So I thought I'd start out with a list of my favorite things here so far.
1. Wes. Couldn't do this without him. Wouldn't have made it here without him. And I am so glad he's not always at work now!!! He had to work so much right when we got married, that I'm just enjoying all the time we are getting to spend together now.
2. There are a few things about our apartment that I just absolutely love. First, yes, I am 28 years old, but this is my first residence that is completely independent of my (or Wes') parents. We are officially independent grown-ups horah. Well, Wes has had this experience before, but as I have always been a poor and lowly university student, I have not been afforded such luxuries before. In college, my parents helped me out with living expenses. In grad school, even though I was paid, they gave me free rent in one of their houses until Wes and I moved into his parents house to house sit for them. So now that Wes and I are living in Europe off of the money he's saved up from his job in Lafayette and my stipend, I am living for the first time completely independent of parental support. About time! Yay!
Of course, I am incredibly grateful that both of us have such wonderful parents to have helped us out so much all this time but I also feel the need to be independent of them financially at this stage in my life. Moving on...
3. There are tons of cat spots in this new abode. It makes me feel a little better that the Jupster has some benefits from all the trouble she had to go through to get here.
4. And there is the job I've got here. The lab is great, the people are great, and I'm excited about the opportunity to work here and with these people. (For example, watch the video on this link).
Well, that's all for now. I took some more pictures of our apartment, but the camera is not uploading right now because I completely drained the battery. But I mostly like it here so far. It is a bit strange to not be surrounded by such close friends. I really miss the spontaneous hanging out, the telephone conversations, my daily routine, and our weekly visits with the Sonniers, not to mention my car and driving, the occasional weekend visits from Jack and Mary, and my mom and grandma popping in for a visit every now and then. Those things are irreplaceable and there is already a gap in my life where those types of things would fill my life up... But this is an adventure and we are making the most of it. It is so fun to be somewhere different and be enjoying and learning about a different part of the world.
