Maybe it's because I've been watching too much Netflix, but I'm feeling the need to start off with one of those "Previously On..." sections. You know, those first thirty seconds of the show where they recap all the important stuff that's already happened so you're ready for the new story line.
So let's go back about two years: it was the beginning of my senior year at Grove City College, and I was looking at accredited graduate programs for Counseling. For a while, that was the plan - after all, my undergraduate degree was in Psychology. But my plans changed one day during a Bible study meeting. One of our leaders was telling us about her daughter, who was studying creative writing in Ireland, and my immediate reaction was, "Wow, that's the dream."
The more I thought about it, the more I realized it really is a dream of mine. And then I had to ask myself, "Why am I not pursuing this?"
Cut to the end of my final semester. By this point, I had finally accepted the simple truth that I was so burnt out from years of school that there was no way I could start a new program in the Fall of 2018, which is what I originally wanted. Thus, the international program search slid to the back burner, and job applications took center stage.
I graduated from Grove City College with a B.A. in Psychology (and an English minor) in May of 2018, and in June I started my job at Wesley Family Services, where I worked for a little over a year as an Options Care Manager. At any given time, I had a caseload of about 75 senior citizens, for whom I coordinated services like housekeeping, personal care, and meals on wheels. I also performed annual assessments and semi-annual home visits, so I got to travel around Pittsburgh a lot.
My favorite part of the job was creating relationships with my consumers. The vast majority of them were incredibly sweet and loved having company, so I got to spend time talking with them about the accomplishments of their children, the weird habits of their neighbors, or how their dog was having trouble making friends. The most challenging part was all the policy changes. Family Services of Western Pennsylvania and Wesley Spectrum merged about two years ago, and all of the programs and policies are still being rewritten. Sometimes it felt like we were jumping through hoops in our efforts to get services, and every other week we'd get a new email saying, "You used to do it this way, but starting next week, we'll have to do it this way, and if we don't, we'll get audited by the county."
Once I landed a job, I visited two of my best friends from college in their new apartment in Squirrel Hill. During dinner, they joked that there was an apartment for sale down the street that I should move into.
Two months later, two of my best friends from summer camp and I moved into that apartment. We were in a two-story house, and we had the second floor. It was spacious, had lots of windows and plenty of natural light, and was a short walk away from both Frick Park and two major streets. There were only two drawbacks: no central air conditioning, and we never found a fire extinguisher anywhere.
As Fall turned to Winter, I picked out a few creative writing programs in the UK - a process which I'll describe in a later post - and sent in my applications. In January, I interviewed with Edinburgh Napier University, and they offered me a spot in their program, which I accepted with enthusiasm.
As is always the case in Pittsburgh, Spring took too long to arrive. I spent my days giving my consumers advice like, "Your insurance should cover a new walker", and "Here's a list of apartments you should consider moving into, since the one you're in is flooding again". In turn, they gave me advice like, "Don't get old if you can help it", and "Always have a secret bank account and never tell your husband about it". My roommates and I tried and failed to remember to water our plant, Lionel (don't worry - we moved him to different spot and he's sprouting!), ate made-from-scratch pizza (courtesy of our honorary fourth roommate), and burned more candles than is wise in an apartment with no fire extinguisher. I realized I was finally an adult when the day our landlord bought a new oven for our unit was among the happiest days of my life.
As I got more and more excited about spending a year studying creative writing in Scotland, I got less and less excited about going to work every day. For a few months, there was a paper chain in my room counting down the days until I could resign. I handed in my 'six weeks' notice on my 1 year work anniversary. My supervisor and I met for our bi-weekly one-on-one, where we talked about my caseload and any questions I had. She and the other two supervisors had recently filled three vacancies in our program after three of my coworkers resigned - and when I say recently, I mean less than a week earlier. So when I handed her my notice, she sighed and said, "This is the second one of these I've gotten today. When I go on vacation at the end of the month, I might not come back." To be fair, if I was going on vacation to Aruba, I might not come back either.
My last day of work was on July 12th, and then I headed to Pine Springs Camp to volunteer as a weekly director for their Wet N Wild camp. Over the course of the week, we did the hour-long tread, the mud pit followed by soap wrestling, a greased watermelon tournament, and an all-out water balloon war. We even had a small melon mascot named Walter, may he rest in peace (one of the counselors hurled him over the pool fence when he started to rot).
From camp I went almost immediately to Chicago by train, where I spent a few days with my dear friend Laura. Since then, I've moved out of my Squirrel Hill apartment and back into my parents' house, where I will live until I leave for Scotland on September 8th.
Okay, so that probably took longer than thirty seconds to read, but now you're all up-to-date. Stay tuned for more updates about life in Scotland - the adventure has barely begun!
Book recommendation: A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos. This book is so good that my sister didn't just recommend it to me; she bought a copy and shipped it to my front door with a note that said "Read this so we can talk about it!" If you're looking for a nice, long book with a fresh take on magic that you absolutely can't put down, this is the one to get. And as a bonus, it's the first in a series!