snowing in indy

indy

A friend of mine  (@ntimpani) who just made the move from our home town of San Diego to New York City for grad school at NYU (holler) suggested to me today that we write a book on survival methods for women who move across country.

Just 5 months into her move and 2 weeks into mine in – We’re thrilled to be in our brand new cities, with brand new weather, a brand new job/school, a brand new social circle and network and essentially – a brand new life.

Now – could I write a book on how to help others cope with culture shock? Not sure I would want to attack that task just yet – but could I contribute a few words of advice that might get someone through a rough afternoon? Absolutely… (or at least I’ll be able to in a few weeks/months when these growing pains are over!)

A truth we have book been faced with is that no matter how happy you are to be where you are – you’re always going to miss where you came from. No matter how confident you are in the choices you’ve made to uproot your life – it’s still terrifying. There’s just no way around it.  There will be hard days. But I’m not writing this post to tell you about hard days. I’m not writing to tell you about what I miss. You all know San Diego’s gorgeous skyline, countless activities and constant t-shirt weather. You’ve all seen Ron Burgandy’s backdrop and I don’t need to tell you about what I’ve left behind.

I want to tell you what I’ve gained.

Tonight, when I left work I had an extremely friendly co-worker (people are ridiculously nice in the Midwest…) telling me to drive safely (and with my CA license plates – it’s fair that they are worried.) Fact – I have yet to figure out what exactly “whiteout conditions” means. I’ll Google it when I’m finished writing this post… deal? That 30 minute drive home into downtown Indianapolis was exciting. Call me crazy – but it snowed today and the homesick feeling just up and leaves. Yes, mom and dad – I’m driving carefully, and yes my little car is holding up just fine. At least when the weather is bad here – you know the drivers around you know what to do (can’t say that much for San Diego in the rain!) And in the words of my best friend, “I feel sorry for people who never get to experience snow fall in a city.”

Now, I’m sitting at Starbucks, downtown on Mass Ave (yes I checked in on foursquare) watching these two college kids in beanies write their names in the powder that’s fallen on the sidewalk. I have a 3 block walk home in the freeeezing cold, but it’s snowing – and I have gloves. It’s gorgeous. It’s my city to learn – and it’s hard, when everything that means home to me absent from this Midwest city, it’s very hard. But everyday this transition will get easier, everyday this city will feel more and more like home and everyday it snows I will love this city a little bit more.