Why Michigan? Why not?

Go Blue...

During my senior year of college I had regular meetings with my unofficial life coach. My future, which had once seemed so clear and straight-forward, was now completely open-ended, and I just needed someone to talk things through with.

“What do you want to do?” he would ask me.

“Well, I think I want to edit books… in the long run…”

“Well, what is your number one concern?”

“I don’t want to move back to Eureka.”

This was my biggest fear. That I would get stuck. Don’t get me wrong; I love my hometown. I just think it would be a dead end for me. Not saying it’s that way for everyone; I have plenty of friends with great jobs and great lives in Eureka… I just don’t think I could really thrive there.

And so I applied to dozens of publishing jobs during my last semester of college. They were all over the place – New York, Boston, Chicago, Oregon, Florida, and I think I even applied to a couple in England and Australia.

My good friend Julianne and I had a dream of moving to New York together (okay, we still do). It was a simple plan, really:

1. Get jobs in New York.

2. Find an apartment.

3. Go out every weekend and mingle with wealthy businessmen.

I even looked at apartments in New York. “Let’s live near Central Park!” she suggested. It was a plan.

It was about March when, after not being contacted by a single company I had applied to (aside from the occasional “we have received your application” email), that I realized I wasn’t getting anywhere. I was technically qualified for all the jobs I applied to, but honestly, I didn’t have a chance with Simon & Schuster, Random House, McGraw Hill, Hearst Magazines… I was reaching for the stars, which is a good thing, but I had no real backup plan.

So May came, and it was time for graduation. When people asked me what I was doing with my life, I had to tell them the truth, which I had finally come to accept: “I’m moving back to Eureka for probably just a year. Going to work, save some money, then get a job, move somewhere…”

I put it off for as long as I could. After graduation I stayed in San Diego for another week. Then I stayed with Julianne in San Jose for a week and a half. Then after going to Eureka for a few days I went back to the Bay Area. I just didn’t want to admit to myself that I lived there now. I applied to a few jobs in Eureka, but I was spending so much time elsewhere that I didn’t invest much time into the job search.

A little over a month after my college graduation I was sitting at home with my friend Hannah, who was going to the University of Michigan for grad school in the fall. Half-jokingly, one of us said something about me looking for jobs in Ann Arbor. My laptop was right there, so I went onto a couple job boards and applied to a couple of editorial jobs.

The next day I left for Africa, and it was while on that mission trip that I really decided that I needed to move away from Eureka. I love new people and new places, and that is precisely what I cannot find in my hometown. So, on the drive back from the San Francisco airport, I told my parents: “I think I’m going to move to Michigan.”

A week later I had a room in a house. I signed the lease and began searching for jobs. Before I arrived in Michigan, I had three job interviews lined up. The first one, at a café a few blocks away from my house, was less than 12 hours after I arrived in Ann Arbor.

So now I have a new home. I’m in a house with new roommates, in a city with new faces, and I work at a café with people who have become my new friends. It’s an adventure. It may not be my typical adventure, but it’s still new and exciting… and I really think that life isn’t about your circumstances—whether you live in San Diego or Ann Arbor, whether you’re an editorial assistant for Random House or a barista at Glass House Café, you get out of life whatever you put into it.

Had a Nice Trip... I'll Miss You Next Fall

My last college class ever. Earth Science is my only Friday class, and we are a little upset that Dr. Nichols is making us watch a movie.

"What a weird end to our college career," I whisper to Kimi and Ciera.

After class we walk down Caf Lane, a little disappointed at how anticlimactic this last day of college classes turned out to be. Dr. Nichols left class after he put in the VHS about Supernovas. He never came back.

I get into line in front of the Cafeteria with Katrin and my brother. The Caf gets worse and worse as the year dwindles down. Especially for a vegetarian, there are few options, so I grab a veggie burger from the Grill and some potatoes and green beans from the Classics line.

I get a glass of water and make my way to the silverware as I spot my roommate Abby at a nearby table. I step in front of the silverware table, but there is something on the ground. It's wet, and I begin to slip. It's like slow motion. Had I not been holding my water glass in my right hand and my plate and phone in my left, I would have easily been able to grab the table and catch my balance.

No such luck. My feet slip completely out from under me. In an attempt to not fall completely on my butt, I put my left hand out behind me. This means everything I was holding in my left hand goes flying onto the floor. My plate shatters.

I am sitting on the ground next to shards of plate interspersed with veggie burger, mashed potatoes, green beans, and my phone right in the middle of the pile.

I look up at the Dining Hall to see hundreds of faces turn toward me. Not two seconds later, the entire Cafeteria is clapping.

I've been dreading this moment my entire college career. Every time someone drops something in the Cafeteria, there is some sort of applause. I am pretty clumsy, so I was pretty surprised that up until this point I had never had one of these Caf accidents.

Well, this last day of school made up for my four years of never dropping a plate. The worst part is that I have to go back in and get more food. I see my brother in line at the Grill and ask if he heard my applause.

"That was you?" he asks. But he isn't surprised.

After lunch I am still sitting at a table with Abby. Syd and Katrin come over to laugh at me.

"Wait," Katrin asks me. "Did you fall right there?" She points to the silverware.

"Yeah."

"Was there something on the ground?"

"Yeah, there was water or something."

Katrin turns to Syd. "It was you!"

It turns out Syd had spilled just a little bit of lemonade as he grabbed his silverware.  When Katrin heard the crash, she wondered if it had been Syd's fault.  Of course, the one time I fall in my entire four years at this school, it is my brother's fault. 

For the rest of the day, people come up to me and ask if I'm okay. Or say, "Hey, I saw you in the Caf..." Or they just point and laugh.

Thank you, Nicholson Dining Commons, for an eventful four years.  I'm not sure I can say you will be missed, but you will at least be remembered.