Two Less States

At the beginning of March, the 3rd to be exact, I left Waco, Texas and flew to Atlanta, Georgia. It was the first time I had been to the state of Georgia, minus an occasional layover. One more state down. I was headed to Georgia for a conference that a colleague and I were presenting at. I was also there for a doctoral interview. Both went well, the presentation and the interview. Here are a few pictures from Georgia.

This is the Georgia arch on the University of Georgia's campus (in Athens). A few weeks after my interview, I found out I was accepted and offered an assistantship. After contemplation, I accepted! :) Georgia will be my new home come mid July...crazy!
Larry (above) and Christy (below) are married and used to work at Baylor with me. They moved to Georgia last year so that Larry could start the program I will be starting in the fall. It has and will be such a blessing to have people in Athens that I know, and that know me!
After Georgia, I headed to Chicago for the NASPA (National Association for Student Personnel Administrators) conference. It was a wonderful time to reconnect with colleagues from all over the country.

So prior to all the traveling, when I was trying to buy plane tickets, I was stressing out a bit about arriving in the airport and using public transit to get to my hotel by myself. I found out when Tiffanie, a colleague, was arriving and tried to plan around her arrival time. My hope to was have someone to navigate Chicago with. Well, when I arrived, there were 7 other colleagues there. They were ALL staying at another hotel and said they had made other arrangements for transportation...I figured I was out of luck. Well, Peter, the ring leader thought we could squeeze me in the shuttle and see if they could drop me off at my hotel. Additionally, we knew the hotels were close, so I figured I could just walk from theirs to mine if the shuttle couldn't drop me off at my hotel.

Well, as we walked outside, David joked about going in a limo to our hotel...and...well...sure enough, Peter had indeed booked a limo. It was cheaper than all of us paying for a cab AND it was even cheaper per person then the hotel shuttle.

Here are some other fun pictures from the trip :)This is actually a picture of me and one of my current Community Leaders (CL...like RA) Gretchen. She lives in the Chicago area and was home for spring break. She came into the city one day to hang out with me for a few hours. LOVE her! Ps this is a giant silver bean in the city that reflects the downtown area. Strange, but neat!
Drew and I went and ate breakfast at one of the most amazing breakfast places I've eaten at! Yolk...yumm. It was great food and great company.
Stacie now works at Penn State and we were able to reconnect at the conference! :) She worked in CL&L my first year. We still keep in touch and still have a deep friendship! I miss her terribly!

Dave (former supervisor), Tim, and Megan, all ate crab at this great restaurant we went to. We convinced them to wear the bibs :)
A picture of the Baylor peeps at the dinner...I had flounder. Yumm. Most expensive dinner I have ever personally purchased. Yikes.

After Chicago, me and a few friends went down to St. Louis for a few days. I had never been to Missouri...check another state off the list. Woohoo. It was a great few days of touring and just hanging out with friends. Here are a few photos from that trip.

Washington University (WashU) is a beautiful campus. We had wonderful weather and spent an afternoon walking the campus and a large park across from campus. (Me and Tiffani above)

The background is a magnificent fountain/pool and an art museum (free) all located within the giant park. St. Louis seems to have lots of free things to do...and a fairly outdoorsy feel, despite the fact that they are located in the midwest ;)

The Arch. You cannot go to St. Louis and NOT see the arch. It was cloudy out and we got some neat shots of the shadow of the arch in the clouds.

The arch is actually a lot larger than I thought. Although you first think it'll be HUGE, you drive by and think...umm...kinda small. But then you get up close and it again becomes an optical illusion. I'm not sure how big it actually is, but one square is obviously bigger than me...and there were hundreds of thousands of these to create the arch.

Tiffani, Candice, and me at the arch. Brrr. It was cold, we grabbed our pictures, took in the moment, and ran back to the car where Matt was waiting for us.

The four of us went on the Budweiser tour. And by went on the tour, I mean, we went and saw the show room, saw the clydesdales, and then headed to the hospitality room. It was wet and cold out and none of us brought suitable jackets for the excursion.

The other notable thing would be karaoke. Tiffani and I sang...the other two watched. :) It was fun and a wonderful memory.

I was very happy to see my own bed after 10 days of traveling. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the time with friends, presenting, seeing new places, and learning how to be a better educator.

Recent Update

Well friends, I cannot believe it's already the middle of March. Where did January go? Where did February go? For me, I spent a week in 'training' with my community leaders (who are amazing!), a week opening up the building again, teaching a class, and other job related activities. Although January seemed to fly by, February did so just as quickly.

For those of you who don't know, I submitted my letter or resignation at the end of January (effective in July sometime). This was harder than I thought it was going to be. I cried, and contrary to my sister's belief, it takes a lot to make me cry. I anticipate, however, that there will be more tears ahead in the months to come.

So although I'm trying to cherish every moment of my final days at Baylor, the time continues to fly by.

With all that said, I applied for PhD programs back in December and have been waiting patiently (truly) to hear something. Surprisingly, I've had a peace about the experience. I'm not confident that I will get into a program, but I am confident that God is in control of my life and my circumstances.

And...a couple weeks ago, I received both some exciting and disappointing news. The University of Georgia emailed me to offer me an interview for their program. This email was followed the next day by one from UCLA politely denying me a spot in their program.

So last week, I went out to Georgia. The interview went well and I should hear something in the next couple of weeks (hopefully).

Exciting times! Additionally, after Georgia I went to Chicago for a national conference and then to St. Louis for some fun with friends.

I will blog later about those trips, including pictures! :)

It's been a whirlwind week and a half, but full of great memories and I checked two more states off the list! Woohoo!

Until the next update...