2009

2009 was full of ups and downs. As Joanna said in her blog, I feel like this is one of the most life-changing years of my life thus far.

Big Life Events of 2009:

- Getting in to grad school
- Graduating from college
- On that same note, leaving my Miami friends
- Moving in to a new apartment/living by myself
- Starting grad school
- Doing big girl things like taking out loans
- Me and Donny celebrating our 5 year anniversary

It kind of blows my mind how much I accomplished in 2009. Granted, none of it was SOLELY accomplished in 2009... graduating from Miami was a 4 year process, and graduating from OSU will continue on into next year. But I feel like a lot happened. And of course, there were other great memories of 2009... Green Beer Day, our senior campus/bar crawl, 05 CRUISE!! (and winning Quest), spring break in West Palm Beach, Megan and Micah's wedding, spending time with Donny in Pittsburgh (a new city for both of us), getting to see my family much more often than I did while I was in Oxford, watching my friends move on to bigger and better things... it's been a crazy year. I'm SO proud of all that my friends have accomplished, but I'm still so sad that a lot of people have moved away. Some of my best friends are now living in LA, Atlanta, North Carolina, Colorado... but I am still fortunate enough to have some great friends still in Ohio.

2010 is shaping up to be an even bigger year, with even more grown-up things happening. I feel like 2009 is like the training bra for 2010 haha. It's tried to teach me how to handle 2010... hopefully. 2010 will include all of the following (plus more!):

- hopefully moving into ANOTHER apartment... WITH DONNY. AHHH.
- graduating from grad school
- taking and passing the CPA exam (I'm being optimistic)
- starting my full-time job
- doing things like paying off loans, buying a car, etc.
- Megan and Jake's wedding
- Donny getting a job
- Spring break to Atlanta and Pittsburgh
- Hopefully taking an RV trip west to LA with Donny (and others?)

Crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I'm SO excited and SO nervous for the new year. I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve/Day, and GO BUCKS!

I love Christmas :)

I just love the holidays. I know sometimes I get way too stressed out over it all (mostly just being at the mall and trying to park and just driving at this time of the year in general), but when it comes down to it, I really love this time of year.

I'll try to do a year-end wrap up between now and New Years. But for now, let's see. We're having our annual family Christmas Eve dinner (immediate family only) tonight... steak and shrimp, yum!! Then we'll rush around for a few hours, wrapping like crazy. Then we'll get our yearly new ornaments from my mom, put those on the tree, attempt a few family photos in front of the tree, and open any presents from relatives that have been sent. Side note - it's extremely saddening when you no longer get presents from relatives because you're grown up. It's just... awful. Not the fact that I don't get presents anymore... just the fact that I'm old. Anyway, then we'll wake up in the morning (as we're getting older, we're able to wait and wake up later and later... YAY!) and open presents. We always come down, wait for my mom to start the monkey bread we have every year for breakfast, then open stockings and open about half of our presents. Then the monkey bread is finished baking, so we eat it, then come back and do the second half. And the kids all get the same number of presents so we can all open one together :) Aaand then it's off to shower and get ready for Grandma and Grandpa's! Donny is coming this year, which is REALLY exciting for me. It's the first time he's come to our Christmas celebration! Then he'll leave to go to his family stuff, and I'll eventually make my way over there - first time for me, too.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS. THAT'S ALL.

Everyone that's traveling over the next few days, please be safe! And Merry Christmas!

Growing Up

It's weird how quickly time goes. Honestly, every single time a Thursday comes around, I'm shocked. I felt like I JUST was celebrating the end of the week like, the day before. On a more long-term scale, I was reminded of how quickly time flies today. For my job, I brought a group of students from a small, in-state liberal arts school to visit our program. There were 6 students and one professor. The students ranged from sophomores to seniors with varying levels of interest in doing a MAcc. It wasn't really a "prospective student" visit; it was more of a "here's what a MAcc is, here's why you should consider getting one, and here's why our program is good," thing. Just in talking to the students briefly I realized how INSANELY young they seem to me, and how absurdly old I feel around them. And I'm young for my age! I mean, I should be 23. Anyway, it was just crazy. The sophomore came up to me and asked about my internship experience and about applying for them. She said, "Yeah, I'm just now starting to look into them, like where I want to apply, and what kind of internship I want..." First of all, props to her because she's actually almost a full year ahead of schedule. Second of all, it seriously does not seem like that long ago when I was sobbing on a daily basis about getting an internship. But that was actually over two years ago. And think about how much has happened in those two years!! I had my internship, accepted a full-time offer, graduated from college, moved out of my parents' house, started grad school, saw good friends get married.... Like... I'm sorry, WHEN did this all actually happen? Because apparently I missed it!

And then I think about how crazy this next year is going to be, and I have a feeling that it's going to fly by, too. One year from now, I will have graduated from my master's program, taken (and hopefully passed) the CPA exam (oh, you know, just the most important test I will ever take in my life), and STARTED MY FULL TIME JOB. Oh, and possibly moved in with my boyfriend (how grown uppp). It doesn't even seem possible. I'm freaking out haha. Slash... I'm really, really excited. The past few years went crazy fast but they were beyond enjoyable. So I'm certain this next year will be just as great :) But... oh man. Time is just crazy.

My life lately

My life has been pretty great lately :) Minus the copious amounts of work, which is why I'm currently in my house at 8:30pm on a Friday night... nasty.

Recent great things:
+ my birthday! It was wonderful. I received numerous cards, phone calls, messages, etc. and it just really brightened my day! I got to go home for a traditional birthday dinner at my house, consisting of my mom's lasagna (amazing) and angel food cake! mmm. My grandparents were there, too, which was nice! I also got some awesome presents... including Guess Gold perfume which is delicious, in case you haven't smelled it.

+The OSU/Iowa game!!! I am SO glad I was there! By winning in overtime, the Buckeyes clinched both the Big Ten title AND a spot in the Rose Bowl!! All of the students rushed the field and it was just an absolutely wonderful atmosphere. We got to just hang out on the field for awhile... people were just laying on the field, soaking it all in. Here's a picture of what we looked like:


Preeeetty amazing.

+MAcc friend situation = improving. I've hung out with them a lot lately, and I really, really enjoy them. They're just laid back and fun to hang out with. I wouldn't go so far to call many of them my FRIENDS, but... I have fun with them, they're nice to me, they include me in things... what more could you want haha.

+the thought of Thanksgiving being so close!!! Then the thought that AFTER Thanksgiving, I only have TWO WEEKS OF SCHOOL. And that INCLUDES finals!!! YAYYYY.

