my one year dallas-versary is coming up next month. hard to believe the year has gone by so quickly! almost finished with the summer semester, which means only five semesters to go...
well some big things have happened in the last few weeks. finally got rid of the beetle. sad to see it go, but it was more than it was worth to get it fixed. i purchased a 2007 vw rabbit 4 door hatchback. fairly happy with this decision, but am missing the great diesel gas mileage.
in 15 i am going to zambia, africa to help perform audiological services for those in the ndola area. i am going with my teacher jackie clark and a few other students. i am so excited to go to africa. really looking forward to this experience. also hoping it will help me solidify my decision to go to school for audiology. i will be sure to take lots of pictures and will post them shortly after i get back in mid august.
well that is a quick overview of the last few weeks. will be back in three weeks with a bigger update.
i have lived in dallas for the last eight weeks and still have three years to go.
it is weird to think i have been here this long and i have reached the midterm point in my first semester of grad school. honestly, i hated it here at first. as many of you know i really enjoy moving and trying out life in different cities, however my move to dallas wasn't something i was looking forward to. i like my apartment and am starting to enjoy school, but my connection with the city hasn't formed yet. i guess that will take time, i also need to explore life outside of school. i am trying to work on my attitude as well....
school has been going well, again i didn't like it much at first. however, i have enjoyed the last two weeks, i started helping test patients in the actual clinic and learned how to make ear molds.
here are some pictures of my apartment. it is great having so much space to myself, i have never lived alone before and i think it is a good match for me.
new patio furniture given to me by janet and ted.
craft nook, which hasn't gotten any attention since i set it up.
entertainment center. bought these speakers with nate wheeler about six years ago.
fireplace.
study space, which has gotten a lot of use since i set it up.
postcards from friends.
new drapes in the bedroom.
old telephone space.
a few weeks after moving here dad came for a visit. my mom's friends from college (janet and ted) took us sailing on the boat on lake grapevine. it was wonderful. i don't think i had been sailing in a few years.
janet and ted.
view of the boat.
another big thing that happened was my brother got married. we now have a new maria in the family. maria is great orthodox so the wedding was held in a neat chapel in lexington on a sunday. i was lucky enough to go, it was a good time. they had a large reception two weeks after the wedding, but i was unable to attend.
during the ceremony the bride and groom wear gold crowns.
swans played a show and thor came to visit. we had a great day visiting the 6th floor museum, shooting guns, eating pizza, and visiting pioneer park in downtown dallas. pioneer park has these really neat bronze longhorn statues.
andrew came to visit and we went to the state fair of texas, which is known for the fried food. we ate ten different fried foods:
1. fried biscuits and gravy.
2. fried red velvet cupcakes.
3. fried margaritas.
4. fried latte.
5. fried mac and cheese.
6. fried pizza.
7. fried coke.
8. fried butter.
9. fried peanut butter, jelly, banana sandwiches.
10. fried beer.
this post pretty much sums up the last eight weeks. being back in school has made me a pretty boring person, but i do enjoy having friends come visit. will try to update again soonish, but probably won't be until the end of the semester.
BIG NEWS. i am moving to dallas, was accepted to the UTD audiology program and will start on august 27th. i was on the waitlist for months and told that a spot probably wouldn't open up, however a student had to withdraw unexpectedly and opened up a spot for me. will be returning to austin on july 25th and will have three weeks to move to dallas. kind of nice that it all happened so quickly as it gives me less time to over-think going back to school. it is a very good program, rated third in the country. i hope to find a reasonable house in east dallas/lakewood area and seeing as DFW is a large airport hub i am expecting everyone to come visit.
at the end of may i was lucky enough to go on an epic road trip with jenny bergen. she was testing cellphone network coverage for pc magazine and she let me tag along! her work paid for the car, gas, lodging, and a food stipend for the drive from LA to seattle. i had a great time! saw a lot of friends along the way, and stayed on in seattle to visit clint and shannon. was even able to pop down to portland for a few days to stay with mali and dave. there are some random pictures on my flickr account, waiting to get a lot more from jenny. i didn't have a camera so had to rely on her digital camera for most of the pictures.
after heading back to coloardo from washington i did some dog sitting for cameron and gwynne while they went on their honeymoon. charlotte is the best day! she was so well behaved and was great company. really interested in getting a dog now. check my flickr for pictures of her. i really enjoyed having an extended amount of time in denver, usually only get up to town for a night or two. spent a lot of time reading and catching up with friends.
well christmas time came and went. i was lucky enough to spend the holidays in colorado springs and idaho falls. i spent nye with jimmy and richard in idaho, a small but exciting holiday. you can see some pictures here. i came back to austin and started working at mom's best friend again, just been filling in random nanny gigs around town. life has been pretty uneventful, still waiting to hear on grad schools. unfortunately i have been wait listed for almost all the programs i applied to. the response deadline is april 15th, which means i will be alerted of my wait list status then. not sure what to do if i don't get in, however i am looking into professional entry level positions for a few companies in the austin area.
some big news: i have decided to move my stuff into storage and do a bit of traveling over the next few months. i will be going to kentucky for a few weeks for a wedding and the derby. next will be a trip to colorado for helen's graduation (can't believe she is old enough to graduate from college!). finally i will be doing a large west coast road trip with my college roommate jenny. we will be staring in LA and drive all the way up to seattle, then i hope to spend a few days hanging with clint, shannon, and oscar. i have a lot of things to look forward to. in all i will probably be away from austin for about two months. then i have to decide if i will move back or try for a new adventure. will try not to go so long without updating the blog! stay tuned for more updates in the near future.
well fall 2011 is finished, and i did pretty well on finals. i now have a break until august... so far i have been doing a lot of reading and embroidery. i am looking forward to having some down time, but am nervous to hear back from schools. i have to wait until march to hear back from the programs i applied to. i hope to get into UT austin, but i know that it is a competitive program. however, i can honestly say there is nothing i could have done to make my application any stronger.
i am looking forward to going home next week, it will be nice to have some cold weather. after christmas i will be heading to idaho falls to spend new years with richard and jimmy. REALLY looking forward to that.
conor and daralee had a whirl wind trip to austin a few days ago. it was wonderful to see them. i have been a little down lately because so many of my close friends have moved out of austin the last six months. it was great to see some old friends, even if it was only for a short time.
well there is a quick update! thanks for stopping by.
daralee and conor.
joan and conor
unfinished brain embroidery.
finished brain embroidery.
unfinished middle ear embroidery.
finished middle ear embroidery. (thank you gift to my teachers for writing my letters of recommendation).
