The Longest Winter EVER / Winter 2014 to Present
I finished up my year with AmeriCorps at the end of October last year and I was looking forward to new opportunities. I was applying to jobs fairly regularly while also spending a significant amount of time working on the Right to Health advocacy group that I may have mentioned in my previous post and well be sure to mention later.
It was incredible to spend that much time working at an organization that was growing so quickly. Finally there was somewhere that combined my love for Global Health with my belief that grass roots community organizing could create real change. At the immigrant and refugee advocacy group I learned so much about advocacy work and coalition building and it was great to continue to build on that skill set and also gain a lot of experience at the foundational level of something really extraordinary.
This was also the coldest winter of my entire life. I’m from the south, and I knew Chicago would be an adjustment but this was nuts. I had friends that lived here all their lives that were getting upset about it. We had a “polar vortex” that at one point had a high of -40 degrees. I didn’t leave my apartment those days.
A neighbor of mine and I would spend the day scrapping together food and worked on job applications and procrastinated through these brutal winter months. Early in January, I finally heard back from somewhere, A temp agency had finally gotten back to me and the day after my interview they landed me an offer! I was going to start a job with Groupon!
Little did I know this quick response was fairly common. Within a week I began a job in their customer service department, answering calls and helping people every day. It was a pretty thankless job.
For those who aren’t familiar with customer service call centers, you basically take calls, one after the other, all day. We were expected to take on an average around 10 an hour (it’s actually been a while, so I may be off on this number). And it wasn’t that hard of a job really. However the only time someone calls customer service is when they are already quite pissed off, so unfortunately it was a lot of pretty miserable angry conversations. That much negative human interaction got to you.
Combine that and the horrible winter, that wasn’t just cold, but lasted well into May, and we a were pretty negative crowd to hang around with. Luckily the earth rotates on its axis and we were soon facing closer to the sun. Summer in Chicago is always a blast but I started it off on an even better note! I ended up moving out of my one bedroom in Uptown to a place in Wicker Park with too former GlobeMed colleagues. This cut down on rent drastically right when the warm weather hit.
This summer has been another fantastic one. My new neighborhood is filled with tons of people my age and great restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and park space. Maybe sometimes it gets a little too quirky or sketch, but overall, I can’t think of a neighborhood too much better than this one in Chicago.
June through July was marked by a trip to visit family in Florida, the World Cup, a visit from my cousin John, and just enjoying the great weather. It was incredible showing my cousin and his wife around the city and later, I even had a chance to show my Mom, Brother, and his family around as well.
In late August I finally got an exciting new job offer that I had been interviewing for for months! Pitchfork Music Festival and a housewarming party commenced in celebration!