So originally I was gonna write about the history of Valentines Day (happy Valentines Day) but I ended up getting sucked into my finances and future plans.
One of the best things about being back in the states is being able to spend time with my cat. My parents have monopolized on this by using her as an anchor to keep me here. Yesterday, I was working on my new application for a masters program in Germany. I told my parents about it over dinner because it came up, and today I received a Valentines Day card “from my cat” saying how much she loves having me back around.
I want to take her with me. Ideally, I would move abroad with my cat and have a built in friend to travel and live with. Having a little freak do laps around an apartment because they took a shit? Would 110% make grad school better. Not to mention, I know Quiggley loves me and I feel terrible leaving her. She likes to sleep on my feet, and also loves my stuffed animals (she is curled up next to Lamby rn).
In other news, I have gotten my first two paychecks from my job. It has been nice meeting my new coworkers and having something to do other than just read and paint in my own space. I will say I wish I got paid more, but hypothetically my boss is looking to give me a raise soon. I am struggling to figure out how to spend and save my money. On one hand, I don’t want to have to work when I am focusing on my new Masters. It might be wise for me to consider staying another year here in order to save enough for that. On the other hand, I want to support artists and get tattoos (way more choice here than Reykjavik) and travel and go to concerts.
I have always been a pretty frugal person. I thrift for my clothes, I don’t buy any famous brands or anything like that. I think my most expensive habit started in Iceland: Coffee shops. I love me a nice little treat and a warm drink to go with it. It doesn’t help that recently, that has been all Marie could do with me. And now that I’m in the states, there are different coffee shops that I have missed, and also just cheap ones (Dunks- how do they burn cold brew??) that I miss out on when I am abroad.
This also goes back to my internal debate of getting an apartment here. I think that it might be good for my mental health, but I also think that I will miss my cat and it will be more expensive than worth it. Especially if I want to save as much as I can for Germany.
Current Saving Goals?:
- Booked tattoo in France that I’ve had to reschedule like 4 times
- Blackbird tattoo
- German applications
- Germany in General
- Moving with a cat??
- My phone is dying,,,, so I will probably need a new one soon
- Same with my laptop, it has gotten me through college, Smith, and my first Masters, I feel like I should start on a new one for my PhD.
Anyway. This didn’t really have a point other than saying that I am trying to prioritize and arrange a lot of things in my life right now. It’s confusing, but I guess I am lucky to consider these my biggest frets.