So I have decided to try this blogging thing again, I have nothing to do at work, and it is an easy way to keep all you guys back home updated.
The last time I made a post on this blog it was May of last year and I was in Spain appreciating the amazing life I was living there... Well, a few things have changed since then, so I suppose before talking about what it is actually like out here in Colorado I should explain a tiny bit about how I got here.
After graduating high school in January, I went to visit my brother where he has been living for a year and a half now: a little ski town called Fraser in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. If you saw any of my Instagram or Facebook posts during that week I am sure you already know how much I fell in love with the mountains. I always thought I was more of a beach person, but there was something honestly magical about everything being covered in snow and being able to snowboard as much as I wanted. (Also no one asked me "What are your plans for next year?" and that was really nice.) While I was on vacation I met one of my brother's friends named Summer, and we hung out a lot when my brother was working. Returning home was kind of awful, I missed my brother and my new friend and the mountains so much... I was working at a law firm at the time as an office clerk, and the novelty of my new job was wearing off, and I was slowly realizing how unhappy I was just going to school and working a desk job and hanging out with my friends on weekends (obviously I enjoyed hanging out with my friends, but everything just felt so monotonous). The day before my 18th birthday I was at work and texting Summer, and she said something like "Why don't you just move out here?" That comment made me think and realize that there was nothing actually tying me to Ukiah. I had graduated from high school, I was enrolled in classes at Mendocino College but they hadn't started yet, I obviously had my friends and parents, but there really was no reason to stay. That night I applied for a job at the YMCA where my brother started out when he got here, and within a week I had had a successful phone interview and had officially gotten a job as a craft shop worker. I put in two weeks notice at my job and within about three weeks of applying for the job out here I was on a 5:45am flight from SFO to Denver.
My first day here was really weird. My brother got me from the airport, we got lunch and then headed for the mountains. My job here is super cool, room and board are included, so I live in staff housing. I found my room (HR was closed it was ridiculous we had to track down a RA and we drove back and forth between admin and staff housing a ton of times), and put my stuff in there, but I didn't start work for a few days so I didn't have any friends so I went to Summer's house and had dinner with her and my brother and spent the night there. My first full day in Colorado Summer and I went out to a place called Grand Lake which is a huge lake and a tiny town, and it was so cool to see a lake completely frozen over with feet of snow on top of it!! It's been so fun because little things like that are so exciting to me still. (For example it's snowing right now and every time I look outside I can't stop smiling like a maniac. Also when I snowboard my face actually hurts at the end of the day because I don't stop smiling and laughing like a crazy person the entire day. I love it here.) Anyways, Summer dropped me off at the Y, and I ran into my RA Roger who offered to give me a tour of the property. We drove around for a while and he showed me where I would be working/eating/doing laundry etc. He introduced me to some of his friends (one of those was Helen, the girl who I have posted like 80 million pictures with since then) and I was no longer a loner!!!! Also real quick Helen appreciation: in three weeks she has become one of my best friends ever, definitely my number one out here at the Y, and it is so nice to have someone who I can be a goof with and know that she will be one right back and even maybe appreciate my goofiness. Also she likes to snowboard and even though she's way better than me she still takes me with her and waits for me at the bottom. So yeah she's pretty much the best.
For my first week I actually ended up lifeguarding, which was awesome because I got to work with Helen and our Argentinian friend Dani (and yes, I was practicando mi espanyol con Dani). One of the many super cool things about working at this place is that there is such a variety of people here from so many different places, including quite a few South Americans. It has been a lot of fun attempting to understand Peruvian and Argentinian Spanish, and sharing little Spain Spanish (Castillian?) phrases and words with them. I would say I probably understand about 90% of what they say, but it's been nice realizing that I haven't lost as much of my Spanish as I thought I had (I actually get compliments on my Spanish like whattttt?-- Thank you for that Rotary). It has also been cool hearing about what other states are like. Helen is from Wisconsin, my roommate Alison is from Iowa, and my friends Roger and Austin are from Tennessee, which are all places that are very different from Northern California, so it has been fun sharing little tidbits about our home states. The United States is such a huge country so I don't know why I was so blown away by my discovery of so many subcultures, but I was and I am. \
So I've already mentioned snowboarding, but oh my goodness. Being able to do one of my favorite things on a somewhat regular schedule is so amazing and the mountain out here is amazing. It's so much bigger than anything I have ever been on, and I have improved my skills so much just having been here for a few weeks. It has been so fun riding with Helen because like I said she is a lot better than me and she pushes me to try new things ( like tree runs, which I found out I love, or terrain parks, which I'm still working on loving). There is never a bad day out here and I am just absolutely in love.
I have also tried nordic skiing twice now, which I wasn't sure I would like but I actually love it. When I worked at the pool it was really nice to be able to go do that in the morning and then work the afternoon, but now my work schedule at the craft shop doesn't really allow for that (I have two days off and I spend both of them on the mountain) but it is a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the next time I can go. Honestly I just love it here so much it doesn't even matter what I am doing I am just always so happy. Today I had to walk to work and it was snowing and even though it was 8:30 am and I was exhausted I was so happy to be able to simply walk through the snow.
On Wednesday I am snowshoeing up a mountain with a group of seven or eight of my friends which should be interesting-- I have never snowshoed before, and supposedly it's an all day excursion, so wish me luck I suppose. No matter what I will be with super cool people in a super cool place, so it's going to be a good day no matter what.
I think when I was in Spain I felt the need to talk about how happy I was even when I was really struggling being over there because I felt such a pressure to be having the adventure of a lifetime (which I was, even though it sucked sometimes). But I really am loving it out here, it's blown me away how comfortable and at home I have felt here from the second day really. I am a level of happy that I have not felt in a really long time, and I am enjoying every second of everyday here.
I will update this at some point if anything exciting happens! Other than that just know I am loving my new life out here in Colorado!!
