I was born and raised in California. Grew up in Southern but went to college and lived my adult life in Northern. Not a whole lot of people in my city left for careers or education. Instead, <em>most</em> of my high school peers started their lives post graduation with new marriages, baby announcements and army ranks. Me on the other hand, my goal in life (after graduating college) was always to travel, I can't sit in one spot for too long. Since then all, and I mean <strong><em>all</em></strong>, my plans have changed. Now I had no plans other than to wait it out and work in the mean time. I was still living with roommates the only difference was that now my boyfriend was in the same room as mine. My boyfriend was finishing up his undergrad, applying to grad school. My mind took a minute to adjust from "waiting period" mentality, as if the days were on repeat while time kept at a weird standstill, to realize that my solid two year relationship needed my full attention and discussion on whether we move together to wherever his grad school was or we do a long distance relationship until he was done. As much as I love my family I didn't want to move back home, I wasn't doing anything noteworthy so my chances were better to start fresh somewhere else.

With places slowly opening up and lifting COVID-19 restrictions, I realized I was deep in a funk and I wanted any way out of it. A funk rooted in my fear of missing out on any career thriving opportunities, like I suddenly became too late or like I haven't done enough to stand out, that I was just <em>too</em> comfortable where I was- becoming some kind of hermit.... More so that I wasn't going to get my chance at the future I pictured myself having for achieving a higher education. So I decided to stop giving myself excuses on accomplishing creative tasks or finally visiting places beyond Instagram- to push myself to do so <em>even if I was dirt poor</em>. Other than my bills and debt I don't have any other reasons to hold me back from experiencing life to its fullest. Of course I do acknowledge that I am still figuring everything else out as I go, it's not easy but it's a trial and error type of challenge that I will keep enduring through.

Thankfully I have a boyfriend that listens until he understands all the craziness about me and a supportive family that knows this is only a stop in my journey to success. So in May of 2021 me and my boyfriend made the big move to Oregon! <em>A bitter sweet goodbye and hello. </em>I've moved plenty of times but out of state was my first. Apartment hunting knowing <strong><em>no one </em></strong>or the area was hard enough but having no friends or family for <em>literally</em> more than 800 miles away is an even more difficult struggle I still have to deal with. This move was the most adult thing I've ever had to do. No more roommates, just me and my boyfriend in a two bedroom apartment. <em>Now my biggest worry is not getting pregnant during our first chance of solitude.</em> We had to figure out the when and where specifics on our move within all within our just-out-of-college budget. We took an exhausting two day trip to Oregon for thorough apartment hunting. I had never even visited the state until that point! I even realized that Google was only showing us the most expensive, unaffordable places (<em>probably because I own a Macbook)</em> until the day we entered Oregon and it started filtering in more affordable housing. Then after the multiple awkward conversations of "we want to move-in in two months because we are from California....", <em>I don't know I guess it's just wild to want to have a home ahead of time</em>, we had decided to go with an apartment complex that was persistent on updating us despite the price hike at every discussion.

At the time I made all the arrangements, the move needed to happen within the next two months. Then when time came, I had one whole week to prepare for both our parents to come and help us move. In the midst of it all I had to transfer both jobs I had and buy my first car because I could no longer hitch rides from my friends to get around town. The week of the move I was procrastinating packing and cleaning for so long that it really was a shit show the day of. I kept getting finessed into long goodbye parties and the car hunt process that by the time I had to pick up my mom from the airport I was racing the clock for more time. The day before we left California I bought my first car, picked it up three hours away in the Bay Area- but on the way there my boyfriends car tire popped. Such<em><strong> terrible</strong></em> timing seeing that our move was an eight hour drive, the U-Haul had two seats and we just weren't leaving his car behind. With that set back, I had stayed up all night cleaning and packing the rest of the place by myself because the plan was to leave Chico at 2 a.m. to get to Hillsboro by 10 a.m. all in all resulting in no sleep for two days<em>.</em>

The only furniture I had was my bed,<em> I've been living in a single room my whole life. </em>I had no kitchen necessities, but my boyfriend had two pans, more forks than spoons for some reason, and a ton of Sierra Nevada steins from Oktoberfest. You can really tell we had our priorities straight from a college town. But of course I had too many clothes! Though even with little to nothing I still surprised my mom by loading up the whole 10 foot U-Haul truck. I didn't clean up everything in time for the new tenants and my boyfriend forgot some of my stuff there too, I accidentally took the mail keys but we were missing an original house key, plus we had last minute roommate drama that's it's own story for next time.... so.... arriving to Hillsboro was a <em>bitchier </em>hangry version of myself that I haven't seen in decades. But it was a relief to get to the new place safe and sound. It's just going to be empty <em>for a while</em> until I slowly get the money to buy decor and furniture.

Oregon is colder than I imagined. Feels like I'm in the mountains, like a Big Bear trip with a more suburban feeling. No joke, it rains everyday all-day all-night, and these weirdos love it! I despise the rain. Always have. I don't think that part of myself will ever change. Hopefully it doesn't make me depressed, maybe it'll push me to travel somewhere warmer every once and a while. Green and cloudy is still beautiful to me, that much I imagined was true. But the people... the people are <em>something else... </em>I have more exploring to do and more people to meet. Currently it's the end of June, Oregon only has about 47% of its population fully vaccinated. Meaning the mask free mandate drop might take a while longer compared to other states like California. <em><strong>Meaning</strong></em> my only friends are my coworkers whose names I still have trouble remembering. I can confidently say my only friend here right now is my boyfriend and he already drives me crazy. An update will have to given once I actually start my career here in Oregon. Until then, I'm just your average Joe.