Other random thoughts:
+I can.not. wait for my boyfriend and my frooms to come back to Columbus (or even just Ohio, for that matter).
+I have to tell you about my experience with the Chinese businessmen. Sooo one of the MBA ambassadors at work had to help put together this visit for a bunch of Chinese businessmen. They were mostly middle-level managers... a few executives. There were probably about 15 of them in total. Somehow I got roped into giving them a tour of our building with another MAcc ambassador. So we went to the room that they were in so we could wait for them to be finished so we could take them on their tour. It was pretty awesome. They had a translator, because they really couldn't speak English much at all. I've never really been in the presence of a real translator haha I just see them on tv. And it was just really awesome to observe, because they were talking about how important it is for the US and China to work together in education... I believe this was the same day that Obama was in China speaking to Hu Jintao. So kinda cool. Anyway, so after that whole formal process of 'welcome to our school' was over, we took them on the tour. It. Was. So. Hilarious. They were obsessed with me for some reason? A few of the younger guys were like, clearly daring each other to come up and talk to me. Sooo funny. Then they ALLLLLL wanted their picture with me. At one point, I was about to take a picture with one guy, and their "leader" literally kicked him out of the picture so that HE could get a picture with me. Amazing. Then one of the guys spoke English pretty well and came up to me and said, "My friend wants you to have his name card so that you can have his contact information so you can come visit him in China sometime, maybe come to his business." Seriously, so awesome. I got a business card all in Chinese. So yeah... homeboy, I'll definitely just read the Mandarin and come visit you haha.

+I'm still emo about staying in on a Friday night. Sigh. But I'm going to be even MORE emo if I did it for nothing... aka I must get stuff done. Adios!

Grad School Pros/Cons

I have realized that, since coming to grad school, my life is both better off and worse off. Some examples:

Not-so-Good Things About Grad School
-My self-confidence has plummeted. Since coming to grad school, I have received a legitimate 0% on a quiz, and I have also failed a midterm worth 30% of my grade. The fact that I have to maintain a 3.0 to even stay in the program does not help alleviate my stress. In addition, I constantly feel dumb in class/group meetings. I'm surrounded by absolute geniuses, and after being sort of at "the top of the class" for every other year of my life... it's kind of hard to swallow.

-Everyone talks about the CPA exam and it stresses me out beyond belief. Literally just hearing "CPA exam" gets my stomach all fluttery. I do not even want to think about it. I have to start studying in the spring :(

-MBA students. They suck. They think they are the shit and they are not. The end.

-As MAcc students, we tend to get called on during classes in which there are other non-MAcc students (MBA, HR students, etc.) to answer technical accounting questions. This is not fair. I cannot have my entire undergraduate accounting textbook library memorized. I'm sorry. It's just not possible.

-Grading seems inconsistent. In some classes, the curve is enormous. In others, it's either non-existent or very minimal. One professor said he will "decide at the end of the quarter whether or not he feels like giving out plusses or minuses." Um... that could possibly determine whether or not I'm allowed to stay in the program, so feel free to "decide" a little earlier.

-Just the horrible, horrible amount of time required to do ANYTHING. Projects, memos, case studies, reading... anything. I'm so sick of staying up until 2 AM researching accounting rules.

Awesome Things About Grad School
-As mentioned before, I am getting a definite reality check about my intelligence level. However, I also view this as a good thing. I guess we all need one every once in awhile, huh?

-This might seem kind of minor, but whatevs. The average age of people in my building is probably around 25 (due to the MBA students being older and whatnot). This is INCREDIBLE news. Why? Because I am no longer using the same bathroom as people who think they can leave pee on the seats. Seriously. It's awesome. You never have to worry about people leaving the seat a mess, or not flushing. You can pick ANY STALL and actually get to use it. I am very thankful.

-My resources. By being a MAcc student, I'm truly able to access a LOT of resources I wouldn't have been able to access before. This includes access to research materials/databases, great physical facilities, a staff that will bend over backwards to help you fix something or get you access to something, etc.

-My professors. They. Are. So. Smart. It blows me away. I am being taught what is essentially how to do the research I'll need to do for auditing... by a guy that was a partner with Arthur Andersen for 15 years. I'm being taught corporate tax by a guy that writes the most commonly used tax textbook in the country. Like... who even ARE these people and why on earth are they teaching?? I'm in a corporate financial reporting class with a professor that hasn't bragged about his credentials, so I have no idea what his background is, but he is probably one of the smartest people I've ever met. As of right now, his class is the most helpful class I've ever taken in my life. I'm just so happy that I get to interact with these professors on a daily basis.

-My classmates. As I mentioned earlier, they are unbelievably smart. Part of me hates them, because they are making me look bad, but part of me LOVES them because they are simply so good at what they do. Most of them are just naturally smart, but some of them have worked SO hard to get here. There are people here that weren't accounting majors. I'M struggling, and I WAS an accounting major. Some of them did not take intermediate accounting until 6 weeks before our program started... and they're still here, so they're obviously doing okay. I am SO proud of them for working so hard. And plus, they're fun to go out with :) And we make corny accounting jokes and everyone laughs. Haha love it.

-My job! I love being a student ambassador. I mean, I get 1/2 of my tuition waived because I'm doing something I love to do. I just answer emails all day from prospective students. For example, international students have a lot of questions about the language exams they have to take (TOEFL) and the also have to get their transcripts evaluated, so they have questions on that, too. Or people want to know certain things about the application, etc. The other part of my job is scheduling visits for people who we think are legit. If you know anything about me, you know I LOVE bragging about things I'm involved with, and i LOVE planning things. Therefore... I have the best job.

-Overall, just feeling like I'm learning a lot. Now... this is very class-specific. Do I feel like I'm learning anything in finance? No, not at all. I was lost in that class from day 1, and I've stopped caring. Am I learning anything in corporate tax? I hate the subject, and it's not INCREDIBLY relevant to me, so I try not to, which is probably horrible to say. But do I feel like I'm learning a lot in my research class and in my corporate financial reporting class. They're the most relevant to me, and I like those professors the most, which probably says a lot. But I just really feel like I'm learning stuff in those classes that is SO RELEVANT to my career... which is exactly why I decided to do the MAcc to begin with - I knew I had a ton more to learn.

Well... I should be doing homework as usual. Vom. Bye. :)

Example of why I suck at school

This is one (of several) reasons why I am currently NOT doing so well in grad school:

"Barnes & Noble purchases CDs from record companies and they can't be returned. They purchased 18,000 copies of K-Fed's album 'Playing With Fire' for $11. The retail price was $16. Almost 13,000 CDs did not sell. Barnes & Noble would need to sell the remaining CDs for about $9 to break even overall. True or false?"

