I got home from France at the end of May and was happier than ever to see my family again. My parents and sister got me from the airport with homemade tshirts, light-up sign, flowers, and all. What a great way to come home!
I spent the first few weeks at home catching up with friends and family here in Cincinnati. I ate Gold Star, Skyline, LaRosa’s, and Chipotle, watched American TV, and played with my dog - everything impossible to do overseas. Once back in the swing of things here, I went back to my waitressing job at LaRosa’s and began my career search. Which was trying. But more on that later.
Some summer highlights: the four of us, my parents, sister, and I, took our first vacation in a number of years. We hit the road after my Friday night shift and drove through the night to Daytona Beach the week of the Fourth of July. We relaxed, tanned, ate, and generally had one of the best family vacations I can remember. Oh, and ABBY AND I WENT TO HARRY POTTER WORLD WHERE WE GOT CHOSEN FOR OLLIVANDER'S WAND CHOOSING. We bought the wands, obviously.
My parents hosted a graduation party for me, and I got to see some good friends from out of town, as well as a number of good high school friends who I haven’t seen in ages. And there was some good spirited family competition in the form of leg wrestling. Nothing new for a Nabel family gathering!
Keeping with Nabel gatherings, this summer marked the First Annual Cousin Vacation! There are thirteen of us in my generation, and the majority of us were able to car pool it to the Outer Banks in South Carolina for a week, then stop over in Virginia Beach for the weekend where one of the cousins lives. I don’t know if our family is odd in that we all really like each other and get along so well, but we managed to all live in a house, share bedrooms, and take turns making dinner for the group. Veronica even made an appearance in animal print bathing suits! I love my family so much it’s crazy. Such a great week! Thanks, cousins and company, for a memorable first weekend. Can’t wait for next year!
In addition to these awesome things, BRoy made it down for a couple of days – great visit as per usual watching movies and talking for hours and hours, I had a few wonderful weekend trips around the state, I watched Allie take off for her own semester abroad in Austria – good luck my friend! I can’t wait to hear about all your adventures, and I watched How I Met Your Mother and am almost caught up to the present season! The only thing missing was a trip to Fort Wayne. You're all definitely at the top of my list of people to catch up with!
And now for the new adventure part: I’m moving to New York tomorrow for a ten week internship with a publishing company in Manhattan! YAY! I’ll be working in publicity doing all sorts of things – I’ll find out more this Monday when I start. I currently have no apartment but I'm viewing several this weekend, and I’ve packed a massive checked bag, a carry-on bag, and a purse. I may still be over the weight limit, but I’ll have to wait till morning to see just what the scale reads. Fingers crossed. It’s still the stupid shoes that get me every time!
While my external hard drive continues to back up my computer, I’ll relate a little conversation I had with my mom and family on the porch while I took a packing break this evening. My mom asked me about the best/worst-case scenario for this internship: do I want to get a permanent offer, do I want to be in publicity, do I want to end up in New York, etc. I don’t have a best and worst case scenario, and I’m really excited for an opportunity like this, but I do have a few goals. I think this amount of time, a few months, will give me the exposure to publishing in general and allow me to live in a major city. I have always loved reading and books, and I can’t imagine a better industry to work in. When I started my job search, I was looking at any and everything that dealt with writing, and I think I really lucked out to get my foot in the door with a publishing company. New York is the biggest publishing hub in the country, and if publishing is what I want to do, then New York is the best place to be! So I hope to figure those things out and give a lot of thought to the future, what I want, who I am, and where I want be, and what I want to do. Oh! Latest scheme that will hopefully become a reality: run the (half) New York City Marathon. It’s in 59 days, so here’s to getting my butt in gear and knocking something off my bucket list! Lots to think about and do!
It’s crazy to think I’ve been home for months. In a lot of ways it feels like I never left, but also like I just got here. My family – parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sister, grandma, friends – have been so great to me, and I can wait to hear from any and everyone who wants to visit! I’m also ridiculously excited to see Justin, my long-time-no-see native New Yorker friend I met in Australia. So many good things, old and new, and I cannot wait for all of them. Here’s to new adventures, new friends, reuniting with old friends, and bringing the best of the old in with the new!
Here and there,
Kiley
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