The First Visit

I have finally made a well-deserved visit to that city tucked away in the mountains that I will soon be calling "home" for a year. Due to my brother's suggestion, this city shall now be referred to as "Mayberry." I drove the four hours with the company of various artists on my ipod and whichever NPR station would come in along the way.

Side note: Did you know that southern Virginia doesn't have Diane Reems? How fantastic is that? I have never enjoyed Miss Reems - her voice is far too nasal for my tastes and she honestly just bothers me. Not to the extent that Maureen Dowd bothers me, but she's still on the list. Instead, they have "On Point" from Boston. Glorious, GLORIOUS southern Virginia, DC has much to learn from you.

The quaintness of the area is not lost on me. Driving in, the view grew from rolling hills to extraordinary mountains. The hills of the town allow for ideal views of the mountains with a picturesque town nestled inside. Arriving, I felt as though I had been holding my breath since DC and was finally able to exhale. I could handle this.

The Office is in an renovated 1920's house in an unfathomably small town that borders Mayberry. Upon arrival, I met a handful of my soon-to-be coworkers (the ones that were there), and had a wonderful two-hour chat with my supervisor, who seems to be the sweetest person alive. The chat ended with a hug, and my excitement for the wonderful work I'll be doing in the area growing with every moment.

The Roommate has been found! For privacy's sake, they shall be referred to as no more than "roommate." I am so excited to have found Roommate, words cannot even describe. His house is clean (one can never underestimate the value of a clean house), adorable and wonderfully situated in Mayberry. It's a nice area of town, about a 15 minute drive from work in bad "traffic" (traffic meaning hitting all the red lights, not DC traffic), and not horrendously far from downtown, like most of the places in my price range. Roommate himself seems incredibly nice and enjoys food - instant friend! I'm quite optimistic about the whole thing.

The city in and of itself is small - geographically and population wise. But it is beautiful. I met up with a good friend from college who lives in the area, and while I drove around he pointed out all the important locations such as the church... and the bars. All four whopping blocks of downtown are so cute it makes a bunny look like that rabbit from Donnie Darko.
So the next steps involve car-buying, moving out, my orientation in Atlanta, and starting the job. It is honestly surreal how quickly everything has begun to come together. Seeing the city and meeting my coworkers really assured me that this is where I need to be and what I need to be doing.

Hopefully, Andy Griffth will make an appearance.