Now, ignoring the fact that this is actually probably the easiest problem I've encountered in grad school thus far... SERIOUSLY? You expect me to FOCUS when I'm given problems about K-Fed not selling albums?!?! Omg. Ridiculous.

Another example:
"On 4/10/09 my son was home from school and cleaned out his room for once. He found a $25 gift certificate I had purchased forh im as a birthday gift on 6/13/07 from AMC Theaters. The gift certificate expired 12 months from the day of purchase. What is the accounting treatment on 6/13/07, FYE 12/31/07, and 6/13/08?"

Okay. All I'm thinking is, "omg, what an ungrateful child. He just made you waste $25. It's not like he DIDNT go to the movies during that year... he clearly just forgot you bought it for him. That's so sad." Like... am I thinking, "hmm, this is probably unearned revenue for the first 12 months..."? No. No I am not. I am thinking about Dave Williams' ungrateful son.

In other news, in a completely unrelated class (tax) I got my first ever zero. On a quiz I legitimately studied for. And it's worth 5% of my grade.

Ohhhh grad school.

aw.

Today I got a completely random but really nice compliment. I was at work, helping another ambassador with a visit. Two students and two professors from a small school in Iowa came to find out more about our program. I was part of a student panel, and then I went to lunch with them. After lunch, we all went back to our building and the other ambassador took the two students on a tour of the building. Meanwhile, I was chatting with one of the professors. During the panel, I had mentioned that I was going into auditing. While we were talking, the professor just goes (out of nowhere) "You are going to make a really great auditor; I can just tell." And I was so taken aback. I literally said, "Um... what?! Why!?" Haha great, how professional. And he said, so sincerely, "I was an auditor for 15 years before becoming a professor. So much of that job is personality. You have the personality for it. Your communication skills are great, and you just seem really personable." I was like, so blown away. I don't even KNOW this guy. I had literally only spoken to him directly during the panel... we were at opposite ends of the table during lunch. I just that was so, so incredibly nice. Hooray for random acts of kindness :)

All Natural Cheetos

I just got back from the grocery store where I purchased All Natural White Cheddar Cheetos.



They are delicious. Of course, the fact that they're all natural means I can eat like, the whole bag at once and still be okay, right?

Oh, sex boy.

I finally spoke to sex boy in person today. This was the first time that's happened. I've knocked on his door a few times, and no one's answered... although the last time I knocked, his FRIEND answered and was super nice about the loud music emitting from my floor/his ceiling. I've even written a note. Today, however, when I went to knock... he answered! He didn't even say a single word. It went like this:

[i knock on door]
[he opens it]
me: HI! could you please turn down the bass a little bit?
him: [grunt]
me: THANKS!
[i run away]

So... I mean, he turned it down, but my floor is still vibrating a bit. I really just think we have a horribly thin shared wall. It's not really fair to either of us. I should be allowed to sit in my couch without it vibrating, and he should be able to turn up his music. Vom.

Cat lady that lived across from me moved out today. It made me slightly sad. She was SO QUIET. I NEVER heard her, even though we share one huge wall. It also just makes me nervous because what if another sex boy moves in? Fingers crossed it is an old lady or something. Or, better yet... someone my age exactly like me. HOORAY!

I have done NOTHING with my life in the past 2 days. After I got home last night from the gym (around 7), I did NOTHING. I didn't have any homework! AMAZING. Then today my tax class was canceled, which meant I didn't have to be on campus until 1:30 for my other class (as opposed to 10:30 for tax). So I drive to campus... get there around 1:05... and I wait until 1:24 for a bus that supposedly comes every 7 minutes. And of course at this point I was going to be AT LEAST 15 minutes late for class. And of COURSE this is the professor that said on the first day of class not to even bother coming to class if you're going to be late. Great. Great.

So I texted a girl in the class, and she, too, thought it best that I not show up 15 minutes late. She promised to give me her notes, so I guess that's good. I HATE missing class. This is my first time missing a MAcc class, too... sad day.

Yeah, so I literally haven't done a THING all day. Unless you count hanging up pictures and watching hours of Roseanne and Say Yes to the Dress "doing something." And like... I don't have any homework for tomorrow, either. This is a fluke week or something, I don't know. Like, I KNOW of stuff coming up, but my professors haven't discussed the assignments yet, so I can't start them. Oh, crazy grad school.

I hate being a waste of space. I don't know what to dooooo. I cleaned a little bit... stretched some... I don't know. There's not much to do alone haha.

I'm 90% sure the bass just got louder again. Ohhh how I am going to call the office tomorrow.

Life lately.

I have been really bad about updating this. It might have something to do with the ridiculous amount of work I've had to do lately.

School has been really hard, and a lot of work. I wish it were one or the other... either really hard, but not a ton of work... or a TON of work, but all busy work. But it turns out I signed up for GRAD school, which does not entail anything being easy.

Um, let's see. Short summary: my classes are super hard, I don't like any of my classes really although I love the professors, making friends has not gotten any easier and I am close to giving up, Donny came to visit and it was SUPERB and I miss him a ton already, I went to UNC to visit Kiley last weekend and it was AMAZING and made me realize how I definitely DONT have friends at school because none of them even begin to compare to my frooms, I haven't cleaned up my apartment in over a week, I have a B- average in school right now (I have to have a B average to 1) maintain my GA award and 2) stay in the program), aaaand thats about it.

Phew. So anyway, what's new? Um... well, we had a meeting at lunch today about what electives we can take in the upcoming quarter. What I LOOOOVE about my program is that I only have one required class per quarter, and I can fill the rest of my time with electives. So some professors gave brief descriptions of their classes today. There are like, infinity tax classes offered. I'm in one now (corporate tax), and it's the worst class in the world. We don't have ANY outside work, but it's still ridiculously hard. I would rather eat strawberries and bananas TOGETHER than take another tax class. Sorry, MAcc program. But I think I'm going to (TRY TO) take audit (yaaaaay), fraud examination, the required class which is basically talking about why accounting exists (except 10 times harder than it sounds), and maybe a class on leadership or something. Too many accounting classes will make my life suck so I need at least one non-accounting class.

Anyway. Um... yeah, pretty much school has taken over my life so I don't have anything else to talk about haha.

PS Who wants to hang out this weekend??

First day!

Oh my. First day of grad school is FINISHED!

I went to work from 9-1 today... I'm technically supposed to work 9-12:30, but my boss kept talking, so... I stayed til 1. I'm not sure if this is allowed? Meh. I'm clocking those hours for sure.

Had a quick lunch in the Fisher graduate student lounge... awkwardly chatted with some first year MBAs. Thank goodness another girl who did her undergrad at Miami came up and found me. She and I walked to our first class together... aw, how reminiscent of high school haha.

