Preliminary Uncomfortability.

This was originally supposed to be posted last night, but apparently, there was a problem with Blogger. So, I typed it in a Word document and then copied and pasted.

Right now it is 12:43am on Monday in my head. However, in reality, it is 11:43pm on Sunday. Combine this with the fact that my mind is also swimming with ideas, realizations, new experiences, and trying to understand how his lazy summer got on the fast track and you get. . . one confused Rashad Jadon Gober.

Here’s a quick recap:

I left Rock Hill, SC on Wednesday for Chattanooga and got stuck is HORRIBLE traffic in Atlanta. I stayed with John-Michael for a night, hung out with Ben VanderHart, Will Dyer, Joel Harris, and MATTHEW PILLSBURY (who I hadn’t seen since he returned from France!) on Thursday, stayed another night with JM (and got to hang out with Hilleke and Micah), had coffee with Micah, whom I didn’t know too well before this trip, had a great dinner with Josh Johnson, got completely rained on (I freaking hate rain) on the walk back to the car, spent the night at the White House, saw one of my best friends in the whole world get married to his love on Saturday in Homewood, AL, drove back to Chattanooga, had one more night at JM’s with Micah (Tim Goldsmith dropped by too, which was AWESOME), and then left a 9:30am EST Sunday morning for St. Louis, MO.

Seriously, I had the GREATEST time in Chattanooga with all of the people listed above (and more!). I cherish my friends and I’m really glad I got to turn my little excursion into a road trip. It was totally worth it. God used all of the people I saw to encourage and bless me in a special way, and for that I am thankful.

Back to present-day matters:

I got to WashU at 3pm. Wow. I can’t put into words what my last 9 hours or so have been like. I’m just going to give you a list, because: a.) my mind organizes itself in lists and bullet-points and b.) I’m exhausted.

1. Washington University in St. Louis is GORGEOUS. The Gothic architecture made my jaw drop.
2. I really expected the check-in people to say, oh sorry, you actually didn’t get this internship; it’s another Rashad Gober. Imagine that! Sorry! It’s just all too surreal to me right now that I’m actually here.
3. My apartment building is extremely nice, but there is no easy access to bring luggage in.
4. I am extremely high-maintenance. I mean, I knew that before, but I seriously have EVERYTHING with me. But, it’s comforting in a materialistic way.
5. My roommates are nice. Myro is a Neuroscience major at NYU and Robert is a Cultural Anthropology major at Emory. Myro helped me move in. I seriously couldn’t have done it without him.
6. This campus is REALLY “green friendly,” and it makes me really happy. Hopefully, I’ll come back with some ideas for the CSC ☺
7. I had dinner with Alex Anderson, which was great, and made me feel a lot better.
8. There is a Whole Foods about 3 minutes from my apartment. Definitely hit that jank up already. BOOM.
9. I personalized my room to make me feel more comfortable.

I’m not going to put the biggest thing in this list because I want to expound upon it a bit. If you know me, you know that I hate change. I HATE change. Also, contrary to popular belief, I hate meeting new people too. It stresses me out. I don’t get stressed out about finals, sports, etc. but meeting new people seriously makes me a nervous wreck. I think this is because I am a person who likes to know where my foot is going to fall before I take the step. I plan EVERYTHING. Therefore, when I meet new people, which, by default are unpredictable because I don’t know them that well, I freak.

I think that dealing with change is one of the biggest things that God will teach me during this internship. Today was really, really stressful for me just because I am in a new environment and I don’t know the people that I will be working alongside of for the next eight weeks. I don’t know how to get around here, I don’t know where the freaking gym is (I need to work out), and it’s not what I’m used to. BUT, I think this is good. I need to be challenged and be pushed out of my comfort zone (that is SUPER cliche).

Prayer Requests:

- That I will be open to change and have faith that God has me here for a reason
- That I will be receptive to adapting to my environment and getting to know the people around me
- That I will have confidence in the intellectual abilities that God has given me, even though I’m in a new academic environment