The Beginning Of The Beginning

Happy Thursday! I hope everyone has had a great week and is ready for the long weekend ahead!

I am starting to get settled up here in Maryland. I am definitely exhausted, but excited to be here. These past few days have been very hectic but I think I should be pretty much good to go come next week.

The highlights of this week include:

• Touring four gyms on Monday.
• A trip to Trader Joe’s.
• Finding a new trail to ride my bike.
• Doing a test run of my commute to DC for my internship.
• My first run in DC (not as a tourist).
• Signing up for a new gym.
• Countless trips to Target, the grocery store, and other stores to pick up essentials.
• Getting my car looked at and suffering from a bad case of sticker shock.

It may not seem like a lot, but trust me, I have been on the go all week! My aunt (whom I am living with) lives a little but away from the nearest town so I have been driving A LOT to get to places. It is definitely taking a little getting used to, but I know that I will in due time.

As for the highlights, as I mentioned above, I toured four gyms on Monday. It may seem ridiculous that finding a new gym was one of my top priorities, but I know that if I go too long without a new gym, then it will get pushed to the back burner.

The first two gyms were fairly close to my aunt’s house, but were really small. I toured the gyms in the late morning, and while they were not crowded then, I could see the gyms being crazy during the “after work hours.” The third gym I looked at is about 20 minutes from the house, but I was impressed. It reminded me a lot of my old gym, except without the pool. The staff is nice, the gym is huge, the equipment is decent (they are in the process of replacing some of it), and it would be on my way for my commute.

While I liked the third gym, I went and looked at a fourth- a YMCA. It was a bit out of my way, but I feel some loyalty to the Y since I had a great experience with them in Jacksonville. I loved this gym, but the membership price was a bit out of my budget (especially since I have to get a separate pool membership, which I still have to sign up for) and the commute to the gym itself is a haul.

In the end, I decided to go with the third gym. I went today and worked out for the first time, and enjoyed it. The spin class was a bit awkward (since there were only four of us- instructor included) but it was still a great class nevertheless. I also like how large the weight room is and could see myself working out there for the next 9-10 months. I even got a discount for having proof that I was enrolled at a gym before moving!

Another highlight was on Tuesday morning when I found a new bike trail to ride. It is not too far from my aunt’s house (the commute time is the same as I was doing in Jacksonville) and is a beautiful trail. In fact, I think it is even more beautiful than the place where I rode in Jacksonville. It does have a few intersections with major highways (especially in the beginning) but I feel it is definitely a safer place to ride than on the open road right now.

On Wednesday, I got up before the sun to do a test run of my commute to DC for my internship. While my internship does not start until next Wednesday, I wanted to get a feel for the drive and Metro ride ahead of me. It is long, I will not dismiss that, but completely doable. The commute is about an hour and a half, including a 30 minute Metro ride, but I honestly don’t mind. Working (or interning) in DC has been a goal of mine for so long that I am excited for the opportunity. I can not wait to start!

Since I was already in DC, I decided to do my run for the day. I started my run from the internship office and headed down to the National Mall. It involved a lot of stop and go due to intersections, but it was such a fun 4 mile run. I still can’t believe that I am here!

And finally, today I went and had my car looked at. It has been making some weird sounds lately, and since I just had it checked out before I moved, I wanted to make sure everything was ok. What I thought would cost a couple hundred dollars in repairs is costing well (well) over that price! Granted my car is very close to 100,000 miles and I knew that I would need these repairs/ new parts put in within a month or two, but it is still a shocker when you see the estimated price. They didn’t have one of the parts in today so I have to go tomorrow morning and have all the repairs done. Oh well…what can you do?

I just realized that this post is basically a rambling of thoughts, but I wanted to let you all know what I have been up to this week. I still have some adjusting to do, but I am feeling much more comfortable here.

Now my next order of business is to enjoy the long weekend, start my internship next week (admittedly I am a little nervous, but very excited), and go out and meet new people. The last part may be a bit out of my comfort zone, but I will try my best!

When was the last time you had to adjust to a new place, life, etc?