That first class is basically accounting research. What a thrill. It's going to be PURELY group work, which kind of makes me want to throw myself off a cliff. But the girl from Miami is in my group, along with 3 other people that seem legit. That's what I like about grad school... everyone CHOOSES to be here. In undergrad, you're like... forced to be there, kind of. But everyone wants to be here, which is great.

The next class is the finance class that I added at the very last minute. It's going to be a LOT of work... but just for me. I basically shouldn't be in this class, due to the fact that I haven't learned a lot of the prereq stuff yet. The prof uses a lot of stock market terminology that is completely over my head. He said "in-the-money" today and I almost cried because for the first time, I knew what he was talking about. And that's ONLY because my dad taught me what that is, not because I learned it before. So yeah. It's going to be rough. I feel like I'm going to have to play catch-up a lot which is kind of daunting to know on the very first day haha.

So yeah. It went well. Tomorrow I have corporate tax (omg kill me) and financial statement analysis & valuation, which I think will be pretty cool. As cool as accounting classes can get, I guess. While corporate tax will surely suck, I have one of the top professors in the country, so at least I have that going for me. And I've already met my valuation prof, and he's so nice.

The one thing that bugged me today was that some kid in my finance class was like, texting obnoxiously the whole class. Like I said earlier, you CHOSE to be here. So why don't you CHOOSE to be professional and just freaking listen to the professor who has years of experience in the field you're trying to better understand? Kthx.

SVU premiere tonight :) feel free to watch it so you can discuss it with me later haha.

Also... my #1 priority at this point really should be to get a lamp for my office. I am typing in the pitch black. It's creepy.

OH. I almost forgot. I dealt with sex boy in the apartment below me. Every evening, his music becomes like, unbearably loud for about an hour or so. For the past two nights, I've actually gone down and knocked on his door (which, for me, is a HUGE deal. I'm such a baby usually), but both times it's sounded like water was running. I've deduced that he probably just turns it up really loud when he's in the shower. Okay, 1) freaking get a shower radio and 2) just because once you step in the shower, your music gets quieter doesn't mean it gets quieter to those NOT in the shower. So it was bugging me that I wasn't able to tell this guy to turn his music down. I ended up writing him a note and putting it on his door. I tried to be nice but not like... overly nice. It was gone when I looked this morning, so I hope he got it. And doesn't think I'm a bitch. We'll see. His usual shower time is coming up soon.

Have good nights :)

Hey everyone! A lot has happened in the past couple of days, so here we go:

On Monday, I was asked to start my GA position early, which was fine with me. I have to work a total of 300 hours over the year in order to receive my 50% tuition waver and my stipend. Starting early means I have less to work over the same amount of time… which is great, especially since I already have at least two days I need to ask off. Rob is my boss… the same guy I’ve been in contact with from day 1 about attending the program to begin with. He sends me pictures of his dog, he comments on my facebook statuses... he’s an overall hilarious guy. Anyway, so my job is basically to be a student ambassador. I know I’m so grateful to have gotten this job, instead of like a TA job or a research position. Essentially my responsibilities include answering emails, phone calls, and in-person questions from prospective students. The questions can range from anything like, “Where should I live if I attend your program?” to “Will these classes count towards the prerequisites?” and stuff like that. I’ll also apparently be interviewing international applicants?!?!?!??! I’m a little bit nervous for that. Just a little. What on earth makes me qualified for that position?! I have no idea. Meh. We’ll see how that goes! I’ll also be helping with various administrative tasks… like yesterday, I stuffed some mailboxes with recruiting information. I spent the majority of the day just answering emails, though. And finally, I’ll be setting up tours for prospective students that are like, quality, and then I’ll be actually taking them on tours. It’s really more of like, an office visit (I’m trying to relate it to my experience in interviewing for internships haha). I plan an entire day for them at Fisher. So they’ll show up, I’ll kind of chat them up (aka secretly sort of interview them), introduce them to various people around the office such as the chair of the department, etc. They’ll have 15-20 minute meetings with the chair, Rob (he’s the assistant director of the program), and at least one faculty member. They’ll also sit in on a class, if they’d like… and they can meet with someone at Career Services. Then I’ll take them to lunch at the Blackwell (yummmmmm… free lunches ALL.THE.TIME.) and kinda show them around. Aaaand that’s pretty much it. Then I’ll evaluate them and pass along my thoughts to the department. So to sum it all up… I completely lucked out by getting this job.

So that’s that. Then that night (aka last night), my dad finally got home from his vacation with his brothers, so he was able to help me move all of my furniture into my apartment! This weekend when he was still gone I worked on moving the little things (dishes, bathroom stuff, etc.), but it was still really frustrating to have all of my clothes here, but no dresser to put those clothes into. So I was so happy that we got it done. It was SO EXHAUSTING, especially since I had already made SO MANY TRIPS to and from my apartment, and from my car to my apartment. I am already so sick of walking up my stairs. But now pretty much everything I need is here now, which is nice! I keep remembering things that I’ve left… like my makeup pads. I had to run home tonight for my tennis shoes because I need them for orientation tomorrow. Stuff like that is just annoying. Buuuut yeah. Everything’s here… nothing’s where it’s supposed to be, but at least I know it is at least in this apartment. Half of my bathroom stuff is in my office, and half of my clothes are in the family room… meh. It’ll get worked out eventually. I really can’t wait to get everything put away so that I can start decorating! I think I might like to have some people over this weekend, but I have a TON of work to do before that’s possible.

Then today was my first day of orientation. So overwhelming. It was basically just a ton of people talking to us about the same thing over and over. Which was fine, and I mean, I enjoyed finding out who these people are, and hearing what they ahd to say. It just got a little repetitive. It was mostly like ‘take the road less travelled,’ ‘challenge yourself,’ ‘don’t worry about grades,’ blah blah. HA. Don’t worry about grades? Um, tell that to me when I’ve lost my assistantship because of grades… right. Anyway, like we met the dean, and the director of all graduate business programs, and the chair of the department, and the director of the MACC program specifically… and a lot of the professors. So that was cool. There are 6 people total from Miami! Hooray! But I’m torn about this. Do I like, cling to them, because I know I like them and they’re cool people? Or do I like, ignore them and try to make new friends? I feel like doing something in between is hard. Because I don’t want to be missing out on Miami people stuff while I’m trying to awkwardly meet new people. I don’t know. Anyway, I am determined not to make this an issue. It’s mostly just my self confidence going crazy. But I really like the Miami people… I didn’t know any of them too well, so it’ll be fun getting to know them. We had a small presentation on the graduate business association basically… it’s pretty much just the social group for everyone. They have events every single Thursday, which I think is awesome. And it’s like, everyone. MBA, MACC, MLHR (labor and human resources), and MLBE (I think its… logistics and business… something?). so I think that’s cool. They’re having a kick-off to the year on Friday. Stacy (the one girl from Miami I like, sat with today haha) is going to be out of town, sooo I’m going to go by myself. This is a very, very big deal for me haha. Stuff like this makes me insanely nervous. I’m just going to have to awkwardly walk up to a group of people and force myself into their conversation… eeeeek? Whatevs. 05. That’s pretty much my motto once again. It was a great motto for my senior year of high school… why not grad school? Haha.

