalent of UGA's Center for Leadership and Service (or Student Leadership Center depending on when you graduated). I have a programming assistantship, so I will be working directly with the Leadership Program Coordinator, Carrie Tucker (my awesome supervisor) to oversee programs like Leadershape, the Social Justice Learning Community, Lead-ins at the Rez, etc. I was only on campus for a few hours, mostly filling out paperwork, but Carrie was nice enough to take me around to get set up with my student ID card, bank account, building keys, and show me the brand new Student Success Building, where our Center and the Career Center will be moving on Monday. The new building is beautiful--I feel spoiled that my assistantship has landed me there! Carrie and I spent some time discussing what I wanted to accomplish this year, and I was thrilled when she asked me to serve as the coordinator for LeaderShape. I am really excited about working with the other programs as well, especially since I have no prior experience with any of them, but obviously LeaderShape has a special place in my heart :)
I used the rest of my free afternoon to do some minor exploration of campus by way of running. From the doorstep of my town home to campus is about a 20 minute run, which is great. I was feeling pretty ambitious, so I thought I'd go for an hour run on campus, however I did not take into account that 95 degree weather plus Florida humidity is not the same as 70 degree weather and an island breeze. Big whoops.
The Higher Ed program had a social at Po Boy's in downtown Tallahassee that night, so it was a great opportunity to reconnect with people in my cohort and meet new students. I love the people in my cohort. I am so lucky to be able to move to a brand new city and feel like I already have a ton of friends. We went over to a fellow student's apartment (she's a GA for housing, so we were actually in a residence hall---nice!) to watch the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics before calling it a night.
Which brings me to today. Nothing too exciting happened other than I was able to locate a fantastic park about 8 miles away from my complex that has tons of running trails. Basically my initial take on Tallahassee is that it is the environmentalist's dream: dozens of parks, tons of green space. It's great. The "downtown" area has got a small-town feel just like Athens. Everything is convenient. As I am living so close to campus, it'll be a very easy bike ride. And I love living in a city that is so conscientious of it's wildlife.
Despite the cold feet prior to the move, I'm so glad to be here and I'm expecting a great year. I apologize for the lack of pictures. As soon as I get my camera back...
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