So You Live In A Convent

Hello again!

Week one is over. Weird. I'm not really sure how that happened. You know those weeks where there is so much going on, and 85% of it is overwhelming, and some really good stuff has happened, and some really bad stuff has happened, and some really weird stuff has happened, and you don't really know how to process any of it? No? Well pretend, because that's about where I am right now.

I am still thrilled to be here, but it has been a roller-coaster this week. On Saturday, I moved into the place (convent) I am living in right now. The nuns lest in 2005, and it is now populated by 22 camp counselors. The building and grounds are beautiful and the building I am in was built in the early 1800s, which is pretty cool. Let me tell you, I now have new respect for northeastern weather. Ninety degrees isn't that hot when you can escape to air conditioning, but when you live in an attic room with a broken window A/C unit that prevents you from opening the window, ninety degrees becomes a whole new animal. The neighborhood was described to me as "urban" and "diverse". My mother suggested I stay in a youth hostel for the week. It's really not that bad, but I haven't been going out in the neighborhood on my own. I work in Center City, so I take the bus there, and I am excited to move closer tomorrow so I can get out and explore on my own. I worked a lot this week, and when I get too stir-crazy in the convent I go and hang out in the cemetery. It's pretty and there are cats, which is cool.

Monday I started work, which was great and overwhelming and weird. I showed up on Monday morning, and had to go through a bunch of HR stuff. In the middle of a lecture on worker's comp stuff, I had this bizarre moment where I realised that I now have a real job. And that's weird, and I don't know how I feel about it. It's not the work that's weird. That's overwhelming in different ways. This was one of those holy-crap-I'm-a-college-gratuate-and-sort-of-considered-a-real-adult-and-I-don't-know-how-to-handle-this things. My actual job is similar in a lot of ways to when I worked in foster care as an intern, but for some reason business cards and worker's compensation doctors lists freak me out. Is that just me? Possibly.

Now that I have had a day to recover by binge-watching Hemlock Grove (So. Good. Check it out. Unless you have a really weak stomach and/or hate horror. It's really not scary, but can get a little graphic.), and sleep in, I declare my first week here a success. Next weeks starts tomorrow with a cross-city move, so I'll let y'all know how that goes.