from zero to grad school in sixty seconds

Hello, my dearest nonexistent blogworthy readers!

Since I have not updated this adventure blog in quite some time, you may be tempted to think that I have not had any adventures of late.

Wrong! I have had countless, untold adventures. More than I have room to write down (today, at least)! In fact, I have been so busy adventuring that I keep forgetting to blog!

I'll give you a moment to collectively shun me from the blogosphere.
















Okay, so now that that's taken care of. I actually do have quite a bit that I have been fully intending to blog about, and in great detail (at this, you should not be surprised at all).

After my last post on November 14, a lot of things changed. Even reviewing that particular post, the writing was on the wall: I was dreaming of the west coast, and I couldn't stop it, no matter how hard I tried and how much I consoled myself with the wonders Athens had wrought upon me.

So, I did what any logical person would do: I went home for Thanksgiving. And do you know how that went? I spent three days glued to either my mother's, father's, or sister's side, save for the moments where I flung myself on the dewy grass or gawked at the omnipresent mountains towering beneath the Northwest sky. As my flight took off, all too soon, from the Portland airport, I looked down at the swirling, rushing Columbia River and wept.

Then when I got back to Athens I applied to grad school, and approximately twenty-eight jobs in the state of Oregon. I made Christmas cookies and thought of my family. Then, on December 14, I got into grad school, a special education Master's program at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon (even the name of it sounds so - rugged!). The first day of school? Oh, January 4. No big deal.

So then I took a deep breath and kicked into high gear. In the next eight days, I planned a road trip (apparently, one of my favorite activities), quit my three jobs with apologies (here's to you, Sara C's dogs!), ran like mad around Athens saying goodbyes, packing up my apartment, shoving things off on friends (you know who you are - you're the best!), saying more goodbyes, working every last minute I possibly could, misplacing my driver's license (Yup. On the last day I ever lived in the state of Ohio I had to get a new Ohio license), figuring out housing situations here and there, and just for fun I decided to get almost-influenza.

So it was that before I knew what was happening I was on the road out of Athens for the last time, my still-cute and still-almost-as-shiny-new Suzuki loaded to the brims (with what, I'm not even entirely sure - the almost-influenza sure does a number on ya!) and really that before I even blinked twice I was Christmas shopping in Eugene with my dad and sisters. Whew! I still haven't been gone a month.

I promise you a blog post full of tales of my adventures westward. Driving across the country gets easier every time you do it (it's a little strange to have Interstate 80 as a road that I am familiar with), but it never falters in its beauty and wonder. I am still in such awe of our vast nation.

However, I know that that post will be very long and full of words and pictures, much as this one is, so I will pause for today. Also, I happen to be a graduate student and so I have real homework to do. I think that I will blog more, though, because I have to do a lot of journaling for one of my classes and it just gets me in the mood. Hoorah!