Greetings from New Concord

Hello, friends!

It has been quite some time since I have updated you all, thanks to some issues with Gmail, but I am back and ready to blog!

I am officially living in the lovely village of New Concord, Ohio, and I must say it has been a bit of a culture shock. Let me try to give you an idea of this place. I am living on campus at Muskingum University in an apartment. From campus I can walk to "town" which consists of the post office, the bank, the library, an ice cream stand, a Subway, a pizza place, a grocery store, and a Circle K. There are other random places such as a vets office, a dentist, etc. That's about all there is unless you drive another 15-20 minutes away. There is a farmer's market on Mondays (which I plan on checking out this week) and a winery (a 10-15 minute drive) that I checked out this weekend. Beyond that, trips to Cambridge and Zanesville are necessary. It is a dry town so the college students have to drive down the street about five minutes to a drive-thru if they want to buy any alcohol. My description does not even do this place justice...you have to see it for yourself.

As far as my new life here, I am enjoying it so far. I have met several coworkers who are around my age and who are also a lot of fun to hang out with. They have been so nice about including me in their get-togethers since day one and I have appreciated that so much. My job is going well, but I will like it so much better once students get here and I get to really start counseling them (I didn't get this Master's degree for nothing!). I am still getting my apartment organized and decorated and hope to post pictures once that process is complete. There is not a ton of storage so I feel like there is clutter, but I am trying to find creative ways to handle that situation.

This weekend I am heading to Akron/Cleveland for a crazy busy weekend that includes a friend's birthday, a 5k, a wedding, and a bachelorette party. I have a feeling it will be fun but not super relaxing.

I promise to keep you all posted now that I have this thing back up and running. Thanks for reading!