Life Update: The Southwest!

Hey everyone!

As promised, I'm writing to give you an update on the major changes in my life these last few weeks.

I moved to New Mexico!  I am in my 2nd week of grad school at UNM studying music.  Crazy.

I really like it here so far!  My parents and I drove 15 hours here, which included audio books, lots of music, a little motel in no-man's-land, Oklahoma, (and good pizza!), and some sight-seeing in lovely ABQ.  Oh, and moving in.  And the little mistakes ... like accidentally returning my door knob key and consequently sprinting to the office after realizing this 2 minutes before it closes for the evening ... and then gasping for breath to the glances of other random tenants, because there is no oxygen here.

Then my parents left ... that first day, it was quiet.  I cried.  BUT I knew I'd like it once I met people.  I LOVE my cute lil' apartment and the warmth and feel of the city.  Except the crazay drivers and lack of turn signals.  But I did grow up in Iowa, where much of the population drives very cautiously.  Well, the other % doesn't - but whatever.  :)

Day two - I get invited to another clarinet grad student's apartment for her birthday!  People in this place are SO FRIENDLY!  And laid-back, generally.  I love it.  And the music program is already a family - I met all the other clarinet players once either last spring when I visited or when I got an apartment in December, but they took me in from the start!  Thank you all!  :)  It made a huge difference.

And other than the minor problems of setting up and replacing my wireless modem, getting my dishwasher (and other random things) fixed, and taking my car in (not so minor...), it's been incredible so far!  I have biked on a cool trail from which you can see for miles ... which is actually true in many parts of the city since we're at a higher altitude - it's so cool how much you can see at night.  And I can't get over the mountains.  Literally.  Just kidding.  I am amazed every day by how beautiful they are in the East!  :D  And I'm better with directions here, because mountains = East, (right Allie?)  ;)  The weather is great!!  It's no AZ, but I cannot complain about highs in the 50s in January.  It's basically desert, though, so it gets cold at night.  (A girl I met on the bus asked me, "Ooh, is it greener in Iowa?!"  Yep.  I'll probably miss that come summer time.  But that's ok. :)

Oh, and the food is SO GOOD here!  I LOVE Mexican/New Mexican restaurants - there is green chile on everything.  Goodness, when I went to the store to buy ingredients to make my own enchiladas, there was a wall full of different choices of enchilada sauces!  Win.

Here are some other random observations:

- UNM is over double the student population of my undergrad.  No wonder parking is a nightmare.  Thank goodness for buses.  And luckily the union, rec center, and library are all right next to the music building!  And there's only ONE music building!  Also nice.

- People here are from everywhere!  It's so awesome.  In Iowa, not gonna lie, the majority of the people I met were also from Iowa.  Not all, but lots.  Here I've already met people from Montana, Alabama, Idaho, New York, Wisconsin, Poland, Kansas, California, DC, Florida, Maryland, and - New Mexico.  I love hearing different people's stories - and they ask about mine too.  It's the best.

- My friends and I invite each other over for dinners a lot - it's fun to share the expense and make all different things.  Friday is Chinese New Year specials!  And we brought back some Mario Kart, "Your Grammar Sucks" youtube videos, ABC Family's Harry Potter weekend, "Friends", "PLL", ... and "Inception"!

- TV is more tempting when I have time.  Moderation.  I also love going through pictures and hanging them on my walls.  As opposed to only "my wall".  ;)  And just for funsies, I'm rereading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  And my apt complex has a free workout class!

- I love practicing in the morning.  Now that my Lobo card (ID card - our team is the Lobos, or Wolves) finally works in the practice rooms.

Overall, though, I've already met cool people, checked out a couple churches, loved my classes so far, loved where I am living ... and just hoping I'll continue to get settled and find teaching/job experiences as I go!!  Miss you all, and I hope you're doing excellently in all your endeavors!  :)