I just realized that I never posted about the last two days of my Cambridge trip. My bad. All you really need to know is that we had our last session on Galatians that Friday morning, and then I did some last-minute shopping in Cambridge, took a train to London, and spent the night in the airport with seven friends before my flight left Saturday morning. The flight was uneventful, and though I had a wonderful trip, I was glad to be home with my family again. I should do a reflection post on my trip overall, but that's not what I came to do tonight, so look for that (hopefully) sometime in the near future. :)
I spent two wonderful weeks at home before I came back out here to California. I moved back in (sort of - I lived out of my suitcases) to the house I was subleasing in June and started working in the library again. I was expected it to be a boring three weeks before school started, much like the beginning of the summer. But, thankfully, it wasn't. More of my friends were around, so I was able to do fun things with them (such as seeing The Butler, going to the beach, eating at Chipotle). I also got a babysitting job for a small group at my church that meets most Sundays. And my most exciting news is that I got an internship at a magazine! My last day in Cambridge, I got an email from a small Christian magazine that I'd applied to back in May. The magazine is New Identity Magazine, and I am both the Associate Editor Intern and the Staff Writer Intern. The editor works from her home, so the past three weeks, I drove to Torrance (about 15 miles from here, 30 minutes to an hour) twice a week and helped her edit articles and brainstorm articles and titles, and she has been teaching me about being a magazine editor and what all that entails. She also assigned me an article to write for the next publication, so I will be working on that over the next month. The month of September I will be working this internship from school, but starting in October, I'll be driving to her house again every Friday. I've loved the internship so far, and I'm really excited and grateful for this experience. I even have my own email address - stephanie@newidentitymag.com. :)
This past Saturday, I moved out of the house I was at and moved in to my very first apartment! It's a Biola-owned apartment complex, which is why I couldn't move in until this past Saturday. I absolutely love it! Our kitchen is beautiful and spacious, the living room is roomy (though the couch and two chairs it came with aren't that comfortable), the bedrooms have nice, big closets with full-length mirrors for doors, the bathroom is nice, we have storage space, and there is a pool right outside my door! Needless to say, I have been so excited to move in here, and now that I'm here, I just love it. I unpacked all my stuff Saturday (I don't actually have that much for an apartment). Victoria came Sunday, and the apartment got very cute and colorful! It feels like a home now. Elsa and Hannah come tomorrow morning, and classes start on Wednesday. I have less units this semester than I've ever had before (only 14), but I have my internship, I'll be working 15 hours a week at the library, and I'm hoping to have the time to apply to other internships. I'd love to get one at a publishing company and see what that is like.
I'm really excited for this school year, though I am sad that it is my last year here. I don't know where I'll be after I graduate, but that's okay right now. I have had the best college experience I could have asked for and I know that this year will only add to that as I start blending college life with "real" life (as in, living in an apartment, doing more cooking, having an internship). It won't be time to cry until May. Before then, I hope to make the most of my senior year and enjoy every minute. :)
"Oh, don't say that it's over. Oh, no, say it ain't so. Let's let the stars watch; let them stare. Let the wind eavesdrop; I don't care. For all that we've got, don't let go. Just hold me."
- Eavesdrop, The Civil Wars
