almost two weeks

so i've lived in MA for two weeks tomorrow. so far so good. i like my little town (and the surrounding towns). except for the punks on their skateboards, it would feel like this cutesy 1950s little place in MA. yeah. i'll post pics when i get up to town (i thought about walking the mile or so to town today, but katrina decided that rain, wind, and clouds were the order of the day).

it's still a little challenging to getting used to not seeing my family at a moment's notice. i didn't realize how much i enjoyed such a luxury. i miss everyone soo much. i hope to see them at the end of september, although with transportation prices being what they are who knows. i'm definitely going home for the holidays. Christmas break is about 5 weeks long, so i can spend a lot of catch-up time with my family :-).

besides that, i've just been trying to stay busy and hang out with my cohort when i can. i know i'll regret this later, but i'm looking forward to having a routine with classes and such. it's going to be sooo much work (i have one syllabus already and i can't imagine how much coffee i'll drink over the next four months) but at least it'll keep me busy. classes start next wednesday. i can't believe it...

getting to know the group...

so a lot's happened since i've last blogged. salsa night was fun and a flop. it was fun getting to hang out with marianne, laura (and summer) and shawn, but the salsa wasn't nearly hot enough. in fact, it was downright mild and more like chopped tomatoes with some peppers somewhere in the bowl. we decided against putting in the seeds. and i think that was our fatal mistake. but we had fun anyway.

on sunday, i tried out a new church. it's a bit too small for my tastes, but the congregation was so nice. everyone (i mean, everyone) greeted me and the pastor's heart for the community was amazing. i may come back, but i think i'll look around and see what i find.

and that brings us up to today. i took the bus to campus (so i wouldn't have to leave my right arm as payment for parking). we had a grad employee orientation where we had to fill out lovely hr paperwork. i think all that paperwork serves to keep you at your current job. goodness knows i'll need another five or so years before i would consider filling that out again. i feel stupid every time. oh well. shawn, courtney (and her friend matthew - another grad student in the social psyc dept), and i met to go together. we ran into laura and dan (another member of the cohort) as we were in line to turn in our esteemed masterpieces (aka the hr paperwork). fun times. shawn and i wandered around campus, got books, and checked out our offices again.

but the best part of my day was coming home. i got a package from my parents :-) and flowers from evan :-). my parents sent the following: a bear dressed as a clown named juggles (because"i'm juggling my life"), "when harry met sally" (because i "have good friendships always"), a shot glass (because "sometimes a good shot helps" -- thanks dad!) and a little frame picture that says "someone in DE is thinking of you" (because they're always thinking/loving/missing their "sweet pea"). and the flowers (as pictured) are just beautiful :-).

so, as overwhelming as things are, it's good.

everyone loves a little salsa

so shawn and i picked tomatoes today. a lot of tomatoes actually. and i don't even like the fruit/veggie. and we had no idea what to do with all those tomatoes. so we made salsa (which i do like). it was quite the fiasco. but fun in the end. we talked the whole time. it was nice to get to know someone i'll be spending a huge amount of time with (we're TAing and in four classes together). i'm glad to have a friend up here, especially now that i'm starting to feel a bit lonely.

anyway, back to the salsa. so being inexperienced, we sort of just threw in tomatoes, peppers, onion and cilantro. we made enough salsa to feed the whole sociology department. i wish i were kidding. there's about a gallon of salsa sitting in his fridge as we speak. needless to say, we might be hosting a dinner for the new people in town to get rid of some of this salsa. cause seriously, a gallon of salsa is frickin' ridiculous.

the to do list...

get ID - check!
meet with grad secretary - check!
sign contract (aka officially selling your soul) - check!
sign union thing - check!
find mailbox - check!
find office - check!
get keys - (tomorrow)
get books - (undone)

holy cow: this is really happening.......

is there ever a good ID photo?

so i got my school ID today. fun times. it's a bad picture. i wasn't really planning on getting it done today, but my new cohort buddies (shawn and courtney) and i decided to go after lunch. we met in town and grabbed some sandwiches and talked. apparently, the ucard place was hidden in one of the dining halls and nearly impossible to find so we all went together (shawn and courtney had been there before, although courtney hadn't gotten hers yet). after getting my horrible picture, we walked around campus and found where different places are.

it's nice to have met some people. we'll be spending a lot of time together. shawn and i are ta-ing for the same class and taking the same four courses and courtney also is in three of them. so i guess it's good that we got along today.

overall, it's been a really great day. i'm excited about my new friends and i think this is going to work out. i still wonder if i should be somewhere else, but this is where i am and i'm trying to not second guess this.

not in delaware anymore toto...

so it's been officially three days in MA. i'm surviving. it helps that i've kept myself insanely busy moving in and unpacking. part of me doesn't really want to unpack my boxes because that means i'm definitely staying here for a year and while a year isn't normally a long time, right now it feels like ages and ages long.

i don't miss delaware. not at all. but i fear i will miss some of the people there (or not there, but from there...).

so in less depressing news, i'm supposed to meet a member of my cohort for coffee tomorrow :-) and tuesday i'll probably run school errands (parking permits and the like) and wednesday i'll sign my contract (again making a year feel much longer than it needs to be). i hope this is where i'm supposed to be because right now it's not completely where i want to be...


oh - PS - while it was hot today, it's supposed to be in the mid-70s on monday and tuesday. in AUGUST. i <3 MA weather already ;-). not that i'm rubbing it in to anyone, say south of GA ;-)

what began as a fluke...

drc has been my home for just about three years. i was a little quiet sophomore when i started. i was afraid of everyone and everything. it's been a challenge, but drc has become my home. and today was my last day with the center.

i applied to the job on a fluke. i had some free time and it seemed like a good opportunity. little did i know what it would turn into! i've had the best experiences and met some of the greatest people there. from working on transcriptions to data entry/clean-up, to coordinating an international conference to working with undergraduate students to create and continue research projects, i've had so many things to do. and some of the grad students turned out to be some of nicest friends a girl could ask for. i can't remember how many times i got encouragement, advice, or grad student wisdom. they are some great people. i will miss them very much.

so, i guess it goes to show you: life might give you a fluke and it will turn out to be one of the best experiences of your life. you never know where the road will take you. you can just hope that works out for the best

DRC friends, please don't forget me! <3>

impatiance

why can't i just be there now?

lost like a little freshman...

...and i haven't even left delaware! what the heck?! i was just reading the umass website and it says that i need to get a meningitis vaccination at a cost of (drum roll, please!) $118 from my family doc. and i have only 10 days (minus the weekend) to do this. exciting. and my dad's still trying to figure out how to get new tires on my little car. and i need a new coat (because with the one i have now, i might freeze my butt off and that would be unfortunate because my butt might be big, but i sorta like it). and i need to get a kitchen table and chairs. why can't things just be free? redistributing wealth sounds so good when you're a starving student.

i'm all registered for my classes and now i'm just hoping that the tuition bill will go away quickly. it grew $100 since the last time i checked it :-\. i'm not sure how it did that. goodness knows my money doesn't grow that quickly.

11 days....

So I begin the adventure on the 19th. I'll drive up to sign the lease for my apartment and officially be part of the Massachusetts community. It's exciting. There's just so much to do and so many people to see before I leave. I can't wait to go though. I was so nervous about everything in the beginning of the summer, but now I'm excited. So much has changed since June. I'm more focused on my work, on getting my degree, on my career. I guess this is what I'm supposed to do. And I've made peace with this. I know I'll be successful in this. I have so many people supporting me and wishing me well. I'll make it.