Sunday, July 5, 2009

Texas: Part 1

Good day from Southern Texas!!

Wait, what?? Texas??

Yes, that's right. Many of you know by now, either via Twitter, Skype, or the Leaky Lounge that I had moved to Texas, but I am finally getting around to a long overdue blog about the whole thing.

And what better place to start than the beginning? (which is why this will take more than one blog post)

In February, one of the guys I had gone to college with, Ryan, (we were both Business students) came back to visit and also do a presentation about the company he was working for down in McAllen, TX. They had some openings and he was looking for people to fill them. I sat in on the presentation, mainly to just hear what he had to say and also visit with some other friends who had also returned for a visit at the same time. I talked with him briefly about it, but didn't really think much of going to Texas. I wanted to stay in Wisconsin close to family (on my mom's side) and also so I could visit my sister, a junior in college, and my brother, who is going to be a freshman this fall.

Well, the job opportunities I was looking at in WI fell through and I really had no idea what to do. Then, I thought of Ryan and his presentation. The company he was working for was expanding and there was something I was at least interested in trying--at the very least it was in my field of study at college (and finding something like that in this economy is becoming increasingly difficult). So, I contacted Ryan via Facebook and he was very excited that I was interested. See, in 2008, we were both on the same team for our Business Capstone project--basically we had to come up with a brand new company and create a business plan and present it as a viable company to our "investors". So, we had past working experience together and he knew how I worked.

Anyway, we got talking and then his dad called me to talk about the business (he is the owner). It was starting to look like the job opportunity was shaping up and I was headed to Texas. But then I didn't hear from them for about 2 or 3 weeks. I knew they were supposed to be calling me back, but never did. I was getting a little worried and my dad said I should probably start looking for something else just in case.

Well, I really didn't want to do any job searching. I kinda looked at some stuff, but really had no interest. (Although, there was a job opening as a CSR for Blizzard at their complex in Austin, TX. I really liked that one.) I decided to just text Ryan and see what was up. He immediately texted back with sincere apologies at dropping the ball. Some issues had come up at work and everyone was busy, etc. I understood, and said I was still interested.

Then, all of a sudden I was telling them that I would be down in Texas by the end of the month of June....

What??

2 comments:

  1. Are you feeling any amount of culture shock? I would think it might feel like a whole new world. I think that it was very brave to pick up and leave what you were used to and comfortable in and try out your wings!!

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  2. Actually, no culture shock at all really. I adapt fairly quickly. And even though we're like right next to Mexico, it's like anywhere else in the US--you have your Walmart, the outlet malls, the theaters, the chain restaurants, etc. There are just more Mexicans and spanish-speaking people around. That's the main difference.

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