Well, today marks one month since I moved to the city.

I am still far from a city girl, but I don’t hate the city as much as I thought I would. The driving is not fun, but it isn’t nearly as miserable as I had anticipated. Over all, life is pretty good.

In the month that I have been here I have become an expert when it comes to the metro system. This only matters because for the first week I was here, I was terrified to get on the metro. The first day I finally mustered up the courage to get on, I got on the wrong one. I realized it as soon as the doors shut and was able to correct my mistake at the next stop. Unfortunately, it meant that I was six minutes late to my first day of my internship. Fortunately, my supervisor was a half hour late so he will never know.

I have done a lot of cooking. I went grocery shopping the first week, but then campus was crazy with the pope coming to visit so I did not go shopping again until week four (aka. five days ago). I got creative with corn, beans, and quinoa. I also started off with absolutely no cook ware, which meant no can opener.
I had some fun with a pair of scissors. I went home for the weekend shortly after moving and was able to go to the store to pick up some good basics to have in the kitchen.
Then, let me tell you, when a girl goes grocery shopping, good things happen. I also learned that the way to make friends with people on your floor is to make cupcakes. Conveniently, every Saturday there is a lovely farmer’s market not even a quarter mile away. The variety it provides is incredible and the vegetables that I have bought there have been oh so delicious!

I am growing to enjoy my internship more and more every day that I go. As I gain more responsibility and understanding for what the agency does, I have more appreciation for the work. I am working with Head Start in Early Childhood Education. The Head Start here is based on a non-traditional model and therefore is different then most other Head Starts. All of our classes are in Title I public schools in the district. There are five teams in the office and I am on the team that holds the largest case load. One difficulty that I have already had to deal with and will have to continue to deal with is the language barrier. Every single school that I am in (thirteen of them) are bilingual and many of the families only speak spanish. I am also the only person on the team that is not bilingual. So, I guess I will be learning some spanish this year!

I also got to attend the Canonization mass when the pope visited campus. It was insane having 35,000+ people on campus, but it was well worth it and an honor to have him here! I felt very fortunate to have received a ticket and to have been told by my supervisor to take the day off and attend the mass.

I found a church that I like for the most part. Every one has been incredibly friendly when I have visited. Another perk is that they have weekly small groups, which was something important to me. However, I am realizing that the reality of actually getting to attend a weekly small group is slim.

In other news, my room is finally beginning to feel like home. It took me two weeks, but I have begun hanging things on the walls and trying to really make it feel like home. It has been a wonderful experience thus far to be out on my own, close enough to home that I can visit whenever I want, but far enough that I truly am on my own. I have gotten to meet many new souls and have gotten to go on many adventures (big and small). 

Oh, and classes. I guess I am here for school, so I should at least mention those. Thus far I do not have a class that I hate. For the most part, I actually enjoy all of my classes. Even the one class that is proving to be frustrating is made better by two of my fellow advanced standing class mates. This school is so different then my undergraduate school, but I am adapting and really enjoying what it has to offer.

Until next time.