Hopefully anyone around here can come over and see my apartment when it’s mostly finished. I would love to have anyone over!

Okay. Time for bed. I hate being old again. Like, back to waiting up at 7 AM. Gross.

New apartment!

Well, I made it to my new apartment! It's nice! It's definitely no C-suites, but you'll have that. I don't really know how all of my stuff is going to fit in here... I also don't know where my tv is going to go. The only cable thing in the living room is like... in a random tiny corner facing the sun and I would never in a million years put my tv there sooo... we'll see. The Time Warner guy is going to be here in less than a half hour, and I fully plan on making him decide where my tv should go. He'll also be installing my internet... but 1) I can't find my ethernet cord and 2) I'm stealing someone's wireless right now, so that's not as big a deal right now.

My plan for the next few hours: assemble both my tv stand and my huge bookshelf... without tools. Because I forgot to bring any from my house. Oops? We'll see how it goes. Again, the Time Warner guy will be here soon... hopefully he can spare a screwdriver for a few minutes, if need be. haha.

It's kind of creepy being by myself. This is going to take some getting used to.

Well, I need to go lug an infinity pound bookshelf in a box up a flight of stairs. Adios!

Ignorance

In case you can't read this, the signs in the window say "Cut government spending NOW!" and "Dumbass Hussein Obama Sucks"

I just... didn't even know what to do when I was driving behind this person. I just kept shaking my head. When I got up a little further on the road, I was able to pass him, and he was just this sad looking old man. I felt sad that this man has lived such a long life and still doesn't understand what is going on. He is so angry and feels like he has to scream his dislike and prejudice for Obama from the back of his van windows. It is really just kind of revolting.

And yet, at the same time, I was filled with this sense of pride. This man has the ability to tape hate-filled signs on his van and he won't be persecuted for it. His free speech is, ironically, protected by our country which is led by Obama at the highest level, but whatevs. Anyway, the fact that he can say what he wants to say, regardless of who it might offend, is such an amazing right that we all have that I know I don't stop and consider enough. As much as I wish he didn't have such nasty signs on his window, I'm glad he has the ability to have them there. Mainland China blocked Facebook this summer... while I'm able to sit there and view people's stated religion and political parties, and no one here gives a second thought about it. They also simply just shut down numerous internet portals and discussion boards for a few days during the 20th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square protests. The South China Morning Post stated,

In order to improve the internet content and provide a healthy environment for our netizens, we have designated 3 to 6 June as the national server maintenance day. This move is widely supported by the public

Like... really? Was it really supported? And you just happened to choose those days as the national server maintenance days? Hmm. Interesting.

I'm not saying our government isn't shady as hell sometimes, but I'm pretty sure they'd never get away with shutting down the internet for a few days. Thank goodness I live here. Honestly.

Over the past few weeks, I feel like I've had a bit of a life-changing period in my life. Nothing extraordinary, I suppose, but enough to make me feel like something important has happened. I don't think that anything necessarily set off this off (ooo, ending sentences with prepositions), which is kind of odd. I just felt... overwhelmed. And I just kind of all of a sudden decided that I'm just... DONE with my life being stressful. I'd say that more than half of the stress in my life is self-inflicted, which just seems silly now. I'm not going to sweat the small stuff anymore. It's going to take a lot a LOT of work on my part but... I want to do it. And the rest of the stress in my life... the stress inflicted by people other than myself... well, they're not really worth the hassle, are they? Why should I continue to allow people into my life that do nothing but cause me headaches and heartaches? It sounds a little dramatic and a little cold-hearted but I'm not going to cut people out of my life forever. I don't have it in me to do that. I'm not good at just cutting people out of my life. But I'm not going to allow people who do nothing but bring me down CONTINUE to do so. It's going to be incredibly hard, I'm afraid. And I hope I'm strong enough to do it successfully. I have to, for my sanity. Maybe for once I'll put my peace of mind before my loyalty to some friendships. I don't have the time or the energy anymore to be brought down by others anymore. And I definitely don't have the time or the energy to be brought down by myself. So my summer/fall/forever resolution to myself has officially started... to not let myself fear what MIGHT happen, and to not allow others to stress me out, either.

Beautiful day!

Isn't it weird how a 75 degree high and a perfectly clear sky can make not only your day but your LIFE seem infinitely better?

I know that I am an incredibly lucky human being. I mean, for starters, I have more than enough food, water, shelter, and clothing. I don't worry about where my next meal is coming from. I have a job. I have a degree that my parents paid for. I have more THINGS than anyone should ever have, really. My room is FULL of just... stuff. I feel guilty, sometimes, for having so much. Does anyone need as much perfume as I have? No. Absolutely not. Does anyone need 30 bras? Nope. Sure don't. Does anyone need hundreds of books? Nope. Does anyone need 20 sweatshirts? Probably not. So I feel guilty for having all of these material things. But then I'm lucky on a whole other level. I have a family that loves me unconditionally, and that would do just about anything to make me happy. I have a boyfriend who doesn't beat me or belittle me or make me feel worthless... and on top of that, he's just a pretty amazing human being. I'm honored to know him and to have him like me back. And what pretty much prompted this post... I just have unbelievable friends. I believe that I am TRULY so incredibly blessed in this life of mine to have two groups of just... unbelievable friends. The fact that I have two decently large groups of people to run to when I'm sad, or to run to when I'm ready for a good time haha, is just... wonderful. This evening I hung out with my friends from home. We didn't do anything mind-blowing... we literally just sat around and talked for a good 4-5 hours. There is something so reassuring about friends from home. They understand you and where you come from. They just get things about you that people from school couldn't possibly comprehend (although not possibly for a lack of trying). Some people at work were kind of dissing people that still hang out with their friends from high school, saying that you must be pretty lame if you're still hanging out with your high school friends because that means you haven't made better friends at college, blah blah. I was just shocked. I'm sorry you had shitty friends in high school? I mean, seriously. I LOVE my high school friends and I am so glad that we're still hanging out and enjoying each other's company. They are just... home. I am so comfortable with them and I love love love knowing that they'll always be there for a laugh or a cry or a Wendy's run or a night of just watching tv and gossiping.

