On the Road Again

It's early. Very early. Even when I had a job I was never awake at this hour, but today I have to not only be awake I also have to function.  It's moving day and I have "miles to go before I sleep."

Chicago is about a 13 hour drive from Philadelphia.  Yesterday I loaded up my car, left my summer residence (casa de mami y papi), and drove four hours to Philadelphia to unburden myself of the storage locker that has not only taken a $200 bite out of my bank account every month but also held all of my furniture and 95% of my belongings since May.  It took 3 hours for my movers to transfer everything from my 10X10X8 garage and transfer it onto the 26ft moving truck that I am sharing with one of my Booth classmates.  Let the hauling begin.

As my furniture, free weights, and Michael Jackson record player make their way west in a truck I will not be accompanying them.  After much deliberation (really just a search for affordable parking) I decided to bring my car with me to school.  I know that I technically do not need a car in Chicago, but I know myself and I am not built for a complete reliance on public transportation.  I got very lucky to find an apartment in downtown Chicago where parking is only $100/month.  I have never in my life paid that much for a parking space.  One was always included in the rent and for the year that I had 2 cars I only paid $25/month for an extra space. However, I am over the moon to be paying $100 in Chicago. While speaking with one of my classmates we quickly came to the conclusion that business school totally warps a person's sense of appropriate spending.  There was a time when I would have refused to pay triple digits for a parking space, but after seeing fifty-leven apartment buildings with $250+/month parking spaces, $100 becomes a very appealing deal.  I have a feeling this comparison shopping mentality is going to persist (even without any income to support it).  Anyways, since I found "cheap" parking that means Silver Betty is coming with me!  Shipping her to Chicago goes beyond my nonexistent budgeting sensibilities so while my classmate and her dad drive the moving truck I shall be driving SB halfway across the country to my new home.

For a long time going to grad school was just a distant idea.  As I put away the blankets that covered me while I slept on a friend's couch last night it has suddenly become a very present reality.  It feels quite surreal, especially when I think about what I was doing at this time last year (struggling with Kellogg's career goals essay).  When I communicate with people who will be applying this fall a part of me feels as though I'm still in the application process.  It doesn't feel like it's been a year.  It's an odd dichotomy of time slowly passing by very quickly.  For so long it seemed that this day would never come, but now that it's here it kind of snuck up on me.  Even though any other day I would prefer to still be tuning into the sleepy time cineplex, on this very early Saturday morning I'm ready to go and so is Silver Betty.