this is how it started...

Once upon a time I decided it would be a good idea to leave everything I have ever known to move to a city that (at that point) I had never been to. I decided on Boston on a whim, but mostly because I wanted to be somewhere more liberal than Virginia, my lovely but almost draconian home state.

My junior year of college, while I was a sorority recruitment counselor, I had a revelation that I wanted to work in Higher Ed. So I applied to 3 grad schools in Boston: Northeastern University, which seemed like a great fit (until they couldn't find half of my application); Suffolk University, which I wasn't really interested in but applied anyway; and Boston College, which I was sure I would not be accepted to, but I would try anyway. I also applied to the University of Connecticut, which is a great school, but I later realized I would not have been happy there (helped by the fact that I didn't get in.) After all the stress of the application process, I was accepted to BC. After a visit to Boston in April, I knew I had made the right decision.

So here I am...well, almost. I'm still in Newport News for the next 3 weeks. It hasn't fully set in that I'm really moving. The other day I saw my tuition bill. It was for $9332. Even though I knew it was coming, and exactly how much it was going to cost, I don't think anything could have prepared me for seeing it in black and white. Right after that I got a copy of my apartment lease. I've never had an apartment; I've always lived at home or on campus. Having to pay rent and bills other than my cell phone is completely new to me.

But now it is big girl time. The next 3 weeks will be spent packing up my life here, spending time with friends I've had for years, and getting ready to venture 600 miles north. I'm really not ready for this. I don't think I will be, but that's just fine.