Moving Day Thoughts
Today my roommate and I (with the help of some friends) packed our final things into our cars and left our very first apartment for the last time. After two years of much more luxurious living than other college students get to experience, we decided to take a chance and uproot our lives to a brand new complex across town (which is still under construction and we move in three days from now...ugh). The promise of pool access, a shuttle service to campus, an on-site gym, and other amenities were just too good to pass up. Despite all the stress of moving (and believe me...it's been stressful) and being homeless for a few days while we're between leases, everything will be worth it when I'm living in an apartment that is much more convenient for my school schedule with two of my closest friends.
As a way of saying goodbye, last night we decided to stay in our almost completely vacant apartment simply because the apartment was still ours for a few more hours. We had a girls' night where we made frozen pizzas (and had to borrow a pizza cutter from our neighbor because all of our utensils were already packed in my dad's trailer), ate insane amounts of junk food, watched netflix, slept on the floor, and reminisced on our time in Iowa City.
Throughout the time I spent packing up my belongings, moving the boxes into the trailer, and sitting in our empty apartment, I spent a great deal of time thinking about how far I have come since the first time I walked into the apartment I called my own. It has been a wild ride, full of some of the best moments of my life, as well as some of the worst. I am both the same, and completely different from the girl that made apartment 2582 her home two years ago. I am a much more independant, driven, outgoing, and self-assured person. It's hard to believe that so much of my biggest life-changing realizations have happened in just two short years, especially when it feels like it's been a whole lifetime since I moved out of my dad's house.
There are so many people from my hometown that are afraid or unwilling to leave everything they are familiar with, but taking the risk to move and further my education in a much bigger city was easily the best decision I've ever made. I could have easily stayed home, became a manager at the restaurant I worked at in high school, and made a decent living. I could have been content. But I took a chance and made that move, and I would do it over and over again. The amount of things I've learned about myself and the world, and the amount of growth I've experienced as a person could not have taken place in my home town. Every day I am getting closer and closer to the person I want to become, and I am so happy with the blessings I've been given.
It is such a bittersweet feeling knowing I am leaving the place where I have experienced so much life, but I am so excited to see the ways I will grow during my stay in the new apartment.