We Graduated!

We graduated!

It was so much fun having everyone in town to help us move and celebrate! We ended up being able to move out of our apartment a day earlier than planned which ended up being so nice. We had a 33 hour drive ahead of us in our u-haul going from Idaho to North Carolina. We were told that since the u-haul was pulling our car, we would only be able to drive 55 mph tops! Our original plan was to split this up into 3 very long driving days (9 hours, 15 hours, and 15 hours with accounting for our driving speed and stops). 

The first day we drove to see Clayton’s grandparents which was nice! I’d never been to their house before so I got a chance to look through all of her old photos from Clayton’s side of the family. Once we left their house in the morning, we never stopped driving. We ended up being able to go 90 mph in the u-haul and we kept trading off driving and napping. It was a mix of not wanting to pay for a hotel and just wanting to get to North Carolina and sleep in the apartment we were paying for. We eventually made it and were so happy to be here! Even though the first thing we should’ve done was take a nap, we took time exploring the area and taking in our new home. 

Not going to lie it was a little jarring walking into an empty apartment feeling so alone and isolated. Knowing we had no routine, no pickleball courts we always go to, no regular grocery store, and no one we knew around us. Luckily that feeling only lasted like two days as this place started to feel like home. I quickly fell in love with the area and the people. Instantly everyone was overwhelmingly friendly and helpful. So many people warmed me about the super southern accents and the culture shock I was about to feel but I haven’t felt any of it. Everyone seems a lot more like us here than they did back in Idaho. 

Some highlights from moving here so far:

- We almost have all of our furniture! We are just waiting on some bedroom furniture and then we’ll finally be done settling in!

- Clayton’s been teaching me how to play tennis! I don’t know if I’m picking it up as easy as pickleball but we’ll see haha.

- Our apartment pool is rarely busy so we always can steal the cabanas for ourselves.

- Our dishwasher was broken so they just gave us a brand new giant one that was way better than the first one.

- And saving the best one for last, I got a job! I was told that teaching jobs are always last minute hires and they were definitely right. They called me a few days ago about starting May 1st and now they are trying to get me in the system and approved ASAP. I’ll be teaching 8th grade English and I’m just so excited to get back in the classroom!