Transient Prove

I grew up in Nor Cal all my life yet I always dreamed of moving to San Francisco; not New York City, not Los Angeles, not Chicago, not Boston, but San Francisco. You'd think after years and years of visiting this city with my friends and family, one would figure that something more like this would come to my mind: "eh seen this city, and now I'm ready for something new." But it truly hasn't. While I was in school at UCSB, I talked with my friends about "after graduation"and my dreams of becoming part of the art world in San Francisco...dreams of being a grown up, eating at the best restaurants, walking the streets in the height of fashion, drinking at wine bars, visiting art galleries, going to museum openings, having the perfect San Franciscan victorian apartment...

Even when I graduated, left Santa Barbara, and uprooted my whole life to Washington D.C. last September, I still dreamed of San Francisco. Don't get me wrong; I loved D.C, but in the end I knew that it was all circumstantial. I had 3 super awesome roommates, I was living in an expensive apartment building with about 300 other UC students (all my age and all awesome), I was living in one of the cutest and most hip neighborhoods (Dupont), and I had the awesomest of awesome jobs: working at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in collections management for the Fish Illustration Collection. Woah buddy. Sounds like a dream right? Well it was. Too bad the program only lasted for 3 months; in that situation, I could surely have stayed forever. But I knew all too well that eventually the UCDC program was going to end, and without it, I wasn't sure I would enjoy D.C. as much. Hence my lingering dreams of this city.

And then I moved home and fell into the worst slump in a long time. It finally hit me: I am POST-GRAD. Unemployed, living at my parent's house, desperately looking for a job, and away from all my friends. It was the first time in like 14 years that I did not have a path to follow. Before actually graduating, this concept seemed so lofty and nice; graduation meant time for me to find a new path, to start over and tackle any dream life I want to pursue. But in reality, one can't just earn their degree and have life land in their lap smelling like dandelions (bad analogy, I know). No one of course tells you this, and you never want to psych yourself out by facing this reality anyways. I started feeling desperate longings to return to school and I began scrambling to find my options for grad school. I applied to 3-6 jobs a day, only to find it completely disheartening when no employer got back to me after weeks of this. I also came to realize this; DAMNIT. I am a new graduate, in the field of art history, and this combination does NOT fare well in the job market. First of all, no one wants to hire a new graduate. Probably because we are both young, and most likely inexperienced since we just spent the last 4 years busting our asses in school. Second of all, art history does not produce the most jobs. Yes, there were art galleries and museum jobs, but almost all of them called for a candidate with a Masters degree or at least 5-8 years of experience, both of which I lacked.

Just when I was ready to cry myself to sleep every night, wishing I could switch my dreams from moving to a big city to staying in my comfy, well-protected bubble also known as Isla Vista, I finally got a call-back. Not only was it a call-back, but it was from a job listing that I actually REALLY wanted. First interview went pretty well, but I felt like I came short of how I wanted to perform. Two days later the call for the second interview arrived. Ecstatic me showed up to the interview more nervous than a kid at the dentist office, and again I thought I only performed sub-par. I told everyone that I was not expecting a call back after this round in the employment fight. But low and behold, two days later I was sitting on my parent's couch, still wearing the pajamas from the night before, eating chips and watching House Hunter's International for the third straight hour that day when my cell phone rang showing an unfamiliar phone number. I had got the job. I GOT THE JOB! It was such a moment of disbelief and happiness that I literally starting jumping up and down while I was still on the phone. My mom who was there the whole time joined in the jumping. I accepted right then and there; as soon as I lowered the phone, my mother was already on Craigslist looking for apartment listings. It's hard to tell whether she was just excited for me, or excited that I was going to move out of her house, but regardless, it felt so good to have her support.

My luck didn't stop there; a close friend from Santa Barbara let me know that her friend from back home who is a student at SFSU had an open room in her house. The rent was cheap, I was familiar with the friend, and all the roommates were in my age range and shared my interests. No question there, I jumped on that offer just as quickly as I did the job.

So now here I am living in Ingleside. That should get everyone who may read this up to speed on how I ended up in San Francisco. My big move here only happened in mid-February, but it has led me to a whole new life and I think I have adjusted really well. I mean I love it here! It is everything I imagined. The transition was surely made easier after I had already done a similar adjustment only months prior when I moved to D.C. But something about San Francisco in particular stirs these romantic ideas of living in a bustling city for me; this must have stemmed from my awe of this place from a young age. It is exceptionally beautiful here; old and weathered, but exciting and contemporary at the same time. I also think that since I first saw Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Serivice I have been convinced that the director had invisioned San Francisco for the cute seaside city that Kiki settles into. I love that movie, and to this day I imagine my move here to parallel Kiki's journey. Young and only armed with her wits and her cat Gigi, she moves away from home to settle in a big city to make a life all her own. If only I could have a cat then I would REALLY be into this analogy; but seriously, I admire the message behind that story, especially when things get hard for her, she always tried to stay positive and eventually all the facets of her life fell into place.

Okay this is becoming the longest post of all time, and I promise they won't all be like this. But I needed an introductory piece, and honestly I've been wanting to say all this in some way for a while now. While I may not be living the exact luxurious, chic-chic life that I had dreamed of, just being here in San Francisco is so wonderful, and honestly even with my small wages I still get to go shopping all the time, feed myself great foods, and explore all there is to see here.

My message to all you struggling post-grads and soon-to-be post-grads is to be like Kiki, as stupid as that sounds...be willing to take the plunge and leave your comfort zone. Make yourself a life you can be proud of! Stay positive in the job hunt, even when it seems like on one is interested, and never lose sight of what it is in life you want to be involved in (job related or not) and go seek THAT.

Transient Prove

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Post-Grad Life SUCKS....Until Now...

Namesake