A Glimpse of Houston

Recently, Erin and I loaded up the car and headed to Houston for a few days.

Exxon had put us in contact with a realtor, and we'd arranged a meeting with her to look for an apartment. Before our trip, we'd poured hours (Erin, admittedly, more than myself) into looking at suggestions the realtor emailed us. Having browsed the web for reviews, used Google Streetview to scope out neighborhoods, and reviewed floorplans, we were able to narrow it down to just a few possible complexes before we even arrived.

The first evening in Houston, Erin and I went to a Greek Restaurant and spent some time driving around town to get ourselves oriented. We also found the apartment complex that we had arranged to meed the realtor at the next day.

The next morning, we met the realtor and toured The Gael, a complex we had really liked from our research. After seeing an apartment in the Gael, we traveled a bit further out of town to check out some other complexes. Though each of the apartment complexes we saw had pro's and con's, we ultimately decided that there was no beating the location and price of the Gael.

We went back and signed a contract at the Gael to confirm our selection, and then headed out for lunch and some more exploring of the city.

The next day, Erin and I had lunch with the Exxon recruiter (and MSU alum) who had originally interviewed me last fall for the job. She and I have stayed in touch since then, and it was nice to get to chat with her about life in Houston.

We wrapped up the day with more exploring. Erin and I found my office building and did some more driving around downtown. We really enjoyed the opportunity to just get lost together, knowing that the GPS could always get us back. After exploring the town, we went to a Central Market grocery store (lots of organic, local produce kind of grocery store) and grabbed dinner there.

The next day it was time to go home. Though our return drive took far longer than expected (thanks to two standstill traffic jams and weather that forced interstate travel down to 35 mph), it was a very enjoyable and successful trip.

Looking through a courtyard across the street at The Gael

Driving on the inner loop headed north towards the Galleria area

Coming into focus...

The past month has been quite exciting. I’ve been in touch with various people from Exxon and their relocation sub-contractors getting the ball rolling on our move.

We’ve been in touch with the relocation consultant, the moving company, and a realtor for the Houston area. We’ve researched apartments, weighed pro’s and con’s of different neighborhoods, and mostly just been simultaneously ecstatic and terrified ;)

Also in that time, I’ve talked with my future supervisor at Exxon to get a better feel for what my job is going to be like. My official title is “Knowledge Management Analyst”, and I’ll be working on a team that makes sure all of the Information Technology Department at Exxon is keeping their data organized and is making progress on upgrading to new systems. My supervisor seems like a great guy, and the position sounds far better than what I expected for an entry level IT job.

Next week Erin and I will actually head out to Houston to meet with the Realtor and look at some of the apartments.

It's Official! We're Moving to Houston

I finally got the phone call I've been waiting for today...

When I went to Houston last Fall for my interview with Exxon, they told us that there were several locations throughout the country where I might end up being assigned. They said that Houston was by far the most common assignment, but there was that little possibility of something else that was keeping Erin and I from being able to make concrete plans.

Today I finally heard from the lady in charge of my recruiting division with my assignment. After months of wondering and waiting, I finally know some general information assignment... including the fact that Erin and I will officially be moving to Houston after the wedding. :)

The plan is that Erin and I will go down in May to look for a place to live. I'm waiting to hear back from HR about specifics. I've been a bit more reluctant to do my research than Erin has, but now that I know we're going to be in Houston I'm looking forward to looking at all our options before we get there.

I don't really have too much information at the moment about my specific job, other than that I'll be working in SAP application development. To me, that means it's time to go book shopping so I don't show up on day one needing a syntax lesson.

I'll know more about exactly what my job will entail, as well as what part of Houston I'll be working in (Exxon has facilities throughout the city) hopefully sometime next week. My future supervisor is supposed to give me a call sometime...

I'll keep you posted as I get more info :)

An Update From Erin

To our friends and family who regularly read our blog--I'm so sorry it has been so long since we have updated! Things were pretty crazy with fall semester ending, a busy Christmas break, and then Gerrit and I both starting our internships.

We had a great Christmas break in Huntsville and really enjoyed spending time with our families. It was a somewhat sentimental break since we know that our lives will be entirely different this time next year. We definitely made the most of our time with our families and also enjoyed getting to spend an extended period of time with each other.

We also traveled to Charleston with Gerrit's family to visit his grandparents. It was really a wonderful visit. We went to downtown Charleston and toured around (I had never been before), we went shopping, went to the movies, and spent time playing games. I really enjoyed getting to know Gerrit's grandparents better and learning more about that side of his family.

Now it is the new year and it is very exciting be able to say that we are getting married this year. It was really kind of amazing how once it was January, the wedding all of a sudden seemed so much closer!

Speaking of which, checking things off the wedding planning list also kept us busy over the break! We ordered invitations, save-the-dates, registered for gifts, did some planning for the rehearsal dinner, and started planning the ceremony.

And now, even though we had a great break, it is kind of nice to be back at school and in a routine. We are both settling in to our internships (mine at Auburn Public Library and Gerrit's at Garan), and it's kind of nice not to be taking classes. It's different to settle back into our lives away from home after such a long break, but it's crazy and so exciting to think that this is our last full semester!