Graduation day came and went. Kristina had finally graduated with her master's degree but still felt like something was missing. Sure, she had a pretty successful job working as a teacher, had two degrees, lived in the greatest city in the world and just got a hefty raise for her completion of her masters, but something was just not coming together for her. Kristina had always done what she believed was "right" when it came to her education. She graduated with her bachelors in 4 years, started teaching, began her masters and graduated all by 26 years old.
She was the first granddaughter to be born into her family who had been overprotective of her since day one. Coming from a large family, she felt the need to escape by the time she was eighteen. Her family wasn't in the most legal of businesses, and it wasn't unusual to her. That was her life- what she was raised in and what she knew. After she graduated, she needed a change. She had struggled for the last four years emotionally and socially. Once she graduated with her Bachelors, she began dating Eric, who she believed was the be-all-end-all of her happiness. For someone who is so intelligent, she could not see what he was doing to her for three years. He wasn't the educated type, and that never bothered her. However, he was the chauvinistic, dominant, do-as-I-say type. Kristina's father had been the same, so this wasn't unusual for her. She saw the bossiness as a sign of affection, she believed she was expected to do what he said. He loved to party, and she became his barbie doll. Her days would begin teaching from 7 am to 3 pm, and nights partying until the wee hours of the morning. After three years of this, it began to take a toll on her. He had become increasingly demanding, on several occasions had put his hands on her to "prove a point", careful enough not to leave a mark. But Kristina didn't leave. She believed she loved him, and he loved her. One Thursday in late March, Kristina was exhausted. She came back to the apartment after work around 3:15, and sat on the couch. She closed her eyes, knowing she could nap for about 40 minutes before having to get ready for class. She had told Eric that she didn't want to go anywhere that night, and that developed into yet another argument; which became full blown and dangerous. He hit her, grabbed her by the throat and squeezed so tightly that she had a welt on her neck for days. It took coworkers, her best friend Jessica and countless others to get her away from him. It took over a year for Kristina to finally heal and before she knew it, she had graduated with a Master's degree.
She knew she wanted to start somewhere fresh. Although NYC was the only place she'd ever called home. Kristina's friend Jessica, also a teacher, had also just graduated from a neighboring school in NYC. Kristina wanted to get away, and get away far. Her thesis had put her work on the map. She worked tirelessly for months on end to wrap up the nearly 125-page project that she poured her sweat and tears (and countless bottles of vodka) into so she could graduate. Upon completion, her professors were very impressed with her work. They published it and asked her to speak at many conferences. She wanted to work at the university level while continuing to teach but her alma matter did not have any openings for the upcoming semester and she was very disappointed. Her professor who was hell-bent on helping her catapult her career, made some calls. One of his colleagues, currently working at University of the Pacific at Stockton, had read Kristina's work weeks prior and was more than eager to offer her a position as an adjunct professor while teaching at the local school.

That's all it took. That one offer. Kristina kissed her security deposit on her apartment goodbye, packed up her things, her adorable boston terrier Slash, and packed the car to where the boxes were spilling out of the windows. Jessica joined her as they anxiously thought about the new beginnings that awaited them 3,000 miles away from the city they knew and loved. They left the Atlantic and had no idea what awaited them on the Pacific.