And then I have my Miami friends, who just continue to put smiles on my face even though we're not at school together anymore. Tonight was the first night I've gone out where I realized that I should have been going out at Miami instead, if I hadn't graduated. And it just brought back a whole flood of memories. And then I came home and had an email from Erin waiting... we've had an email chain going where we just all email each other updates on our lives and what we've been going through, and it honestly gets me through the day sometimes. Anyway, the email from Erin was just so... wonderful. I mean, it wasn't all happy... in fact, a lot of it wasn't, but I found myself just thinking that I am SO proud to get to call her (and everyone else) on the email my friend. I truly have been introduced to some incredible people in my life and I can't believe I've actually been able to be friends with them. If you're reading this, chances are you're one of the people I'm incredibly thankful to know :)

It's just hard to think that I won't ever get to stumble home with Jamie, throw some popcorn in the microwave, and eat the whole bag while snuggling in her bed, laughing about the nights' events and whatever's on tv. I won't see her pour herself a DC or put salt on just about everything, including pizza. It's hard to think that I won't be living with Kiley anymore after 4 straight years of doing so... not only that, but I won't get to see her antics. I won't get to see her folding herself over the top of the couch anymore, or slapping her thighs together, and I won't be cheered up by her constant optimism. Tim won't be around anymore to talk to about tennis, or to play tennis with. I won't get to use his spotless bathroom anymore (because clearly, who would choose to use Zach's disgusting bathroom?) and I won't get to listen to his pure sass on a daily basis. I won't get to see his standard pose... shoulders raised up a bit, hands shoved in his front pockets. And I won't have Zach to joke around with and complain to about whoever is annoying us at the moment... I won't be able to have fat nights with anyone now that he's not around. Late-night McDonalds won't ever be the same. Luckily Erin and Alyssa will still be around so I don't have to bother with being super sad about them :) I love them a lot and I cannot wait to spend the next year hanging out with them and continuing to build our friendship that blossomed out of Oreos and peanut butter.

I just... am in a reflective mood tonight, I guess, and although this is really long, all that you really need to have gotten out of this (if you're still reading) is that, since you ARE reading, you are probably someone I consider to be a wonderful friend and I am extremely, extremely thankful for your friendship. I love you!

Taco Huts

I would like to publicly express my gratitude to whoever came up with the idea of the TacoHut. I mean, yes, I am assuming it was someone with Yum! Brands... but for real, whatever individual decided this would be a good idea was absolutely correct and should be thanked. Where else can you get a steak quesadilla and Pizza Hut breadsticks (two of my all-time favorite foods) in one stop? Sigh.

I think I'm going to campus tonight to meet up with Alyssa and her PT classmates. Should be fun! I'm gonna have to leave relatively early though, due to my 10 AM start time at work tomorrow. Boo. Work has a tendency to ruin the fun things in life.

Facebook

I'm officially disturbed by the large number of relatives on Facebook. This is a very recent discovery, and it has left me feeling kind of uncomfortable. It all started a few days ago when I came home from work and found an email in my inbox stating, "Lisa Peters has added you as a friend on Facebook." I literally YELLED downstairs, "MOOOOOOMMMMM. YOU'RE ON FACEBOOK?!?!?!?" to which she meekly replied "Yes..."

Then, through viewing her friends, I discovered that my 12 year old sister and 13 year old brother ALSO have Facebook. Why? Honestly. Why would you possibly need to be on Facebook? You don't need to keep in touch with anyone because you are STILL IN MIDDLE SCHOOL! Gahhhh!

Then today I paid another visit to my mom's profile where I discovered like, a million more relatives. I was obviously already friends with all of my cousins that are near my age. Turns out, however, that numerous aunts and uncles are ALSO on Facebook.

I'm just waiting for the day when my computer-illiterate Grandma gets Facebook. I'll probably die.

In other (sad) news, everyone is leaving. Jamie left already, Donny left today, and Kiley leaves Saturday. I tried my hardest not to cry when Donny left because, let's be honest, this is literally the fifth year we've done the long distance thing. However, my poor attempts proved unsuccessful. I'm such a girl.

Kiley and I had a dinner date at Due Amici tonight. They have a happy hour where, for $10, you can get a (huge) (and delicious) pizza and either a well drink, a beer, or a house wine. Not a bad deal. Here's the best part: we didn't get carded. Probably the first time in my life I can make that claim. Needless to say, I was very proud of us.

The next few weeks of my life are going to be full of trying to get in as many hours at work as I can until my last day on August 27th... it can't come soon enough. I'm planning on going to Pittsburgh on August 28 to visit Donny on his birthday weekend... then I'll just be hanging out and packing and getting ready to move into my new apartment! I am SO excited about that... I'm nervous but really looking forward to living on my own. I feel grown up :)

For the present, however... I'm just looking forward to going to bed sort of early tonight, and sleeping in tomorrow. No work tomorrow :) Huzzah!

Kelly. Clarkson.

I am going to try my hardest to restrain myself in this post. But let me just get this out now... KELLY CLARKSON IS SO FREAKING AMAZING.

Okay. Now. The concert was tonight (in case you hadn't guessed). I went with Jamie, which was a blast, because we both knew the songs and were able to scream to them and whatnot. Eric Hutchinson opened... I hadn't really heard of him, although I apparently had heard of a couple of his songs. He's really, really good though. He seemed like a fun guy, too. Jamie and I decided he's a perfect blend of Jack Johnson, Ben Folds, and Jason Mraz. He plays the piano and the guitar, so that was cool. We decided Kiley should date him. Meh.

And... Kelly is just a FANTASTIC singer. I don't know how you could possibly argue that she's not. I mean, you can not like her music but... she has a truly wonderful voice. It makes it so much more enjoyable when you know that it's just... easy for her. She doesn't have to force it. And it ALSO is great when she's live and she sounds exactly like she does on her CD. It makes her so much more legit. You know she's not getting her voice retouched or anything, which is good.

Some highlights:
+ well, every song basically.
+ specifically, since u been gone
+ because of you
+ behind these hazel eyes
+ i have to stop listing songs because I'll just list all of them.
+ an AMAZING cover of patsy cline's "walkin' after midnight" ... I've loved this song ever since I heard the Garth Brooks cover... Kelly made it really blues-y and jazzy and it was so good.
+ just all the moments she was talking... she's hilarious. And so down-to-earth. You can tell she really loves her fans, and she was so humbled that we all knew the words to EVERY song.
+ the ADORABLE girl sitting beside me. She couldn't have been more than 8. As soon as I sat down, she turns to me and goes, "DO YOU LOVE KELLY CLARKSON?" hahaha like, how cute. I was like "um, YES?!" haha. Then she goes "Is this your first Kelly concert?" omg. adorable. The best part was that she had NO clue what I was talking about when I said I saw her in the American Idol tour. Silly me. That girl was like, 3 months old when that happened or something. Made me feel OOOLLLLDDDD.

