Terpness for the summer

Summer is here and I have officially started my summer internship at the University of Maryland - College Park. This summer I will be working as the Parent Program Coordinator for the Orientation program here. So far I really like it. The students who are serving as Orientation Advisors are amazing... a ton of fun and they are going to be such hard workers all summer! My boss is great and the office staff is fun too :) Plus I have Washington DC as my backyard for the entire summer... I'm already planning what museums I want to visit and what other fun things I want to do. Plus I have a week of vacation and am going to go to New York City with my mom for a few days and then tear up the town here in DC with Spring and Chris! So excited... 

Its just nice that it is summer now... The last few weeks of school were pretty hellish... lots of final papers and reading to do and then work was just as insane. I finally finished the project I have been working on all semester... a 500 page Faculty Resource Manual for all of our University 101 instructors. I'm so proud of the final project and am so thankful for all the contributors and the other help I received on the project. It really was a team effort. On top of that we hosted our first U101 conference which was a huge success as well. I am really proud of all the great things my office is doing, but its def. been keeping me busy! I'm so happy to report that, despite the crazy schedule and hard work, I ended the semester with a 4.0! woo-hoo... I'm halfway to finishing my goal to graduate with a perfect GPA. 

Besides that things on campus are going really well... I'm wrapping up projects and getting ready to hand them off at the Career Center and with Mutual Expectations. I've set up a practicum 2 experience for next spring and I'm super pumped about teaching in the fall! So much to look forward to, but I'm excited to take a bit of a "break" and enjoy my summer. 

Orientation starts tomorrow! Hopefully we all survive... Updates throughout the week and lots of pictures to be posted on facebook throughout the summer!

ACUI rocks!

Day 6!! And its been a really, REALLY long six days. But a really GREAT six days. I have been in Anaheim California serving as a graduate intern for the ACUI annual conference. There are six interns here and we have been having a great time! For starters, we haven't really slept much (haha... sounds familiar, right?) but we have been meeting people and networking and just having a really good time with each other. Its been great getting to finally meet and hang out with the ACUI Central Office Staff. Plus I've been able to see some folks from my old Region and have begun to network with those professionals in my new region. I haven't gotten to participate in much but I figure I am "doing my time". It seems like serving on the Conference Management Team is kinda like a right of passage-- so many of the professional staff members here have served in past years... I think its really going to open up some opportunities for me, especially through all of the networking. I really want to be able to go back to the annual conference next year which is going to be in New York City! Overall the conference has been a great experience... I love the staff, the other interns, and in general just the experience of working and meeting all of these fantastic union folks!

Tomorrow is our last day-- we are hoping to get over to DisneyLand for a bit :) Then its home on the Friday RedEye and I plan on sleeping for about 48 hours. So see you after I wake up...

Spring is here!

Spring is finally here and the weather is finally turning around.... This is the part I like about living in the South... the trees are already blossoming and the weather has been a blissful 70 degrees-- perfect dress weather! 

Everything in my life has been pretty blissful lately too. Work is going to fantastically well. I am loving what I am doing right now. Mostly I am working on writing, editing and designing a Faculty Resource Manual for all of our University 101 instructors. Its been a bit of a daunting task (all in all the manual will probably end up being about 500 pages), but it's going to be such a cool thing when I am done and such a good product to leave the end of the year with. Plus I've been working on Transitions stuff with Latino and serving on a subcommittee amongst other small things. The energy in our office has been a little negative and down for a variety of reasons, but I'm really hoping that will turn around by next year. All I keep reminding myself is that all I can control is my attitude and energy level, and I have been trying so very hard to remain upbeat and positive. So hopefully that will start to trickle down to others in our office as well. 

School has been good. I'm a little stressed out right now because I am trying to get all of my work for the next three weeks done in 1 and a half because of my trip to Anaheim. So I need to just power through-- less than two weeks until CA! So excited. 

Personally I am feeling really good about myself lately. This is the first time in my entire life where I can confidently say that I am happy being by myself. I feel really happy with who I am, the friends I have, the work that I am doing, that for once I don't feel the need to define myself by the relationship that I am in. Rather I want to define myself for me! I have been enjoying focusing on me for a change-- eating healthy and working out (I'm the most fit I have been for a while), reading for fun, relaxing with friends, staying on schedule, etc. I don't think I am ready to share that part of my life with anyone else right now. So sorry boys ;) haha Its just going to be me, myself and I for awhile! 

