We're Here! ...Now What?

We got into Virginia late at night and spent the night at my aunt and uncle’s house. It would have been so crazy to have to unpack our truck at midnight. And the mattress was all the way in the back of the truck so I am very grateful to them for their hospitality.

The next day was beautiful! It was almost sixty degrees out and sunny. The perfect day to be outside unpacking a moving truck. Our house was much bigger than expected. A large living room, a kitchen with a stove and an oven and a fridge and a pantry and a bathroom all on the first floor. The second floor has three bedrooms. Two of them are attached with a doorway but smaller than my old single dorm room. It really looks more like a big bedroom that someone put a wall in the middle of.  And then our bedroom is so big we don’t know what to do with it! And we have an attic! Surprise! We had no idea we were going to have that much space!

We brought all our stuff in and I organized everything within a week. I thought of a few home improvement things, but then it was Christmas and after that it got really, really cold, so those fell through.

And then came the job search. I had applied to a few jobs before we moved down, but nothing came of it.  So when we finally got settled, that was the next step.

Let me just tell you: unemployment SUCKS. It’s just boring. It’s like a vacation but you’re not allowed to spend ANY money.  No, it’s probably more like house arrest.  But I can’t really compare because I’ve never been arrested.

People say that looking for a job is a full time job.  But you’re not getting paid, and there’s only so much you can do in one day.  Really.  If there are no new jobs posted on Craigslist and InDeed and Career Builder and Monster—what do you do?  You applied to 5 jobs yesterday and there’s nothing new posted that you’re qualified for.  After a while you’ll just end up applying for stuff you’re not qualified for: “Receptionist wanted: Must speak Spanish.” I applied for that. I took 2 years of Spanish in middle school, then forgot it, then 2 years in high-school, then forgot it, then 2 semesters in college, then… you get it. I know maybe 100 words in Spanish. MAYBE.

And after a few weeks and you still haven’t heard anything—I mean ANYTHING: no email rejections, no phone calls, nothing—you start applying for things that you’re way overqualified for.  I applied to cracker barrel and Jim the boyfriend stooped down to Wal-Mart and Game Stop (he probably would have loved working at Game Stop).  Luckily, after my first interview at Cracker Barrel, I got a phone-call from a bank I had applied to.  Still customer service, and I’m still overqualified with a bachelor’s degree, but I figured it was a step up from waitressing.  I kept my options open and went to my second interview at CB, then my first interview at the bank.

After my interview, the manager I met with said it might be a few days till I heard from them.  She still had to set up an interview with another girl and HR had final say on the hire, so she’d have to go through them first.

To my surprise and delight, I got a phone call the next morning offering me the position.  Here I was thinking I would hear until next week, but I guess the manager and the other girls I met really liked me, so they pushed to get me in.  And I’m so thankful they did.  I took the job (obviously) and even though its not my dream job and it’s not what I spent the last 4 years studying, I love my coworkers and I think it will be a good stepping stone to my future career, whatever that may turn out to be.