Welcome to the Real World

I knew it wouldn't be easy. I had been warned almost as much as I had been pestered about joining the ranks of the employed. I guess part of the problem is there was no transition period. One day I had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted the next my routine was set: up at 5:45, on the bus at 7, work 8-5, bus home at 5:20, arrive home 6:20, dinner, study, bed. Rinse and repeat. With any change comes the rollercoaster of adjustment; one minute you are loving everything including the clear blue skies and sunshine, the next you are cursing the heat and humidity. Today was a cursing day but hopefully Monday will be a blue skies and sunshine day.

Here are the highlights from the first week of work:

• The Job: I am working as a receptionist at a non-profit organization moments from the Ballston metro. The perks
  1. The bus to work picks up at the end of my street and drops off a block from work.
  2. I am responsible for answering the phones, registering visitors, and responding to emails. The office gets approximately 30 phone calls (a day), 1 visitor (every other day) and 5 emails (a day). The rest of the time is mine to entertain myself.
  3. Farmer's market on Friday, parks to sit in for lunch, and loads of restaurants.
  
  
• Lunch Time: Apparently in Ballston it's difficult to enjoy a lunch alone as a single female.
  1. Day One: a friendly coworker joined me after seeing that I was eating lunch alone.
  2. Day Two: a man who works in the same building as I do who, after two minutes of conversation, asked "Is it too early to ask for your phone number?" My response, "Uh, yeah."
  3. Day Three: one of the vendors from the farmer's market was about to join me until I averted my eyes at all costs so as not to accidentally give him the green light it was okay to sit with me. It worked.

But I guess that's one week down, one paycheck for the bank and now it's the weekend.