October 26th
Nathan sent me a text later the other night letting me know what his number was. Also he joked about how I didn't keep the Barista's number. Nathan and I had been texting on and off throughout the past day, but nothing too exciting. He really is a nice person, I'm glad that I found someone that I could get to know, or I guess he found me. I still couldn't believe that I just met him the other day and I already felt like I had sort of known him. Although I have only told him a bit about me, he still doesn't have my complete trust, at least not yet.
I also eventually got around to emailing my mom. I would call her, but it doesn't always work out with the six hour time difference. In the email I lied about how homesick I really was. I didn't want her to worry about me. She tends to worry about the little things. In general she worries about me; especially since I am living in another country. As much fun as I was having here, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz said it best: there's no place like home. I love going out, but I am a homebody. On the rare occasion, I have to be convinced to go out, I just need a reminder that I will have fun. One of my favorite things to do is to go home after a long semester and enjoy the warmth and comfort of my own bed. Which is hard to do when you're how many thousands of miles away from home?
Our apartment here was comfortable, we made it as homelike as we could. We hung up several pictures of our families and friends as well as some pieces of art. It isn't very large, but we accommodated. We live in a one bedroom apartment, so Natalie and I each have a twin sized bed and thankfully we have a large enough closet to share. We hung up twinkle lights around our bedroom walls and burn plenty of vanilla candles on a daily and nightly basis to get rid of the musty odor that lingered throughout the building hallways. There are no walls separating the tiny living room from the even tinier kitchen. There is a small brick fireplace built into the wall, which we are excited to use when the temperature drops a little more. The cold concrete floors are covered in rugs that we picked out, so we could be using the fireplace sooner than expected. We are renting a car and are slowly getting adjusted to the idea of driving on the left side of the road. We choose to walk most places if we can.
We've gotten to know a few of the other residents in our building. One of our neighbors is a very kind older gentleman named Edgar. Every morning he walks down the four flights of stairs to get his newspaper and talk with the woman at the front desk, her name is Lilith. She is around the same age as Edgar. Natalie and I secretly hope that one day they will get together for some coffee and tea, and go out on an actual date, they know each other well enough. He goes down to see her every morning and says good night to her every evening, he's the perfect gentleman.
We commute each day to the university close by since this was our senior year and we didn't have plans for returning home anytime soon. We decided to take some courses online as well as commute to the local university to receive the credits we would need to graduate in the spring. I am a Hospitality and Management Major, but I take culinary classes on the side. I plan to combine the two skills one day to run my own business. I love to bake and cook, it's my passion and my dream. Natalie is a business major, she isn't quite sure how she wants to take on the world with it, but I think she has plans to work with her aunt's corporation back in Mississippi. I'm not sure where I see my future. I would love to do some more traveling. I've always wanted to visit Italy and France and experience the different beautiful cultures. When I do settle down, I think I want to live in the states, but who knows where I'll end up.
Right now I do not have a job, but I am currently looking for one. There isn't anything available that excites me. I know I shouldn't be too particular. I'm a college student living out of the country, I need to make some money, but I want to do something that I enjoy, not just anything. I have some money saved up still from before we came here, but I am getting low so I will need to find something soon. Natalie has a part time job working in a Jack Willis store fifteen minutes from here. She adores all of their clothes and she gets some great discounts, so she loves working there and has a great time. I've thought about baking and selling goods right out of our apartment or bringing them to a local restaurant nearby to sell them. I'm thinking about waiting until it gets closer to the holidays when it gets busy to move forward with that idea.
