Moving Day

Well after much planning, and even more waiting, I'm finally sitting in an air conditioned New Haven apartment three blocks away from Yale's campus. From start to finish it took about two days to get where I am now. I woke up yesterday at 5am, about 7 hours earlier than I had been that whole week, and started packing up the car for departure. 6am rolls around and my parents and I start off on our 6 hour trip. We took two cars up, not knowing whether I would keep one here or not; so naturally I was left alone, which isn't so bad for a couple hours. By the fourth or fifth hour I'm holding full blown conversations with myself trying to keep myself awake. By noon (I'd be waking up around now usually) we get into New Haven to discover I wasn't the only one moving that day. It was the seniors last day on campus, which means 1300 students were trying to get out of the city just around the time I was trying to get in. After driving around for 20 minutes looking for a parking space, we finally found one. I shoved a fistful of dimes, one at a time, into the parking meter to get two hours and then we were in search of the apartment.

We visited my now temporary home and found it to be relatively clean (considering four male college students have spent the last year here) and in a great location. After brief deliberation it was settled that I would be moving in. The night went well from there, even into the next morning. Then the sun started to do its work, and the temperatures rose to 92 with not a cloud in sight. Living in the second floor of a house with no air conditioning when its 92 outside is one of the worst places I've ever been. I felt like I should've taken a shower ever 15 minutes; the rooms were at a place where it was uncomfortable to move and even breathe the air. In the midst of this I was given my first assignment, which could only be done in small increments considering my lack of focus. Instead I wandered around the city looking for grocery stores and a gym membership. It gets to be about 6pm and I can't take it any more, either I'm getting AC or I'm moving into the library. So I get into another (vacant) bedroom to find a window unit; I couldn't have been happier if I had found solid gold. Now to move it. First problem, undo six screws--check. Next, remove tape from all sides of window--check. Then, lift window unit and proceed to spill out half a gallon of water--check. (Side-step, clean up water spilled all over wood floor--check). Finally, carry unit into bedroom, install into window, screw into window sill, turn on, and find relief--check. So here I am, one full day down, and looking for tomorrow's new adventure.

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day...

But was it destroyed in one? It's been bound to happen since I started writing this blog--the ever looming failure and end of something great. Life is full of conflict and disappointment, and if I've learned anything this past week it's that you can't plan for a minute of it. In a mere week my life has done a 180, and everything's changed. Let's begin with last Friday when I begin writing my first paper of the many I have due at the end of the semester. I start writing a research paper for an English class I was taking, which usually isn't so bad. But, I didn't have a thesis, or really a topic for that matter, and the best advice I'm given to fix this is to start writing anyway. So now I'm writing a paper without knowing what it's about. Moving through the weekend where I somehow put together this English paper, now its right on to a religion final. This carries us through until Tuesday, when my heart's broken. Feeling alone, I trudge onward to Wednesday and Thursday where I still have three more papers to complete. In the midst of this, I'm realizing that most of the friends I have on campus are saying goodbye to me for the last time, quite possibly, ever.

So in one week, I have lost one relationship, written 40 pages of academic writing, and said goodbye to countless friendships. So maybe it took a week for Rome to crumble. What's left but to look onward and upward, as it's said. I have nothing left but to look to the promises in the summer and to leave the end of the semester to melt into a nostalgic memory, where I remember that I managed to write an incredible amount of work in a short time, where I became closer with the friends I still have, where I was given a chance to focus on my own goals. And with the beautiful weather (finally) here, I can look to the summer where I will have not one, but two internships. I will be spending it in New Haven and New York City. I will be working with one of the top literary agencies in the country and one of the top colleges in the country. Now if that's not a new, strong foundation I don't know what is. A successful city cannot survive if it does not stand against raging winds and terrible storms. My Rome may have been wrecked in a week, but let's see if I can't rebuild. And so begins a moment of reconstruction within my life; repairing the storm damage while enjoying the new and bright day.