A Year and a Bit

So I feel like I should make some sort of incredibly intelligent observation that I've been here now for a year and two days. Last July 8 I touched down in LAX (hell) and then on July 10 I started working in Washington. Thing is, I just had three G&T's at the Anniversary Party I threw myself (a surprisingly successful strategy- I shall remember it) so the idea of intelligent observations are a bit beyond me.

Thing is, it seems unfathomable that I have now been in Washington for a whole year. It seems extraordinary that I've stuck it out this long, and have no desire to return to Australia on a permanent basis just yet, and that I have managed this long without my family. Just a year ago, I was living with them and I have essentially been living by myself in a foreign country no less ever since.

Do I feel more grown up? I suppose in a way. But not more than you'd expect after making the shift to a full time job. That the full time job was in another country and I had to find my first apartment in said foreign country on $200 doesn't really seem to factor in to it, that I'm aware of.

In other news, for some reason the US Dept of Agriculture has a Graduate Language School. I did their online French test and got 325/500- far better than I'd imagined I'd get. I'm seriously considering taking a class but as yet have no idea how much it will cost and I am going to Montreal for Labor Day.