Relief at last! No more applications, no more interviews, no more rejections, only one acceptance and I finally got it! It's amazing that it took this long - I really did not think it would be so difficult, but I'm oh-so-happy that I'm doing the type of job I want to do, and I get to help college students when they decide to spend a semester overseas!
So, I'm off to North Carolina.
My last few weeks in Missouri were rushed with packing and tying up loose strings at my two jobs. I'll miss those guys, but I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to work with the folks at the courthouse again and also with the great staff at MSU. In my final days in Springfield, my mother had me return some items to the mall, and I got sucked in to a traveling kiosk selling exotic little creatures called sugar gliders. I had heard about them before, but this was my first time seeing them and they were adorable! I left the mall to 'think' about getting one, telling myself I should do research and it would be best if I waited to get one in North Carolina so that I didn't have to travel cross country with one, but then my mind kept going back to the what ifs of if I couldn't find them there. So, I went back and adopted Glissette on a whim. When I told one of the handlers that I wanted to adopt one, he shouted over to another guy and he stopped his sales pitch to walk me through handing over my money. He didn't seem too enthused to tell me a lot of information, and my attempts of small talk about his experiences with them didn't go far either. He asked me whether I wanted a male or female, and then he led me over to the females' cage where he lifted up a black cover to reveal over a dozen of the little girls huddled together. I picked Glissette out of the crowd because she was the first one to look up. The handler put her in a 'bonding' pouch, gave me her starting cage and other supplies, and I was out the door.
I got back to my apartment with her, and I let her out of her bonding pouch and into her cage. She was an unhappy little creature, making a crabbing noise that to me sounds like a squeak toy on lsd. I didn't know what I had gotten myself into, and she certainly didn't seem happy about her new circumstances. I now realize that her only interaction with humans prior to me was probably being taken from her parents, being poked by a vet, and finally being taken from the circle of warm bodies surrounding her.
I took her back to my mom's while I finished up my last few days of work in Springfield and finished up moving my limited belongings out of my apartment, and before I knew it I was packing up my little beetle bug to begin the long journey East. Glissette took the priority seat on the passenger side of my vehicle, my plants took the floorboard, and the back seat and truck were crammed full of my items that would get me through my first few weeks in North Carolina. I'm really gonna miss all of the people I've been working with in Springfield, but it's going to be an adventure being somewhere else, too!
I said my goodbyes and see you soons, and left home. I planned to stop on my way through Springfield to drop an item in the mail and grab my last Springfield-style cashew chicken. As luck would have it, I had my first ever fender-bender right after I dropped the letter in the mail.
A truck merged over on me and harmed my front passenger side fender. Luckily no one was hurt, but still, it's annoying. At least Glissette stayed silent!
I took his insurance info, called my family, and shook a while until I was okay to drive again. I got my last cashew chicken and ate it before hitting the road for good. While in my case everything turned out all right even though we didn't have a police report, I also now know to always call the police, even for a non-injury accident! It's a must.
I made it to Nashville and decided to stop just a little bit on the other side of the city. I was tired, and just wanted a room. Well, the original hotel I tried to get into spotted Glissette and told me that no pets were allowed, and pointed me down the road to the only hotel that permitted pets. It was a true roach motel with all sorts of insects all over the place, but I just couldn't bring myself to drive any farther to find somewhere a bit more decent.
Glissette got the bed by the door, I kept the tv on all night to serve as a distraction from the buzzing, I slept not-so-soundly, and was up at the crack of dawn and out of there. My second day of driving I went through the mountains and it was a gorgeous drive, but there were never really any areas where I could get a good photo and I didn't really want to stop along the way.
We arrived to our new home in North Carolina, and stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights until I could move into my apartment. My new place is quite nice, and I enjoy my new job here.
Over Labor Day Weekend I went back to Missouri and my mom and I brought a U-Haul full of my items to North Carolina. The big truck wasn't as scary to drive as I thought it would be, but I was still happy to have a fellow driver with me so that we could trade off on driving. I'm also very grateful that I was able to get several students at the university to help unload the truck, and I enjoy having all of my stuff here, even if I am going relatively slow at unpacking.
I have been able to do a bit of exploring here, went to the beach one weekend, and even saw a speech by Michele Obama on campus and went to a Bill Cosby show.
Overall things are going well, and Glissette is getting more used to me by the day. She has a brother betta fish named Gradient (Grady) who lives at my office.
I've done more research about care for Glissette, and I have made a few changes for her, including a little sister who will be coming home in November. I think she'll be happier when she has a friend to play with at night instead of barking for my attention, and I even found someone here in town that breeds sugar gliders (which maybe means I should have waited on getting one, but I love having Glissette around!).
