I live in Pennsylvania now

I made it!! What a week it has been...Here's a mini-recap for you.

Friday night I went out for pie with my friends, and we all got to compare our Honda Civics. I have two really good friends from high school, and we all drive silver Honda Civics! They're all a little different, but it's funny that we all bought the same car! My dad and I semi-loaded my little car on Friday night, and then we packed up the rest on Saturday morning. I actually did quite well emotionally...I bawled like mad on Friday night before I went to bed, and then I was good Saturday morning until about fifteen minutes before we left. My mom had to come get me to close the door to my bedroom, and then we took a walk around the block before we left. After that I was good to go! We drove to my aunt and uncle's house in western PA, and we got 39 miles per gallon! Now that's why I bought a Civic! :)

On Sunday we drove across the state of Pennsylvania...again getting 39 miles per gallon, even in the mountains! We stayed with the Rocket Scientist's parents while I looked for a place to live. I checked out three places on Sunday night after we arrived in eastern Pennsylvania. All of them would have worked out fine, but I wanted to look at a couple more places on Monday night. During the day on Monday I had to get some stuff done at the hospital (filling out paperwork, etc...which was a pain because they wanted my address on every form, but I didn't have one yet so I'm going to have to redo all of them anyway). At night we checked out a house with four girls living in it...It was cheap, but I wasn't sure I wanted to live with three other girls. I like my private time!

In the end, I went for a room in a townhouse with a girl who is my age. She owns the townhouse, and it's about 15-20 minutes from the hospital. We checked each other out on facebook, so we both knew we were fairly normal. I got to talk to her a lot last night, and she seems really easy-going (like won't freak out if I eat some food or something), and we have some similar interests (we both like Matt Wertz and she's going to train for a half marathon!!). She had just started looking for a roommate last week and I was the first person she contacted on Craigslist, so the timing worked out great! It's a nice townhouse and there's a pool in the community, so guess where I'm spending my mornings/afternoons before working this summer?!??!

Moving on. On Tuesday, I set up a local bank account and then we went on the great furniture hunt. We went to IKEA, which was pretty painless, and then we tried to find a mattress. That was such a pain! I'm not super picky, but they had me lay on like fifteen beds. I finally picked one after going to about four stores (we were trying to get a better price), but then they had to locate one at another store. We drove there to pick it up since we had the Rocket Scientist's grandfather's pick-up truck to drive the big stuff around. It was getting late, so we headed over to the townhouse so I could sign the lease, get the keys, and carry all the stuff upstairs to my room. We didn't put anything together because it was late, but it felt good to have furniture!

On Wednesday we moved all of my "stuff" into my room and my dad and I put everything together! I thought the bed would be a tight squeeze since I got a queen size, but it all fits really well! We set up my wireless internet (yay!) and I put up some pictures to make it seem more like "home". I had to take my dad to the airport, which took nearly an hour and a half (in Chicago I lived fifteen minutes from O'Hare....so convenient!!). There are TONS of farms around here...it's definitely going to be different than the suburbia I know and love. I spent last night in Princeton because I didn't want to be alone on my first night here sans my dad.

Yesterday I got fingerprinted (woo!) and then found Walmart. I got a bunch of random stuff (shampoo, extra towel, SHEETS, ANIMAL CRACKERS, TEDDY GRAHAMS, toliet paper, cleaning stuff, etc)...but my credit card was denied at the check out! Ugh. Since I've been making big purchases (car, furniture), Visa put a hold on my credit card so I couldn't use it. Luckily I still have a card tied to my parents' account (for when my mom had me run errands for her!), so I didn't look like a total idiot in the Walmart line. I then found the grocery store and got some good eats for dinner. Woo.

I woke up today and went running!! I did like three miles on Tuesday with the Rocket Scientist and his friend from high school, but today I did four miles on my own. I didn't want to go too far because I don't know my way around at all yet! I ended up missing a turn (I took directions with me!), but it ended up okay and I made it back without a problem.

Friday, May 15
4.12 miles in 33:54, avg pace of 8:14

There are HILLS here! I'm so not used to this. And it was hot. Running is definitely going to be interesting around here.

I think I'm just babbling at this point. This has been such an EMOTIONAL week. I really don't cry very often, but I've burst out into tears multiple times a day for the last two weeks. My dad and I would be sitting at Subway eating lunch and I would start crying. I almost lost it in the grocery store yesterday because I didn't know what to get, and running felt so strange today and I almost started crying then too. I'm going to cry just writing about all this! I don't deal with change too well, and this is a lot all at once. I don't know ANYONE around here, and I'm super nervous about being a nurse. I know it will all be okay, but I still have a lot of adjusting to do, which will take time.

I'm heading to Princeton tonight because we're going to Delaware tomorrow so the Rocket Scientist, his friend from school, and her boyfriend can run the Delaware Marathon on Sunday! I'm so excited that I'm not running...That would be WAY too much right now! Time to pack and head out!

I'm trying to catch up on all your blogs...I've been away for a week! Sorry if I'm not commenting much right now...so much to do!