A Poetic Introduction

Song: Gypsy - Lady Gaga

Four years ago, around this time, I got into a car with my mom and aunt, said goodbye to my sister, and proceeded to drive down to Elon, North Carolina. I'd never been there, until that point, I'd only seen photos of its beauty and gorgeous fountains, gardens, and buildings on the internet. My friends had been and they all said the same: "It's beautiful, you'll love it." So of course, I got in and me calling upon the reckless, thrill-seeking, risk-taking girl inside, I went down to this small southern town and hoped for the best. I had seen my roommate via Facebook and I had friended/or been friended by the majority of the people in my building. I moved in, my family left me, and I was left to fend for myself, figure out the college lifestyle and make it work. I could have hated it, but I ended up spending the next four years in Elon, loving every single second of it.

Here I am again. Four days ago, I hugged my mom and sister, told them I loved them and walked away to my apartment building, up the three flights to my apartment, and attempted to get to know my roommate (who I had until that point, only known via email and Facebook). I didn't bring anything with me besides clothes, books, bedding, school supplies and a storage bench - no furniture, no food. My mom took me to buy a few groceries, so I have that. I bought an air mattress and it's quite comfortable. I put my good luck elephant (a present from a coworker) in the window as instructed, I hung up my clothes, and then I joined my roommate for a poetry reading (she's in the poetry program). The reading was at this lowkey, edgy, used bookstore a few blocks away and upon entering, we were greeted by a dog named Ramona, whose leash-like thing (one of those things you tie dogs up to outside to let them roam around...) allowed her to explore a wide berth of the store which was full of vintage books and chapbooks and hipsters all preparing for this reading. I won't give many details of the reading: there were 6 poets all of whom were excellent, but my favorite was a writer (Kathleen Rooney) who decided that she would read a lyrical essay about Chicago (I'm biased, but still) and it was awesome, even my roommate said that was her favorite.

Eventually, I'll get furniture, and eventually I'll stop binge watching Netflix and surfing the internet for things to buy to survive the Chicago winter (it's never too early). Soon, I'll start writing essays again, because I haven't written that much this summer, but instead have been more focused on getting previously written pieces published and have achieved a moderate level of success (yay for online publications!). But for now, I'm just trying to get the feel of being here alone - it's almost surreal that I have permanently moved from Ohio. This adulting thing is weird, but so am I, and Chicago is too (lowkey).