Never would I have said I would end up in Baltimore, but here I am. I won’t lie and say it was love at first sight. At heart, I am a big city girl. Not a small city girl or even a medium city girl, b.i.g. That’s why, even as I lived in DC for four years, I often felt that DC was not busy enough for me. But, I found a great opportunity at an agency in Baltimore and upended my roots to move to Maryland. I’m still learning to love the city. 

I am trying to find my place here now and who could say they’re settled in after a month? And, yet, there’s an internal pressure I feel to be ecstatic with where I am, to have friends and a workout routine…y’know, all that jazz. But, life isn’t that simple. What I can say is that I have wonderful, supportive coworkers that pulled me into fun/hilarious sports leagues that I play on every week. I don’t have a gym membership yet, but I have started running outside again (let’s say the sports leagues count a little too). I don’t always cook for myself or meet my own expectations about controlling my budget, but I am learning to be an adult. Two months out of college, what more can I ask for? Every time I play volleyball with my coworkers on the Inner Harbor I see myself here a bit more. 

I think it’s easy to compare myself to other people and feel unhappy. People are travelling or people live in certain places or  accomplished certain things, but at the end of the day — I have no idea what’s going on in their lives and my own biggest critic is myself. 

I could not have made it as far as I have without my family and friends. The process of moving is something that I would describe as incredibly demanding. Not that I miss my hometown, but in that you have so much to do — getting ikea furniture assembled, moving all your clothes, but most of all not being with those you’re closest to anymore. Endless thanks here to my friends and little brother for helping me put together the aforementioned furniture. The day that happened was quite sweaty for all of us. 

What I’m learning is that it’s ok to not always be ok. Which sounds obvious, but is difficult to genuinely feel. You can’t depend on a location or other external factors to bring you happiness. You also can’t expect to be “happy” all the time. At any rate, I don’t know what I expected work life to be, but I’m rolling with the punches and gaining valuable marketing experience with tons of different clients. Agency life, the little I’ve seen thus far, truly does expose you to all kinds of work and people.