8 days to go

Tomorrow morning I have a skype date with my family and I'll finally get to meet my boys! I think with these plans I'm starting to move out of the college phase and into the real life thing. If I finish packing my apartment tonight, then I will be 9 items away from being able to move, 8 days until I fly, and 3 days until graduation!

These 10 days are certainly the strangest in the whole process. I have stuff to do: work, errands, the like. But school's over so all I really want to do is watch "Sex and the City" reruns. And yet, it's all going to be over so soon. Thank goodness for short transition periods.

Happy US Open First Day!

The 10 Day Countdown

Welcome! My entire life is being turned upside down in the next 10 days. And that's some kind of terrifying. This morning I took my last final of undergrad. With that final step everything accept for graduation and final thesis edits are done for my undergraduate career. (Thank goodness!)

After this I have to finish packing my apartment, graduate, celebrate, and move. To Germany. For a year. But then again you probably new all of this.

Once I leave I'll be trying to post weekly updates on any travel/experiences/happenings that seem relevant. But for now, I'm laying in "bed," a futon mattress that can be transported in a hatchback so it stayed in the apartment after moving part 1, dealing with stress by watching bad TV. And not going to lie, having a little bit of a panic attack. But there are books and kids and passport stamps and posts much more interesting than this in our future: so we breathe through the panic.

Movies and television played during the process of writing that down:

"The Parent Trap" (1998)
"Sex and the City" (2002-2003 season)
"Switched at Birth" (most recent episode)
"Gilmore Girls" (end of season 4)

Hey I finished college, I deserve television.

Update!

Contracts: signed and being mailed today
Tickets: purchased, printed and (not so) safely in my mother's hands
Grad School: admitted, tuition deposit paid, waiting to hear about deferral and scholarships

And with 71 days until graduation, 75 days until Canada, and 83 days until Germany, life is nothing but a pile of thesis.

Back to that overly large paper I suppose.

Music:

Mumford & Sons, "Where Are You Now"
Carrie Fletcher, "When I'm Gone (the cup song)"
Carrie Fletcher and Alex Day, "This Kiss"

Breaking An Agreement

I've had a contract with a family to be their Au Pair over this next summer, fall and winter, and we've reached a point where it's time to break it. I'm a very planful person, I feel uncomfortable not knowing that I have a plan for the next three years, let alone this next summer, but I've reached a critical mass of conflicting expectations with this family of mine. I've found many other families which I am better suited to and I'm happy to be exploring the opportunity of joining a new family again but this time I'm coming in with a list of expectations.

1. Be located in or around Munich (so that I can fall back on close family friends when needed)
2. Have easy access to a large city/a place with books written in English
3. Don't need to share a bathroom with the family
4. The family doesn't smoke
5. No more than 2 children
6. No children younger than 4 (or 3 currently)

A lot of this list has to do with knowing what I'll be happiest living in and what my skill sets are. But it's also about recognizing when you really aren't a good fit with someone and stop forcing it to work. I've lived with people who I love but just am not compatible with. I've tried a couple of relationships with people I like but just don't value, or love but just can't be happy with. It's really difficult to recognize the basic things you need from any relationship. And when you're talking about opportunities and the things you are really excited for it's easy to jump into a contract, or a title, or bed a little too quickly. I was surprised to find how much more I needed from the family I will end up with, but it's made me realize how much I short change myself on a regular basis because I'm just too excited to stop and think.

And to my good friend out there, who I love, and who's pretty heart broken right now: we like what we know and what's comfortable. We love without reason or caring. And while the song was right, and breaking up is hard to do, staying in a relationship when you can't make the other person happy is the third worst kind of relationship to be in. I'm not going to push you in any way, to make any kind of decision or take any kind of action. You need to get over this in the way you choose, but as soon as you know what you need, just ask and I'll be there in a heartbeat.

I'm pretty sure you don't even know about this but I needed to put it out there someway.