It has been one year since I left the campus of my undergrad and what a whirlwind year it has been!

(To be honest, I had two online classes to take over the summer, but I was officially done with campus so it's been a year, okay?)

After I finished my on-campus classes, I immediately went from part-time to full-time at my food service job. I needed to stash away as much money as I could, as fast as I could. I moved in with my boyfriend for the first time which was really exciting and fun! We made the transition pretty painlessly, contrary to what everyone told us, so I'm glad we did it.

I started looking for and applying for post-grad jobs about two months before I left campus, and let me tell you...applying for jobs is like a full time job! It takes a lot of time to research a business, write a cover letter specific to them, adjust your resume and fill in all the questions. I must've applied to over 100 jobs with nearly no hear back even after a follow-up e-mail. I was applying to places a few miles away to places in Colorado and Chicago and Grand Rapids, basically wherever I could. As the summer came to a close, I was getting very discouraged. It was draining to apply, get an interview, get a second interview, then not be offered the position, then be back at square one. I actually had taken a phone interview in my car during my 15 minute break at work..believe me, I was doing whatever I could to make it work to find myself a job. As a way to keep me motivated and in high hopes, I grabbed a piece of paper and on the top I wrote "One More 'No' Until It's A Yes". I listed out all of the places I had had an interview with and didn't get the job, or had just received a flat "no" rejection e-mail. I kept adding to the list until an old boss referred me to a company, so I applied. I had a phone interview, an in person interview and the next day, I was offered the job!

FINALLY! After seven months of searching, I had a salary and benefits and I no longer had to work in food service! I cried tears of joy for a solid hour.

This meant that I had two weeks to find a place to live in a new city, find a subleaser for my current place, pack up my things and move (AHH!). The next day, I put my two-weeks notice in at my food service job. I found an apartment three days later, and moved in the next week.

I've now been at this job for five months and I love it! It feels so good to be in the field I studied and worked hard to be in. I enjoy coming into work every day and I'm glad to be where I am. And it was tough! It wasn't easy to get a job in my field right off the bat. A lot of people told me that I needed to broaden my search to other fields, departments, consider moving to places I had no desire to live in; basically just find something but I was relentless and determined to put my degree to use. I should also mention that I, being the stubborn being I am, didn't want to find a job based on the whole "it's all about who you know" business. I wanted to get hired based on my own merit and prove that I was good enough, that I had put the work in and I deserved to be there. In the end, I was referred by a previous boss so I was grateful to have the job, disappointed that I couldn't get it myself, but my previous boss said, "I got your foot in the door. It's your job to kick it down and show them what you can do," and that made me feel 100 times better about it.

Making the move to a new city, by myself was/is very difficult for me. I had never lived alone before and it was scary and lonely and something I'm still working on. On the flip side though, I have my own space where I can do whatever I want and no one to tell me otherwise. No pants! Whoo! And while this has all been very new and exciting, I also moved away from anything familiar, including friends. I knew no one and that was scary. I've made a few friends and it's a good time to go out for a drink after work; I feel like such an adult now, but I miss having my friends so close and immediate to me. I suppose that's part of life though, college doesn't last forever. One of my best friends moved to New York City, the other moved to California and I now lived over an hour away from my boyfriend. This adjustment was difficult and there are some days, most days, where I don't speak to any of them because life gets in the way, but it just means we have to be more intentional with our time together and work harder at keeping communication open. Snail mail letters also work!

I also got a new car (used, but new to me) which was a whole new process I learned. I assumed all financially responsibilities including phone, internet, rent, insurance, utilities, groceries, and student loans (real adulthood stuff here, folks). Granted, I had already had these responsibilities, moving to a place with a higher cost of living and a new budget meant a lot of adjustments for me that took some time.

This past year has flown by and it's been one of the most challenging, rewarding, terrifying, exciting, educational, stressful and liberating years of my life. I'm honestly so proud of myself for doing the damn thing. Wow, what a difference a year makes after college. And it's been pretty nice not having homework anymore!