I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Feeling a little homesick today. I'm not really sure what I'm missing exactly, the city, my family, having someone to see every morning and every night....I guess it's a little bit of everything. It's hard for me to justify my love for working internationally when I feel homesick. It makes me wonder if I'm really cut out to work somewhere so far away, and if that's really what I want to do. I love languages, I love learning about other cultures, and I love being able to help solve problems in any way that I can. I just wish I was able to take my whole family with me.

I miss the certainty I had before I graduated, the fact that I had a job and that I knew how to go wherever I needed to go. I miss my family. I miss walking to the park with the kids I babysat for.

 I miss my DOG. I miss looking out my window at the sailboats on Lake Michigan and eating the lunch special with my boyfriend at our favorite sushi place. I miss talking about the constitution with my dad on Sunday afternoons, watching crappy tv with my mom, and laughing with my brother about everything.  I know I was supposed to come here, and overall I'm really happy with the decision that I made, but being in a new place is hard.

I know this is normal, I've been keeping relatively busy but sometimes you just remember what you're missing. Moving is hard, whether it's across the globe or just a 3 hour drive away. I have people here who are just as close as family, but I'm missing the ones I left behind. Last night was fun, I got to spend it with one of my best friends that I've known ever since I was born. I love being able to see her on a daily basis and Madison really is a great place to live. I'm happy here about 98% of the time, the other 2% consist of worrying about finding work/getting work done and missing people. 

I guess it doesn't help that the boyfriend-guy has been back at school now for a few weeks. I knew things would get harder once he left, but after three years I'm also fairly used to this whole long-distance thing. I guess this is the first time I've had to make such a huge life transition since we've been together. The title of this blog is "Forever Wandering", and I do have this love of travel and wandering to new places, but do I want to be wandering around forever? It's something I'm going to have to think about anyway.

The Boyfriend Voice

In the car with a few friends on an impromptu grocery trip, one of my friends was relaying a story to us about an awful manicure experience. "And then I thought I should write a horrible review, but *boyfriend said "no, honey, that's too harsh." At which point, her boyfriend chimes in from the back seat "Hey! You made me sound like a frat boy!" And it was true, my friend had used a typical "boyfriend voice" that I'm afraid we're all guilty of using when telling stories about our loved ones. This was a new experience for me, I've heard and even used The Voice before; however it was the first time the imatatee was within earshot. It got me wondering....why do we make our boyfriends sound so dumb? I know for a fact that if my guy and I were engaged in a battle of intelligence, he would for sure come out on top. The guy's a genius, which is all I ask for because he can fix my computer. He is by no means dumb, and yet I apply The Voice, making him sound as though he's got a wad of chewing gum in the space where his genius brain should be. Is this simply because in most of these stories I'm supposed to sound "right" and he's "wrong"? Furthermore, do guys have a girlfriend voice? Do I sound as ditzy in his stories as he does in mine, and is it an accurate interpretation? I must further investigate this strange phenomenon. Clearly being an Official Grad Student has given me the mind of a scientist...is there a grad student Voice?

Ps: I have successfully moved, but due to a crazy internet company story (which I may blog when I don't have to type on my Blackberry keyboard), I am without internet until HOPEFULLY monday night at the latest. Never fear, my one reader! (Yes, that's you boyfriend guy)