Whoa...sorry for the long delay in blogging. I've had some issues--the cooling fan in my computer stopped working, and my laptop has been out of commission for about a week and a half. So, to start at the begining...
Around the time my laptop stopped working, Mom and I were making plans to go to Ohio. Dad couldn't go anymore, because he had to work, but I convinced Mom to go with me. Uncle Ben made plans for me to tour the University of Dayton, so we decided that maybe I could visit other schools along the way.
It's funny how it all worked out--I'm considering two schools in Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Madison, because those are "near" home), one in Normal, IL (which happens to be on the way to Ohio), one in Indiana (which happens to be on the way to Ohio), and one in Dayton, which happened to be quite near our destination.
So, I e-mailed/called the directors of the various programs. Mom and I went to Illinois State University on Wednesday. We were able to meet with Mark Swerdlik, the school psychology program director. He was very nice, and answered all of my questions. I really appreciated him taking the time, on short notice, to meet with me. He told me that last year, they accepted 10 students: 4 into the doctoral program, and 6 into the EdS. Now Mom understands why I've been so worried about doing well on the GRE, etc. Anyway, he was very helpful, and I loved the campus, as well as the city of Normal. I think that Illinois State University may be my current favorite.
We spent the night in Anderson, IN, and then went to visit Ball State University the next morning. No one from Ball State was available to meet with me, but I did take an official tour (with a bunch of potential undergrads). It was a nice campus as well, but really big. REALLY big. And the city was bigger, which I actually don't like. I'm a fan of small cities, I guess. But it wasn't BAD--I did like the campus, and I could deal with the city.
After we were done at Ball State, we drove to Springfield to see my Ohio family!! It was so exciting. I've missed everyone. It was nice to see Sam and Ben, and their babies are SO BIG! Those girls are just adorable, for sure. Emmie is getting big, and she is crawling as well as pulling herself up so she can stand. And she smiles ALL THE TIME. She is incredibly content...unless she is hungry. Then she gets ANGRY, which is kind of hilarious. And Abbie? She knows her ABC's--she'll sing them in the car, again and again and again. She has them on her bedroom wall, and you can point to them in any order...she knows them. What a smart girl :) She still loves books, and will let you read to her ALL DAY. She's more chatty now, which I love. Also, she knows my name!!! It sounds kind of like "at-sy" so I don't always realize when she is speaking to me. But it's so cute! And sometimes I don't understand anything she says, so I just agree. But that turned out to be a problem. Sometimes I'd agree, and then she'd continue talking. But other times, after I agreed, she'd say "k" which meant I just agreed to either do something or give her something...but I never knew what. Whoops.
On Friday, Mom and I went to UD to meet one of Ben's coworkers, who would give us a tour. However, he went home sick from work that day. He did offer to come anyway, when I called him, but I told him not to worry about it. Mom and I can fend for ourselves. We walked around and checked it out. Mom talked to the crazy lady on the corner. Mom...holding a bright pink sign about hazing, had a giant red and white umbrella, and was wearing two pairs of sunglasses. She certainly didn't look sane. She told Mom that she had been in the doctoral engineering program at UD, and that they had tortured her, and tormented her, etc, etc. But she apparently stuck it out to get her degree, so I can't say I felt much sympathy for her. Why would you stay, if it was that bad? But now for the last 10 years, she drives out there once a week to hold up her sign. Yeah.
On Saturday, we went to swimming lessons with Samantha, Abbie, and Emmie. It was pretty fun. The girls really like the water. The instructor even had Abbie demonstrate something--Abbie must be a genious. She's so good at everything :) Then we hung out for a while, and had the Boss, Marion, and Hannah over for dinner. It was lots of fun, and we went to a winery after dinner for wine-tasting. I don't like wine, so I was the DD.
We left Sunday morning, and came home. Since then, I've: ordered my new computer fan, ordered my textbooks for next semester, and got my grades from Bangor. The ones that came straight from Bangor were kind of hard to understand, as they were the ECTS grades (European Credit Transfer System) which apparently isn't the same as US grades. I had two B's according to Bangor, and I definitely cried. Two B's would devastate my GPA. I've worked too hard for that! But it turns out, they are US A's. Wow. All that freaking out for nothing. Sweet life.
I've spent a lot of time with Becca this week. She is trying to pick out a site for her wedding ceremony, as well as her reception, because she is now ENGAGED. Another one of my best friends, engaged. And Bec and I have been friends since kindergarten, which is just so scary to think about. I get to be the maid of honor in her wedding too...I feel so popular. By the time I ever get married, I'm going to be a pro at the whole wedding thing. I drove all over with Bec and looked at reception halls, country clubs, etc. We narrowed down her list, which is nice because Tim doesn't exactly want to pick from 15 places. Ha. It's been quite an adventure but lots of fun. I wish I could say more, but I feel like this blog has gone on forever!
I should finish up with this: I have successfully made my computer work again! I printed out the disassembly instructions, which were relatively easy to find online. Dad basically took it all apart for me, but I put it back together all by myself (or almost all by myself...close enough). Becca was here, and we tried to figure it all out together. I tried to keep the screws all separate, but there were like 30 of them (literally) and it was so hard to know what went there. And then I got it together, but the touchpad didn't work. So I took it apart, and put it back together, and it worked...but then stopped. I must have taken it BACK apart 5 or 6 times. Dad finally explained, when he got home, that there was a certain way I needed to latch the wires. Right. Anyway, it works now :) And I'm SO SO happy.
Plans for the next few days: tomorrow, I am going with Bec to look at one more place (I think we're both getting a little tired of this) and then babysitting tomorrow night. After I get done babysitting (around midnight) I'll be driving all the way to Ripon. The next day I'll be going to a wake/funeral for one of my sorority sister's dads, who passed away unexpectedly. I didn't know him, but I want to support her, and I cried when I read the e-mail. It's such a terrible thing for anyone to have to deal with, and it makes me terrified for my own parents. I don't always tell them how much I appreciate them, but while they're reading this, I hope they know. I love them SO, SO, SO much, and have absolutely no idea what I would do without them. I can't imagine not having them around, and even the thought makes me cry. I have wonderful parents.
After the funeral, I'll be driving back home for Dani's bachelorette party. I know it'll be a lot of fun, but I don't really know that I'll be in the mood for a party. Hopefully it'll all work out alright.
And now, I'm going to read for a while and then go to bed. I'm so exhausted these days, I can never stay up past 10:30 anyway. Sweet life.
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