Cowboy take me away

I am sitting in the North Lounge (umm, is that what it’s called?) in the Pavilion for a University sponsored Return-to-Learn event. The economy is terrible, job prospects are slim to none…it’s a perfect time to go back to school, right? Apparently not, because I’ve been sitting here for over an hour and I have barely seen a soul. Rest assured though, that in the 28 days until classes start, those returning-to-learning students will come out of the wood works!

Speaking of school, I start in less than 2 weeks. I’m equally excited and nervous about the undertaking of my master’s degree. I always tell the students who I advise, that you want to pursue a graduate degree in something you are PASSIONATE about. As an undergraduate student you have to take general education requirements that you could care less about: evidence in point from my own days at WMU: geography and geology. I hated both of those classes with a passion and I do believe my grades reflected that point. But I do have fond memories of sitting in the back row of the lecture hall in my Geology course, covering my face with a hoodie and taking a nap. (Oh, and when my freshman roomie Cari took the course and I made her a sign that said “Geology Rocks!” We thought we were hilarious) An equally fond memory is when I showed up at the completely wrong time for my Geography final.

I digress.

Anyway, when you pursue a graduate degree, you are generally taking 10+ classes in the discipline in which you are pursuing a career and/or are heavily interested. For me, I am currently working in the Academic Advising arena and feel as though a degree in that area will be very beneficial to me. One of the first courses I am taking is “Trends in Career Development.” Considering that 9/10 students who meet with me want to know what degree they can pursue that will lead them to a job…I need that info!

If I put my nose to the grindstone, I will be a good graduate student; I will need to work much harder than I did in my days as a Spanish major at WMU. But, I can and I will do it. And the Mac iBook I plan to purchase to assist with my graduate studies will certainly help with that endeavour. :)

In less than 12 hours, I will be on a plane traveling to Atlanta which will in turn take me to San Antonio: the land of spanish speakers, mexican food & cowboys. I do speak me some Spanish and I do love me some mexican food – so maybe I just need to find the cowboy. It’s a good theory. At this point, I should not be so concerned with finding a cowboy; rather packing and getting my house cleaned before my departure. I do have a bag with some clothes in it, that’s a start. I was trying to convince myself that I could get by with only 1 pair of shoes during the whole trip (my Nike flip flops), but I essentially laughed in my own face at that thought. It’s just not possible.

Being the wonderful aunt that I am, I loaded Chase up on goodies for the flight: crayons, coloring book, book, candy, gum, 2 GI joes, a dirt bike he left at my house, a puzzle and a few shows on my iPod. If I’m not up for aunt of the year following that stunt, I don’t know what will get me in the running! Matthew on the other hand would not be nearly as amused with the things I got Chase – so he got an iTunes gift card. Should keep him quiet on the plane :)