Some sad things:
- she did not play "sober," "just missed the train," or "beautiful disaster"
- she DID play whyyouwannabringmedown. What a dumb song. Sorry, Kel.
- the random annoying men in front of us that were screaming "fuck head" and other such unnecessary words at each other. Um, hi, there's an 8 year old girl behind you? Thanks?

ANYWAY. Omg. Amazing. Amazing. I will be so happy for so long now haha. I told Jamie that it's become my life goal to meet her. I don't care if I'm 80 when it happens... as long as it does. Haha I've decided if the possibility exists for me to have her play at my wedding, I will forego the food... everyone gets Wendy's dollar menu stuff for the reception... because she WILL play at my wedding. Just... a heads up in case you want to reject my wedding invitation haha.

I have to go examine my videos and pictures. Yayayayay.

Time

I somehow just realized today that when Donny gets back from vacation (he left yesterday), we will have one week together before he moves to Pittsburgh. How depressing. I'm always such a mess leading up to us being separated again. I know we've done it before, so I'm not worried, it's just... hard.

I got my financial aid award from Ohio State, so that makes me feel a lot better. I officially accepted loans last night, which is scary. I'm not ready to be making loan payments for the next 10 years of my life... eek.

I'm re-reading the entire Harry Potter series again. I'm on book 4 now. It's SO GOOD. I just really admire J.K. Rowling's ability to visualize this entire fantasy world. It really is its own WORLD. And that's why I love the books so much more than the movies... she's great at details, and that doesn't come through in the movies. Like, just things like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans... that's just so clever. And she created an entire series out of this. Sigh. She deserves all of her millions and millions of dollars.

Kind of a disjointed entry... meh.

My biological clock...?

I feel like this is slightly creepy... and feel free not to tell Donny... but I think my motherly instincts or whatever you'd like to call them are legit kicking in. Like, I am just always wanting to hold a baby or an animal or something. Is that normal? I can't decide. If so... like, hey there, biological clock. Give me a few years, thanks.

Donny and I were watching Animal Cops on Animal Planet for 3 straight hours today. And then he left to go home, and I am stilllll watching it as I type. I can't stop crying about how horribly people treat their animals. How do you just like... have an animal, and then not give a crap about it anymore? Seriously, I can't understand it. Or people that raise roosters for cockfighting? Um, what? What sort of entertainment is that? Ugh. It's disgusting. And people that just leave their animals to fend for themselves... djlskdjf;sdf. It makes me so mad. And back to the motherly instinct, I like, CRAVE holding these animals. A few years ago I would have been sad, but I wouldn't really have felt like... a longing for them... I'm creeping myself out.

Damn it. They're starting to show Animal Cops episodes that were on earlier tonight. Guess I'll have to find a new show to watch for the rest of the night.

I hate the economy

I got a call today from the E&Y recruiter out of Columbus letting me know that my starting salary has decreased by $2,000. I don't even start working for over a year. The economy can suck it.

I AM thankful I have a job lined up, don't get me wrong. I am reminded of that every single day when I'm at the call center and I know that I have SUCH better things ahead of me. It's just so frustrating to have not even started with them and to get a call saying my salary is decreasing. I haven't even met the woman who called me to tell me. You could tell she felt bad about it, though... she kept saying, "I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you this; I've never even met you..." I mean, it sucks for her, too, to have to call everyone and tell them.

I knew it was coming, though. Micah had his salary decreased AND his start date moved up (with another firm), so I knew it was a possibility. I've heard of other firms completely taking back their offers. So I'm glad I'm not in that position. I'm just thinking long-term... those $2,000 could really help pay off student loans. I'm the type of person who pays off my credit card balance like, every week because I'm so scared of having any sort of debt and I refuse to ever pay interest on a credit card. So the thought of being $25,000+ in debt in less than a year is pretty terrifying to me. This news from E&Y doesn't help.

Call Center

The call center is already wearing me out. It's just a constant grind. Same thing every.single.day. And it's not even like we're busy... we're completely dead. Sign #1 the economy sucks, I guess... July is our busiest month. Two summers ago, we had a whopping 1.5 seconds between each call, that's how busy we were. And now 20 minutes can go by without a call. Sitting at a cubicle all day is infinitely more enjoyable when you're getting calls back-to-back... the time flies. Staring at your co-workers for 8 hours, however, is a much different story. So when they ask me if I'd like to go home early, I rarely say no. It's hard to justify sitting there and not doing anything. I also don't consider the extra $9.25 I would have made by staying another hour today anything that spectacular. Knowing that I'll have $20,000+ in student loans by this time next year kind of makes everything else seem pointless. Like, oh, what's another $9? Probably a bad habit to get into, meh.

In other news, I'm headed back to Oxford one last time this Saturday to finish cleaning out my apartment and to turn in my keys. It'll be sad, but I'm kind of excited to be done with it. Knowing that I need to go back and clean has been a big annoying burden in the back of my mind for the last two months, and now I can finally get rid of it.

Oh, dumbass me left my car running... with my keys inside... and the door locked... for about 3 and a half hours at work today. I went out to sit in my car during my lunch break and realized it. Luckily my mom came with my spare key. I'm such a mess. Keep in mind this is like, the second time this has happened THIS SUMMER... let's not even try to count how many times it's happened in my life. Jeez.

I kind of can't wait for my real job to start, because that means SO much more money than I have right now. And then I remember it's all going to student loans the first couple of years and I want to cry. My dreams of a new car will have to be put on hold, most likely. Sad face.

In slightly happier news, I'm going to see Erin tomorrow, and I'm really excited about this. I am also really excited that I'm only working for three hours. Hooray!

My Sister's Keeper

Good movie. It definitely makes me incredibly, incredibly grateful to be healthy and to have my entire circle of friends and family be relatively healthy and happy.

during one of the saddest parts:
katie: [starts giggling]
voiceover: my sister died that night...
katie: [dies of laughter]

I guess I should clarify that she had already sort of been laughing BEFORE the really sad part, but still :) She was remembering how hard I was crying during the Notebook, and somehow that was FUNNY to her, so she started laughing haha. Ooooo katie :)

But I'm glad I saw it. I have a hard time wanting to watch movies that I know will make me cry a lot. Um, like, when was the last time you watched Stepmom? Exactly. It's such a good movie, but I mean, who enjoys reliving the sadness of that movie? Thats kind of how I feel about this movie. I don't know if I'll be able to watch it again. Yay sad movies. But it was still soooo good.

