I've Moved South!

Hey ya'll! (I know, I know, I can't believe I just said that either...)

I'm officially in South Carolina! Hard to believe I just finished day 10 in Columbia. Time has blown by and it seems surreal that I'm in the beginning stages of a two-year adventure in my life. Am I really here? Is this really happening? Feeling the humidity everytime I go outside is a not-so-friendly reminder that I am definitely not in Iowa anymore. I didn't think there would be so many differences here but have already experienced many moments where I felt out of place. For example, is it just me or is the term "spud" (potato) not used in the midwest? Also, I nearly got disowned a few times for saying "pop" instead of "soft drink" or "soda". Yikes.

Backtracking a little bit, my mom and I drove down a few weeks ago. It was a fun gals roadtrip and we got some good mother/daughter bonding time in. We had fun stopping and buying a lottery ticket from every state we drove through to get to South Carolina (7 total) to give to my grandpa. We also enjoyed eating some KFC in Kentucky. It's the small things that make a road trip, let me tell ya...

The drive was pretty slow and uneventful until we hit the Smoky Mountains-- what a beautiful part of the country to drive through!

We arrived in Columbia the same morning that I moved into my temporary apartment with the help of my good friends Rachel & Stephen White. 

 Pretty flowers in bloom outside of Cliff, my new home and workplace for the next year.

 Lovely sunset over the city. Living on the 9th floor has its advantages. :)

The view from my apartment.

Saturday my mom and I drove to Folly Beach, which is about 2 hours away and right near Charleston. It was a beautiful day and a fun break from unpacking. I can't believe that I'm only a few hours from the coast. Being from Iowa, it has always been a huge excitement to be able to spend time at the ocean.

My mom flew back to Iowa a few days after I got moved in. I began training for my GA position last week and think it's going to be a great experience. There will be times when it's certainly going to be a challenge and something quite different than I've ever experienced before but I anticipate it's going to grow me in areas that I could really use. We all need some good refining, right? I'm looking forward to developing both personally and professionally through the experience. :)

Last week was also very fun because some friends from Iowa came to visit for a few days. We spent a day at the Columbia Zoo & Botanical Gardens and the following day at the beach. I loved being able to explore a bit of the city and surrounding areas with others who were new to the area as well. We got lost together and enjoyed quite a bit of time crammed into a car together which can only mean one thing....BONDING TIME!

Beautiful botanical gardens

Best part of the zoo (in my humble opinion) were the kangaroos and koalas. Yah outback!

It was a blast to have visitors for a few days, but that also meant I had a few more goodbyes to go through when they headed back. :(

It hasn't quite hit me yet that I'm an 18-hour drive from home. I've already been blessed by being able to meet some great people and begin to get hooked in with some new friends. I'm excited to see how things unfold. :) The next month will be fairly low-key while waiting for all the other RHDs to arrive for "official" full-time training and I also won't be starting classes until August so I'm enjoying this time to get a jumpstart on my job and get settled into Columbia. One of my main goals during this slow period is to become familiar and comfortable with the Columbia area. I've been relying way too heavily on Irwin, my GPS (what was life like before GPS?? I can't remember!!) and I'd like to be more self-reliant with the roads around here. Wish me luck!

Well, there you have it! I've moved South and am loving it so far! I plan to make a strong effort to blog more consistently, especially during the next few months before things get really busy, so stay tuned! :)