Au revoir, Austin!

Although I mentioned that I started packing early in my last blog entry, I seemed to have only packed one box that day and saved the rest for tonight (the night before I move out of my apartment in Austin). It’s 1:16am and I’ve been packing/cleaning/organizing since around 7:30pm. I just have a little bit left to do in the morning, but I can say that I’m pretty much done.

I can’t wait until I’m sitting on that plane to Germany and can just let out a huge sigh of relief – this past month has been a crazy one. Had it not been for great friends and a great job, it would have been a rough one. In the past month, I’ve sold every piece of furniture I own, have made 4 major trips (read: car jam-packed full of stuff) to Goodwill, and sold my car. I probably own about 20% of what I did a month ago. I have to say it feels pretty good. All that stuff just weighed me down; I feel much lighter and freer without it. However, some things were really hard to part with. I’m not a pack-rat by any means, but there have been some things I’ve been lugging around for a long time (e.g. since 6th grade). But now that they’re gone, I feel no different. Just like Martin tells me often, they’re just material things, and that’s not what life is about. I still have everything I need and then some.

This day has been weird. People have been stopping by all night to say their goodbyes – I’ve had a few friends even cry. It reminds me of a funeral wake. I’m sure it will hit me at some point, and maybe I’ll cry too, but I think life has funny ways of working things out. I’m positive if not certain that I will see each and every one of these people again at some point. And, as much as I get annoyed with Facebook, it makes staying in touch easy.

I have three more nights left in Texas, and then it’s off to Germany! I’m really excited for a fresh start there. I’m sad to be leaving Austin, but I’m leaving by choice, and I’m looking forward to what awaits me in Germany.

Knowing how often I update this, the next blog will probably be from Germany – maybe even about my first day working at the parliament! Until then, peace.

It's official

Yesterday I found out the news: I'm accepted to the two-year master of public policy program in Erfurt, Germany. I couldn't be any happier (well, maybe if I had a magical packing device, then I could indeed be happier). I started packing tonight even though my flight is on July 29th, so I've got packing on the brain. I guess since I'm starting a month and a half early, maybe the process won't be too bad. I know I can already ship my winter stuff, as Texas will be 95º+ until I leave.

The news came at a great time. I was just starting to map out my next plan if I weren't to hear back positive news about grad school. Now it's just a matter of sorting through everything, selling A LOT of stuff including my car, many trips to Goodwill, canceling various accounts, and working 40 hours a week.

Oh yeah, work. This week is the 2nd week of camp with campers actually present (before that it was 2 1/2 weeks of training for the counselors). Camp has been going really well. On top of finding out news about grad school yesterday, today I found out I'm counselor of the week, and my boss surprised me with flowers. And thanks to my wonderful co-counselors, we organized an epic game today involving a huge field, buckets of water, sponges, and capture the flag/dodgeball rules. Today was a great day. I'm thinking tomorrow will be pretty cool too - we're taking the kids rock climbing.

I'm feeling really thankful right now. Everything seems to be falling into place. And I don't even have to play the waiting game. I'm working at summer camp, moving to Germany, diving right into my internship, and the week my internship ends, grad school starts. Why is it that I never really leave myself any free time??

Hopefully the next time I write in here I'll have put a dent into the packing/organizing/selling of stuff. Until then, cheers!