Hello Steemit!
Hello Steemit!
Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Jillian and I am living in Oslo, Norway currently with my boyfriend Mike (@adventureevryday). Mike and I have been in a relationship for 4 years and its amazing to get to have an adventure in Europe with him. At first when he told me that he was moving to Norway for a new job, I was in shock. I felt all the normal emotions of fear, sadness, and confusion. This news had me questioning where I fit into the plans. If you had told me two years ago that I would be living in Europe for a year I would have said you were crazy. Yet here we both are living in Oslo, Norway and traveling around Europe seeing things that I only read about in books.
At the time when he said he was moving I thought the world was ending. A bit dramatic to say the least, but as a born worrier I couldn't help but feel anxiety about what the future holds. I soon began to try to find a way to be together in Norway. I had a few obstacles in front of me. See I owned a house, had a great job, and was the mother of a small fur baby. All things I was going to have to find solutions for if I was going to go to Norway.
Asking for a leave of absence from work
After looking over my contract at work, I discovered something that few people paid attention to. If you work for the school district for 5 years you are allowed to apply for sabbatical leave with partial salary and benefits. Was I reading this right? A paid leave of absence and my job waiting for me when I get back. It seemed too good to be true, but I put my sabbatical application together and made an appointment to meet with my principal. It felt like a bit of a long shot, but I was very passionate about the leave of absence. After meeting with my boss and going over the application, he was excited for me as well. He also saw that a year living in Europe was a once in a lifetime opportunity. As the cards all started to fall in place, my goal of going to Europe for a year seemed well in reach.
Selling my house
As overwhelming of a task that it was I decided to get my house ready to be sold. I enlisted the help of my family and friends for finding new homes for some of my possessions. I sold furniture, gave away clothes, and donated a large amount of items to Goodwill. Next it was time to paint and clean. This was a huge undertaking and luckily I was off for a week in March for Spring Break. No it wasn't going to be a vacation. It was going to be a lot of hard work, but my goal was to find a way to be with the man I love. When a woman sets her mind to do something there is few things that can stop her.
I hired a steam cleaning company to steam clean all the carpet in the house. My mother and I painted the master bathroom a neutral grey and cleaned, cleaned, and then cleaned some more. Finally, the day had come for my realtor to take pictures and make a video for my house to be listed and sold. We both decided on a price, but were prepared to go lower if needed. My plan was to leave for Norway at the end of May 2016, so it being April we were in a bit of a time crunch. Soon the prospective buyers started to book showings of the house which my dog Shiloh and I had to be gone while they were there. This was very inconvenient and required some time sitting in my car down the street while strangers toured my house.
After only 5 days of house showings to my shock and surprise I got an offer to buy the house. It was $10,000 lower than the asking price, but I was a highly motivated seller who didn't have the time to be choosy. After months of work and anxiety, there was a deal on the table. Things were all starting to fall in place and working out. The fear and anxiety that I had felt for months was subsiding as the realization hit me that it was all going to work out. At this point, I was getting the feeling that it was meant to be. Moving to Norway for a year was definitely what I was supposed to be doing with my life.
Finding a temporary home for my fur baby Shiloh
Next it was time to move out. Luckily my mother was also working hard at my parent's home to clean everything out of the basement to make room for all the furniture, clothes, etc. that I didn't give away. She was also taking in my fur baby Shiloh for the time that I will be gone. I couldn't be happier knowing that he will be well taken care of. My parent's are both retired so he would get even more attention then he did when I was home with him.
It was now time to pack my suitcases and move to Norway from the end of May 2016 til the end of June 2017. Was I scared, nervous, anxious? Yes, of course I was, but the old saying goes whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger.
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Greetings from the Netherlands! Welcome to Steemit! Great post and I will follow you along here and read all you have to share!
Thank you @poeticsnake! I've traveled to Amsterdam. Loved it! Even bought some wooden shoes.
Did you try walking on them? They say its very healthy for your feet but I will never wear them again :D
LOL! I bought some small ones for decoration.
Awesome story! Just sold our house to go travelling too :) And yes it feel like a big step, but hey... you only live once! :) Nothing ventured nothing gained. Upvoted and following!
Welcome, @jilliankelsey. I have been to Norway once. Way to cold for me! Welcome to Steemit!
Thank you @exyle. Yes it is freezing here and I was told that winter hasn't even started. I have a snow suit that I wear around town. I might look silly but who cares. LOL!
Welcome to Steemit @jilliankelsey hope you have a happy new year! Welcome to the future of blogging.
Thank you @thejohalfiles! Happy New Year to you as well.
Welcome. You will fit in nicely here :) great introduction post.
Thank you @bitcoinparadise!
You're welcome. If you want to further engage with the community, I suggest joining https://steemit.chat, @steemspeak on Discord, or even the @steemtrail Discord channel You can share your links to your posts for others to see. We have some fellow Norwegians in Steemspeak as well :P
Hey @bitcoinparadise, this is @jilliankelsey 's boyfriend. Thanks for the tips on the steemspeak channel. I've been on Discord in the SteemPub but hadn't seen that channel before, so I'll have to drop by sometime. See you there!
Great!. do you have an account for others to follow as well @jilliankelsey 's boyfriend?
Edit:Nvm I overlooked the username :P
@adventureevryday, and it's important to show new users the potential of this platform. I hope she has gained belief from seeing the support on her first post and start posting more!
Sure do! I talked her into signing up here ;-) Check me out at @adventureevryday. I will check out and follow your blog as well.
I hope you have a great time in Norge. I think Norwegian is about the easiest way to learn a language in Scandinavia. It has a sing song quality that Danish or Swedish does not have.
Learn some Norsk songs and learn to tell a decent Joke and you will have some enjoyable times.
Thank you @franks!
Hello Jillian, and welcome,
Your moving experience is reminiscient of an opportunity to move out of my hometown in Pennsylvania to Chandler, Arizona when I was 22. I hope all works out for you and Mike in Oslo. I'll add you to my follow list.
Thank you @timothyb! Hope your move was the right choice for you as well.
elaborate writing -> yes
upvote ->yes
Thank you @publicworker!
Welcome to Steemit! That was quite a leap you made, moving to Oslo.
Did you remember to bring a snow shovel? :)
Thank you @nxtblg! I'm getting a little worried now that winter is upon us. I hope I still venture out into the city when we start getting some heavy snow. We are going to Svalbard on Jan. 20th. We will get a chance to ride on a dog sled and snow scooter. Looking forward to some winter fun.
The snow scooter will be fun.