For all of you wonderful peeps back home-- My internship starts late May, but I am going to stay and work for a few weeks in SC. So my plan is to come home for a week or so at the beginning of August. My hope is that I will be home for Laura's bridal shower and birthday which would be fantastic. So... set some dates aside-- August 4-13ish is when I should be home. Lindsay and Laura--- you need to plan a visit for next fall!! 

Back to work work work.... and laying out by the pool ;) I'm never moving back to Central Standard Time.

one week....

The last few weeks have been insane! Assignments have been due like crazy and this weekend was GARP (graduate assistant recruitment process) for our HESA program. So I have had two students staying with me who are interested in coming to South Carolina and our office has been crazy busy preparing to interview our 9 candidates. It has been so interesting seeing the recruitment and selection side from the other side of the interviewer's table. This time last year I was sitting in their shoes trying to make this decision... do I go to Connecticut or IU or South Florida or South Carolina...in the end my decision ended up being really easy. I just felt at home here and I am so thankful everyday that I decided to come here. The incoming cohort seems great.... really energetic and excited about USC. I can't wait to come back next year and really meet everyone and welcome in a new group of students. 

On top of all the craziness of school and work, I am also sick... bronchitis really really sucks. My favorite part is the doctor telling me I might have to deal with a cough and feeling a little under the weather for 3-5 weeks... not 3-5 days... oh god... kill me now. 

All I know is that I need to get better before this weekend ;) I have a special visitor and I don't want to be sick for their visit.... Plus spring break is this upcoming week... and I get to go on my first spring break trip!!! We are going to Destin Florida and I am so pumped... so must get better, make it through the rest of GARP and make it through school work and I am home free for a fun week!! 

Summer Internship news!

Well the wait is finally over! After three weeks of preparing for interviews and spending time on the phone and on written responses... the summer internship search is over! I feel very lucky to have had so many great interviews. I ended up interviewing at 7 of my 8 NODA schools, and then additionally at Brown University for their Summer@Brown Program. There were things I liked about all of the schools I interviewed with (well with a few exceptions), and it was a very hard decision to make, one I took a lot of time preparing for this weekend (and yes, I made a pros and cons sheet)! 

So today was the day that schools could start making offers. All of the first-years in our Student Affairs class this morning were so anxious, especially as noon got closer and closer... After leaving the class I left to walk around the horseshoe, clutching my phone and hoping for some calls. And right at noon the phone started ringing... All in all I got four offers... but I instinctively knew what I wanted. 

When I applied for the University of Maryland position I thought I had no chance. They have such a well-known student affairs program and staff, and the position description sounded amazing... I figured I had wasted one of my NODA slots applying there cause I thought I didn't have a chance... But drumroll.... I WILL BE SPENDING MY SUMMER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND!!! 

Maryland was the first school that called today and my heart totally jumped... I was so pumped. And they were so nice... It seemed like such a great fit... they knew they wanted to offer to me after our first interview together, which I guess proves that this things really do work out! I'm so pumped... I'll be driving up to Maryland for their OA retreat next weekend... already getting started :) 

Anyway, I'm so glad the process is over and I'm so overwhelmed by the offers and my final decision. I can't wait to get to College Park this summer and get started... I know I"m going to have a great experience! 

so sleepy....

I think this week has officially exhausted me. I feel good at what I have accomplished, but I'm literally exhausted... my first paper of the semester is completed and turned in... my two projects for prac are almost finished (I'm so close!).... and I'm hopefully going to meet my first deadline for the faculty resource manual (ah! Monday)... I'm so excited I don't really have to think tomorrow. We are having grad leader training, but its been planned for weeks no so I'm not feeling too much stress about it. But even thinking ahead to this weekend is stressing me out... I have to get ahead with my reading and finish these projects... and i haven't run in two days which is driving me crazy. I want to do something nice for me -- aka a book store run. All I really want to do is sleep though... 

the big day...

Tomorrow is my LeaderShape interview and I know I'm not going to be able to sleep much tonight. Everyone is going through the interview process right now for internships, and I feel like we are all going to have some really hard decisions to make over the next few weeks. I have been lucky enough to interview with some great schools... but tomorrow is one of the interviews I have been preparing for since last February. I have always, ALWAYS wanted to be a summer program coordinator for LeaderShape-- ever since I went through the national program my sophomore year of college. And this is a dream that I have been chasing for three years. Lots of people have commented on my ability to set goals and go after what I want... and this is most definitely a goal that I have set for myself. Needless to say I'm a little nervous... 

