How in the World Did I Get Here?

Today is May 6th, and it's officially my second full day living across the country from everything I've ever known and everything that I love. It's really weird.

I know this is just the start of my summer adventure, but let me tell you, it has been an adventure getting here...

So let's start at the beginning.

THE BEGINNING:

Last January when I was frantically looking for internships for the spring, I stumbled upon C3 Events, an event management company in Bend, Oregon. 

I was applying for internships like a mad woman, and I applied. With a poof of a magic wand and probably a few too many smart-alec comments on their application essay, I found I had received one of their 8 positions! Woohooo! After plenty of discussion, I would begin my internship on May 6th.

But now:

1) I had to get there
2) I had to find somewhere to live

and getting there was the easy part....

FINDING A PLACE

After being receiving the offer I was also invited to work at the company's first event, "The Bend Spring Festival". I am so thankful that I went. I spent 3 days working the event, and definitely got a taste of what I was getting myself into. But probably the most important thing I did while I was out there was making a few friends. 

Because I now had a couple of friends out in Bend, everything was a little bit easier. Because I now had a friend and roommate, her mom and my boss were able to find the two of us a cute and super convenient apartment close to work, and helped us move in. I really cannot thank her enough, because everywhere that Taylor (my friend) and I had tried had denied us.

 GETTING TO BEND

Finally, after 3 tough weeks of classes, I got on a plane in Grand Rapids. I flew from Grand Rapids to Chicago, and while on that plane I sat by a woman who was so excited that I was going to Bend. Apparently her ex-boyfriend was a firefighter there, and she just knew I would love it out there, and told me that she would be thinking about me and praying for me.

My next flight took me from Chicago to Portland, and the flight was fine, nothing really out of the ordinary, but when I arrived at the Portland airport, I had to head to my next gate, which was in the basement of the airport, meaning I would be getting into the plane on the ground!

But to make it even better, when I first arrived, we were told that our plane was late and our flight would be delayed for about an hour. That was fine with me, I just went up and had a cup of coffee and relaxed for a bit. But 15 minutes before our flight was supposed to take off, we hadn't boarded. Turns out that our plane had broken down at it's last location, and we would need to be delayed for another hour. I sent a message to my cousin, who really didn't seem to concerned and I continued to relax some more.

But then when it reached about 15 minutes before the next flight was supposed to leave, the front desk girls told us that because the plane was still not fixed they had called in a reserve crew and were trying to get us on one of the spare planes. The people around me were starting to get angry. One woman had already expressed how angry she was, but now another man was convinced that "there was something they're not telling us, they will pay for a hotel for me" and he started yelling at the front desk girls. Usually I am that person to, dealing with a ton of anxiety about the flight, but for once, I just felt that it was normal, and I looked over and found another woman laughing about the situation, so I sat by her.

This was my little tiny plane!!

Finally, after a 3 hour delay we made it to Redmond, where my cousin was able to pick me up and take me to my apartment. I promptly fell asleep.