A new adventure...and all of the feelings that go with it!

Wow, what a week.  School, new town, being away from the most important people in my life.  Talk about major life adjustments.  I'm pretty sure I've never felt so many emotions in such a short time frame.  There have been tears (ok, lots of tears).  But there have also been laughs, feelings of accomplishment and joy from making new friends.  Let's start at the beginning of last week...

On Tuesday, August 31st, my parents and I completely filled a little U-Haul trailer with most of my belongings that would be making the trip up to Chicago with me.  Tim is still living at our house in Wichita, so it was nice to not have the pressure of trying to pack EVERY little thing up in that trailer.  Trust me, we wouldn't have been able to get everything.  So Wednesday morning we left Wichita, with my parents leading the caravan and Tim and I trailing behind in my car.  It was a tough morning, not only because I was leaving Wichita and our house, but I was also leaving my little doggies behind.  But I tried to stay strong, and I held my feelings in as we started on the road (which ended up biting me a little later that evening).  Wednesday night we pulled into Naperville, a town just south of Wheaton (where my apartment is located).  After a wonderful dinner with my parents, we were heading back to the hotel and the emotions suddenly overwhelmed me (the few glasses of wine at dinner must not have helped).  So, here I was, not even moved into my apartment yet and already the tears were flowing.

Well, mother earth must have been feeling my pain because sure enough it was raining Thursday morning when I was supposed to be moving into my new apartment.  So we waited for a break in the rain, thank goodness for radar maps, and as soon as we caught a break we hurried all of the furniture and my belongings out of the trailer and cars.  We spent the afternoon unpacking and getting settled in.  I must say, I have the absolute best mom, dad and husband that a gal could ask for.  They worked so hard to help me make my apartment a second home.  Brings me to tears just thinking about it now. 

Friday I got to meet all of my classmates and get the low down of what to expect during school at orientation.  I was surprised to find out that most people in my class also moved from out of state to start the program, and many had moved here by themselves as well.  It was reassuring to know that I was in the same boat with a lot of people, and it definitely gave us something in common.

Saturday and Sunday I spent hanging out with my family.  We had a lot of fun making dinners at the apartment and watching movies.  Sunday we went downtown and had lunch at the Goose Island Brewery and did the tour after.  Monday morning we had breakfast together before mom, dad and Tim left to drive back to Wichita.  I only shed a few tears then, but I was feeling pretty strong.  However, the first few nights after they left, I didn't feel so strong.  But thank goodness for Skype, after seeing Tim and the dogs I started to gain my strength back.

And now here I am, I've made it through my first week of school.  I'm taking 25 1/2 credit hours, so I spend most of the day in class and then most of the evening studying.  I know I'm right where I need to be, the professors are wonderful and the program is great.  I've worked very hard to get where I am, and as I quickly learned this week, this is the beginning of my career.  The rest of my life.  So when the nights get lonely and I'm missing home tremendously, I just remind myself of that and I also remind myself that I've got the most amazing support system of friends and family back home cheering me on.  And I hope everyone knows how much that means to me.