Saturday, November 26, 2016

New Beginnings

A little bit of nonsense and a whole lot of magic has intercepted me these past couple years.

A little over two years ago I had just begun my final year of undergrad study and was completely and utterly daunted by "the future". I guess every student about to graduate is. I was consumed by this idea that I absolutely NEEDED to land a job or internship immediately, a reckless pursuit that resulted in endless applications, 13 interviews in a week and 2 real-life mental breakdowns, not to mention a whole lot of extra stress I didn't need. I basically became completely unhinged. I cut classes, forfeited friendships, dated too many crazies in a row, and rejected going out to bars or parties. I forgot all about this blog, to be honest.

After my movie-montage-worthy dream of a European adventure last summer, working 3 jobs, helping run 2 clubs, and taking 20 units of upper division science courses back in LA just wasn't what I wanted to be doing. They tell you to only do what makes you happy, but come on, how realistic is it to become an ice-cream-flavor-testing, travelling, movie critic horse whisperer? I'd settle for one of those things. But, that's life. You put your head down and work hard, you do what you have to and you excel at it because you love the challenge. And at the end of it all, I graduated with a science degree from USC in 3 years. Unfortunately, my dream of returning to Catalina Island, where I studied and made the best friends of my life, was dashed when I made it to the final round of interviews for an education job out there and finished in second place.

The phrase "blessing in disguise" took on a whole other meaning however, when the day after I was rejected from the Catalina job I received an email offering me a role as an assistant on a research vessel- get this- doing dolphin research in Italy. So I packed up and went to live on a small sailboat for a few months. Incredible? Unreal? Once-in-a-lifetime? No words can do the experience justice.

I'm going to gloss over the time that followed my return to the States though, because they were a dark 8 months in which I worked in a cubicle at a solar energy company and wished I were unemployed instead.

LUCKILY, as fate would have it a series of happy coincidences led me back to Catalina after all this time. Now, I love my job, my little island house, my zany coworkers and friends, my hottie of a researcher boyfriend (that's right, you heard it here first- miracles do exist), and the life I've built for myself.

If I haven't bored you yet, stay tunes for tales of adventure from Catalina Island and beyond!