Grad School Blues

           I want to start off by saying that I'm pretty lucky. I have a full time job, I have a place to live (rent-free), I have an amazing boyfriend, the sweetest puppy, wonderful friends, and a supportive & loving family.
          By some miracle I have the opportunity to earn my Masters of Education degree from George Washington University (my concentration will be teaching children with emotional and behavioral disabilities). I start classes in July and should be graduating in August of 2015. I never could have predicted that I would be attending graduate school in Washington, DC...especially for free. Yeah, I know, crazy, right?!

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         The school that I currently teach at is beginning an internship program with GW and I was accepted into their first cohort. During the summer, I will go to DC five days a week for classes (holy traffic). In the fall, once school starts up for the kiddos, I will go back to being a teacher assistant and after working, I will take my graduate school classes at the school I work at.
        Seems like a pretty sick deal. Obviously, there's a catch. I will be working full time and receiving a tuition-free graduate degree, but I will not be getting a pay check.
        Without this internship program there is no chance that I would be able to afford to attend graduate school, especially at George Washington University. But, with this internship program there is no way that I can afford to move out on my own either.
        I desperately miss the independence that I felt while being in college and I yearn for a space of my own. Instead of focusing on the insanely amazing opportunity that I have received to go to graduate school, I have been enveloped in the idea of moving out.

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       I cannot even begin to show my appreciation to Christian's parents for letting us live at their house for the past year. If it wasn't for them, I would probably still be in North Carolina, waiting tables. They have been kind enough to let us stay without having to pay rent, along with feeding us, and they are by no means pushing us towards the door.
         I do believe that if Christian and I moved out, we could make it on our own. It would be tight, living off of one income, but we could do it. Our (most recent) final decision has been to stay at his parent's house for a little while longer so that we can continue to save money and hopefully by late fall or early winter we can move out with some friends of ours and split the cost of rent.
        My goal for myself is to focus on the positives of us staying put and saving money and to remain optimistic about our future together. I'm super excited about what the future holds for both of us, I just have to remind myself to keep both of my feet on the ground.