green mountains, etc...
So I guess I'm pretty overdue for an update, but that seems to be the norm for me these days. It seems like whenever I have a lot to write about it's just too much of a chore. It's only when I've got nothing going on do I feel like writing. To be fair, I've been spending quite a bit of time on myspace these days. I like myspace a lot... probably more than I should admit.
But I digress. The reason for the update is, among other things, that I recently went to Vermont. It was partially a vacation and partially a trial run. Justin and I are both going to be graduating in December and we're starting to think about what we'd like to do and where we'd like to go. And as you know, if you've been paying any attention, I'm thinking I'd like to go to graduate school and get a masters in social work. And it just so happens that Burlington is not only a place where we both think we'd like to live, but it is also home to the University of Vermont, which offers a program in just that field. Hooray!
So off we went. It was a long drive, which was a little discerning because it made me realize just how far away I'd be from my entire family. The first day I was there, in fact, I wasted a lot of valuable sight-seeing energy worrying myself about what life would be like for me in Vermont. Everywhere we went I'd think "Could I walk here every day? Could I eat here? Could I do this? Could I look at that?" But by the second day I was pretty much into the trip. We checked out the co-op, which is a totally sweet organic market downtown. We went to the Ben & Jerry's factory as well as the Magic Hat Brewery. We rode the alpine slide at Stowe. We took a little mini-cruise around Lake Champlain and we watched the sunset over the mountains.
The highlight of the trip was definitely hiking a small piece of the Long Trail which took us to the top of the highest peak in all of Vermont. From there we could see the lake and the mountains and more sky than you could possibly imagine. It's possible that I have never in my life been so humbled as I was when I looked out over the mountain and saw the whole world sprawling out in front of me. It was sort of in that moment that I decided that I could definitely live there. A place with a view like that is alright with me.
So now I just need to sort of make it through December. Between now and then I'm open to looking at some other schools, though shopping around has never been my strong suit. I think the important thing is finding a town that I could live in, and Burlingon might be it. It's expensive, for sure, but the people there all seem to be so cool. And there's a lot there that would make Justin happy, too. It is, after all, the birthplace of Phish (note: that's not the only reason Justin would be happy there).
When we got back things got a little insane. There was only one week between the day we got home and the day most of our friends left to go back to school. Of course veryone tried to cram in as much as they could, and naturally that included some drama and some romance and a couple of tears. It was all good, though. After a summer that seemed to me to have more than its fair share of bickering and tension, my friends and I all seemed to get along so well.
For some reason the day that everyone left was really hard for me. Even though I'm 100% ready for things to calm down around here, I'll really miss everyone being around. I always get this way when summer ends, but this time I was extra emotional. All day long I kept bursting into tears. This is probably the last summer that everyone comes around... It's really probably the last summer that I'm around. I just can't say with certainty that I'm ready for all the changes on the horizon.
Fortunately the day that everyone left was also the day that Justin and I went to see Bob Dylan in Washington, PA! He's doing a minor league baseball stadium tour, so he came to Falconi Field, home of the Washington Wild Things. Random. It was such a cool show, and frankly how awesome am I for getting to see a legend in concert at a rundown old baseball stadium??
An equally exciting tidbit about my recent history - my cousin's wife had her baby a few days ago! She's a beautiful baby girl named Taylor and I'm fully prepared to kidnap her regularly.
But I digress. The reason for the update is, among other things, that I recently went to Vermont. It was partially a vacation and partially a trial run. Justin and I are both going to be graduating in December and we're starting to think about what we'd like to do and where we'd like to go. And as you know, if you've been paying any attention, I'm thinking I'd like to go to graduate school and get a masters in social work. And it just so happens that Burlington is not only a place where we both think we'd like to live, but it is also home to the University of Vermont, which offers a program in just that field. Hooray!
So off we went. It was a long drive, which was a little discerning because it made me realize just how far away I'd be from my entire family. The first day I was there, in fact, I wasted a lot of valuable sight-seeing energy worrying myself about what life would be like for me in Vermont. Everywhere we went I'd think "Could I walk here every day? Could I eat here? Could I do this? Could I look at that?" But by the second day I was pretty much into the trip. We checked out the co-op, which is a totally sweet organic market downtown. We went to the Ben & Jerry's factory as well as the Magic Hat Brewery. We rode the alpine slide at Stowe. We took a little mini-cruise around Lake Champlain and we watched the sunset over the mountains.
The highlight of the trip was definitely hiking a small piece of the Long Trail which took us to the top of the highest peak in all of Vermont. From there we could see the lake and the mountains and more sky than you could possibly imagine. It's possible that I have never in my life been so humbled as I was when I looked out over the mountain and saw the whole world sprawling out in front of me. It was sort of in that moment that I decided that I could definitely live there. A place with a view like that is alright with me.
So now I just need to sort of make it through December. Between now and then I'm open to looking at some other schools, though shopping around has never been my strong suit. I think the important thing is finding a town that I could live in, and Burlingon might be it. It's expensive, for sure, but the people there all seem to be so cool. And there's a lot there that would make Justin happy, too. It is, after all, the birthplace of Phish (note: that's not the only reason Justin would be happy there).
When we got back things got a little insane. There was only one week between the day we got home and the day most of our friends left to go back to school. Of course veryone tried to cram in as much as they could, and naturally that included some drama and some romance and a couple of tears. It was all good, though. After a summer that seemed to me to have more than its fair share of bickering and tension, my friends and I all seemed to get along so well.
For some reason the day that everyone left was really hard for me. Even though I'm 100% ready for things to calm down around here, I'll really miss everyone being around. I always get this way when summer ends, but this time I was extra emotional. All day long I kept bursting into tears. This is probably the last summer that everyone comes around... It's really probably the last summer that I'm around. I just can't say with certainty that I'm ready for all the changes on the horizon.
Fortunately the day that everyone left was also the day that Justin and I went to see Bob Dylan in Washington, PA! He's doing a minor league baseball stadium tour, so he came to Falconi Field, home of the Washington Wild Things. Random. It was such a cool show, and frankly how awesome am I for getting to see a legend in concert at a rundown old baseball stadium??
An equally exciting tidbit about my recent history - my cousin's wife had her baby a few days ago! She's a beautiful baby girl named Taylor and I'm fully prepared to kidnap her regularly.