Homesick

I'm sitting alone in my living room, STILL trying to finish unpacking....so instead of doing that, I decided to start a blog. Makes total sense, no?

To get you up to speed, I moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma almost a month ago. I know approximately 12 people, all of whom are in my graduate program, which means that my world is pretty small at this point. It's definitely challenging to meet people you aren't in class with when you're reading 6 days a week, so I still don't think I've found my place in this city, which is weird. And Stillwater is a definite change of pace for me. It's a total small town, which is not what I'm used to. Everyone drives pickup trucks (my Civic looks slightly out of place), and everyone is terrible at driving (No offense). I'm still trying to get over my fear of turning left - Thanks, Dodge Street - and people aren't as friendly here as they are in Omaha. And my upstairs neighbor is extremely annoying. I don't know what they could be dropping ALL THE TIME, but I'm getting used to it. And worst of all, there is NO TARGET. I'm serious.

But Stillwater does have its good points, more of which I'm still hoping to find. There are about 7 Sonics; the first one ever is actually like 3 minutes from my apartment. Actually, basically everything is like 3 minutes from my apartment, which is a great perk that I wasn't expecting. And the Eskimo Joe's restaurant franchise. There's 3 different versions (regular, Italian, Mexican), but all of them let you keep your big plastic cups when you buy a soda. And if you understand my obsession with big plastic cups, you know how big of a score this is for me! Then there is the fact that everywhere I've been, they ask me if I want a soda to go. Like they will bring you a Styrofoam cup of soda for the road. Incredible.

My apartment is beginning to feel like home. It's starting to come together little by little, and it's definitely helping me relax knowing that there isn't much more to do. The only necessary things I feel that I still need are the top of my kitchen table (long story), some more artwork for the walls, and curtains. But other than that, everything is in place and (almost) organized. I can't wait until I start getting paid so I can begin to find the little knick-knacks to fill the empty spaces. I just bought a bookshelf to store all of the binders I had to buy to hold all of the readings I have to do, but two shelves are empty and screaming for cute things to fill them, so I'll have to work on that. Hopefully next month I can work on some of that stuff, which is the best part about moving to a new place: filling all the blank spaces!

Anyway, I'm starting to get really homesick. I just miss all my family and friends. Thank God for skype, it has literally saved me. I get to see my mom all the time, and see my house, it's almost like I'm still there. I get to talk to my dad a lot more than we would have talked on the phone. I get to see my best friends like they are right in my room. It's indescribable. But it just makes me wish they were here with me, and when we hang up, I'm back to my lonesome self. But, I'm so happy that I have good enough friends that want to chat with me even though I have nothing exciting to say, and such a supportive family. Honestly, though, I really can't wait to be in sweatpants, sitting on the couch in the basement with my mom, laughing our asses off because we're just that ridiculous. I can't wait to see my kitty and have her ignore me three minutes later. I can't wait to just feel that "home" feeling that I haven't gotten here yet. I still feel like a visitor. But hopefully soon, that will begin to change.

Tomorrow I get to go to OKC (the big city....) and visit my family! I couldn't be more excited to get this taste of home and family that I've been missing the past few weeks. It really is a blessing to have family about an hour away, so even though I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere, there is that feeling of comfort within arms reach. I don't know what I would have done in Oregon, being completely on my own....maybe someday, but I'm not totally ready for that yet. This is scary enough! Thank goodness for labor day weekend.

That's enough for my first blog post. I hope that at some point, I have more interesting things to write about, but I'll get there. And for your information, I tried to reduce the extreme amount of ellipses that I often use while writing. However, I found that to compensate, I used quite a few parenthises. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. To leave on a happier note, a song that I am obsessed with right now: Unfold - Jason Mraz. :) Happy listening!