.... and I'm certainly starting to get nervous about the upcoming decision I am going to have to make. February 11th is fast approaching and I am just not feeling ready to assess all of my options and decide what is right for me for this summer. I know that I have always wanted to work for LeaderShape, but I am also trying to stay open-minded and be open to other experiences that I am learning about... I know that it will all work out for the best. I have been thinking back to GARP and to my interview processes with all of the schools I interviewed with last spring and I do feel like it all worked out and that I found the right fit for me. I know I just need to trust the process.... 

but for now.... LeaderShape! 

Transitioning again....

I spend all day thinking about first-year issues and transition issues... but I never really thought much about how my transition back to S.C. would be and now I find myself going through my own transition all over again! I was excited to come back to S.C. and see all of my friends and get back into the swing of things. But now that I am here, settled in and back into my normal schedule of being insanely busy, I am feeling completely overwhelmed. 

I am loving work and school right now, but socially I'm just confused. I thought our cohort was so close, but I have yet to hang out with everyone since I have been back. I have seen a few close friends, which has been great, but overall I really just feel like being by myself. I don't feel like my normal social self. I think I am finally beginning to discover who my true friends are and I am realizing things about certain people that are really causing me to question my friendships with them, one person in particular. I am still trying to figure out what kind of friend I am for other people, and I think that as I figure that out I will begin to realize even more who I can trust here and who my true friends are and who is looking out for me and not just themselves. I know that maybe sounds harsh, or rude, but for so long I think I have been floating from friendship to friendship without really thinking about who my TRUE friends are. I want to be liked and I wanted to be friends with everyone, but maybe thats not what I want anymore. 

In general I am overwhelmed with the thoughts I have been having in regards to my relationships.... I have been doing A LOT of thinking... and as I figure things out I think I will continue to have my good and bad days. All I know is that I am thankful for the friends in my life that I already know I can trust and who I can turn to during this time in my own transition.... 

Fun in the windy city...

One day left in Chicago... Its been a long break but one full of good times with friends and family. I spent so much time the first week of break just catching up on sleep and reading... its been nice being more active this week. I've been in the city since last Monday, hanging out with my favorite ladies and staying at Lindsay's great apartment off of Lake Shore Drive. Its been a great trip so far. We have enjoyed some great restaurants and bars in the lakeview area; I saw Jersey Boys with Chris while he was here; went to see the zoo lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo with Lindsay; had a fun day in Millennium Park and at the Art Institute with Dan; and went to the burbs to go wedding dress shopping with Laura! lots of fun times in one short week. 

I'm ready to get back to Columbia now though! I feel like there are so many bits and pieces to take care of before classes start on Monday. Doctors appointment, fixing my computer, oil change, getting textbooks, final internship stuff (although I'm mostly done... yay!)... I'm feeling a little stressed about finishing up everything before Monday. And I'm really excited to see some familiar HESA faces... especially the rooms! And of course I'm ready for some warmer weather :) 

One last day in the city tomorrow and then back to Cola on Wednesday. Below are some awesome pics of my trip. Enjoy! 

The beautiful windy city and the bean in Millennium Park!! 

New Year's night in the city with the ladies!

I took Chris to see Jersey Boys in Chicago while he was here for new years! 

My cute cousin Frankie, the newest addition to my family! I loved spending time with her while I was with the fam... 

Us playing with her cool new ride and stride lion... 

A new beginning....

Well, 2009 is upon us.... a new year... and a new beginning. For once in a long time I feel like I have a lot of focus going in to this year. I am loving South Carolina and my graduate program; my new friends, especially my favorite ladies; my job and all the other great experience I am getting on campus.... I really want to begin focusing on all of the good going on in my life and begin focusing on me -- on who I am and where I want to be when I graduate. 

I feel so blessed to have such good friends, both at home in the midwest and in the place I now call home. I know I can always return to my besties in the midwest -- Lindsay, Chris, Sarah and Laura; and then my closest friends in South Carolina. I know I have people to support me and I want more than anything to focus on those friendships and grow through them and through the experiences of the upcoming semester. 

I'm enjoying my time on break now... relaxing and preparing for what is ahead. I've gotten a lot accomplished, especially with internship stuff... Now I'm just enjoying time in the Windy City with the besties....