Suddenly I see, this is what I wanna be.... #20

Just as quickly as everything came to the boiling point, everything simmered back down.

I headed to my on-campus interview trying to keep a clear mind. This was my #2 choice from the ACPA interviews and I knew I had to be fair with this. Since my #1 choice was no longer in the picture, obviously this became a little more important. My trip to the campus was fun and on a very beautiful day. I arrived, and I think one of the first things that came into my head was "Oh shit."

The campus is beautiful. Coming from an undergraduate institution that had the most amazing scenery, I'm pretty tough on other campuses about their atmosphere. This place looks like it's out of a movie. I loved it.

My interview day was full and tiring, but very helpful. I met so many people, all of whom were fantastic. I spoke to a few students and got to be a fly on the wall in the office during my breaks. By the end of the day I knew that I really liked this place, and I knew that was just going to complicate my decision. I was lucky because they were already moving quickly with the search and so it went perfectly with my accelerated timeline.

I left campus and burst into tears. In my head I'm thinking, "Great. WTF am I supposed to do now?!"

I am lucky to have supportive people all around me, and after a few hours of thinking and talking, good food, and a few drinks, I realized that I wanted nothing more than to get that job. If they passed on me, I would accept the other offer. As the night wore on, I wanted the job more and more. As I kept thinking about all the positives about the position I started kicking myself for not giving THAT much more energy and enthusiasm during the interview.

Apparently, my self criticism wasn't that necessary.

Yesterday, while sitting in the parking lot of a restaurant off of some random exit on some highway, I got the call that offered me this position and I immediately accepted. I will be moving in a few months to embark on the next leg of my journey through student affairs and to start a position that will bring me challenges and positive experiences. As my mom pointed out - I went on two campus interviews and got two job offers. Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it.

I have actually managed to accomplish what I set out to do so many months ago; I have job by graduation. This weekend I will walk across the stage and be incredibly proud that I finished this degree and obtained a position that I fell in love with back in February. I remember the moment I read the position description and thought, "Wow. This could possibly be the best position ever." The journey to get to this point has been exhausting. I finally feel like I can sleep and eat normally and not worry about what to do with my life. It's been almost exactly 5 months since I applied for my very first position. I am glad that this process was so successful for me (and for my blogging buddy) but I also realize that it's not been that way for many others. There are only a handful of us in my program who have already accepted positions and the rest are still actively searching and interviewing.

For the rest of the summer I will continue at my assistantship and keep plugging away at my second job. The packing and cleaning will start soon (Because I seriously love nothing else more than packing. Really.) and then I'll be off on my next adventure. Let's hope it's as great as I think it could be.