My new obsession

Aquafina Flavor Splash in Raspberry. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. The one good thing the call center has to offer.

Another rant post

I literally have not had one good experience with Ohio State (outside the Fisher School of Business) thus far. I have had problems with numerous offices at the school, and it just kind of makes me lose hope in the school. I was SO excited to go there, and now I'm just like... getting depressed about it. The ONLY thing that is saving it so far is that Fisher just... has their shit together. And gives me a little more confidence.

It makes me realize how much I took for granted the small-school atmosphere at Miami. If you had a question about ANYTHING, you would at least get to talk to someone within a few minutes. At OSU, I've been waiting days for a phone call or an email back, and it's not coming. At Miami, you were always answered so quickly. I understand OSU's a huge school, but Miami isn't exactly a 500-student school, either. I just think I thought I was going to get the same kind of treatment at OSU that I received at Miami, and it's just coming as kind of a shock that it's pretty much the complete opposite.

:(

Cyclists.

Okay. Okay. This is a rant post.

It is one of my biggest pet peeves when there is a cyclist just biking down a major street. Especially in Westerville. Have you NOT been informed that there are literally MILES of bike paths around our town? Not to mention the SIDEWALKS surrounding your homes? If you were like, trying to bike to and from work... that's a different story. But NONE of these people look like they're going anywhere important. They're just out for leisurely rides. 1) They are putting yourself in grave danger. 2) They hold up traffic for unbelievable amounts of time, especially if they are on a busy road.

It just blows my mind. There is NO part of me that desires to bike down a road that's 45 mph. None. Like, personally, I don't enjoy being one foot away from a car that could easily kill me if they hit a pothole. Um, no thanks.

Ugh. For real. Get off the damn main roads.

'05 Cruise!

I just got back from my cruise a few hours ago! It was a blast!!! I must say, Key West and Nassau kind of disappointed me. But CocoCay was soooo awesomeeee. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Day 1 (Monday) - Miami
I woke up at 3:30 AM on Monday (after going to bed at 11:30 on Sunday night), and Donny and his dad picked me up at 4:30. We met up with Megan and Jake (who were on our flight) at the airport, andur flight left at 5:55 AM (yeah, sick) for Ft. Lauderdale. Once we got there, we met up with Tyler and Jon and caught a shuttle to the Port of Miami! I was actually kind of nervous getting onto the ship. I was positive that we would turn into the next Titanic, even though I know that like, that NEVER happens anymore. I saw the lifeboats hanging off the side, and I instantly thought 'oh no. I hope there are enough for everyone.' haha like, what? I'm pretty sure they have that figured out by now. Anyway, here's our ship, the Majesty of the Seas:


Well, thats as much of it as I could fit in one picture haha. Anyway, the ship was gorgeous. And there was always something to do. The food at dinner was deliciouuuus (I literally had steak 3 of the 4 nights... oops?). The rest of the food was so-so, but there was always some place open to get food, so that was nice. At dinner, I tried a few new things... scallops (it was a scallop risotto), oxtail broth (i dont even know what that is, honestly. Even now that I've eaten it haha), and... ESCARGOT. Yes, I tried escargot. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. I don't know if I'd choose to eat it again, but I could handle eating it again. It probably helped that it was drenched in butter and garlic... mmm. Oh, and I also tried lamb... I did NOT like it. The texture was gross.

Anyway, so the first day we set sail at I believe 5 PM, so we all watched that. Then we just explored a bit and went to dinner at 8:30 (that was our dining time every night). I truly don't have any clue what we did the first night. Oops?

Day 2 (Tuesday) - Nassau
The next morning we docked in Nassau. It poured until like, noon, so that sucked. We finally got off the island and went to the straw markets (kind of claustrophobic and stressful, plus they all just sell the same stuff) and bought me some band-aids. The night before, someone knocked a heavy metal boxy trashcan onto the top of my foot and it was a REALLY deep gash and it pretty much bled for like, 2 days straight. Gross. Then we went back on the boat for awhile, collected everyone, and went to SENOR FROGS!

The bar had a GORGEOUS view... it sat out on top of the clear blue water of the Bahamas! Senor Frogs and when we played Quest (I'll get to that later) were probably the two best memories of the cruise haha. I mean... it all started when the boys bought buckets of beer, and the girls (plus jake :) ) bought something called 'The Yard' which was basically just a HUGE glass... I got the house margarita, frozen. It was DELICIOUS but it took me ages to finish. We watched a mom get drunk off her ASS and make a total fool of herself in front of her two young daughters. Sad, but also sort of hilarious. Then some employee decided to nominate Donny to participate in a chugging contest... he came in 2nd! Then the same employee created a 'Free Shot Conga Line' in which we all just... literally did a train around the bar, and at random points, employees would be waiting with a bottle of SOMETHING and they would squirt it into our mouths. I literally felt like it was the crazy college spring break I never had haha. It was insane. Then we of course had all had a biiiit to drink and ended up dancing like fools on the dance floor. Keep in mind that we were pretty much the only people dancing. Whatevs. It was SO FUN oh my gosh.

That night was our formal dinner, which was nice! We went to a laaaaame show afterwards. Donny and I left like, halfway through it because it was so dumb. It was like... a bunch of 70s songs, and it was beyond cheesy. We didn't really do a whole lot else the rest of the night, I don't think.

Day 3 (Wednesday) - CocoCay, Bahamas
I would say this was the best day, overall. I LOVED CocoCay, which is Royal Caribbean's own private island. It's tiny and cute and I love it. The unfortunate part was that it felt like it was 120 degrees outside. Note to self: Never, ever take a cruise to the Caribbean in the summer. I couldn't be out of the water for more than probably 5-10 minutes. It was that hot. I, of course, got burned... it's already pretty much gone away, which is nice. Other 05 cruisers were not so lucky, however. Donny's back is burned to a crisp, and others had various other body parts burned haha. I bought a Coco-Loco (the drink of the day on the cruise) and it was probably the most delicious drink I've ever had. I honestly had no idea what was in it (other than rum), so I just Googled it... here's what I came up with:

• 3/4 ounce dark rum
• 3/4 ounce coconut rum
• 1/2 ounce cream of coconut
• 1/2 ounce papaya nectar (optional)
• 1/2 ounce orange juice
• 1/2 ounce pineapple juice
• 1/4 ounce grenadine
• 1/2 banana (optional)

The only thing I'm confused about is that my drink had like... orange... sherbet in it or something. Whatever. It was so damn good.

Anyway, so there's that. My graduation present to Donny was one of the 'excursions' offered by Royal Caribbean... we went snorkeling in CocoCay! It was SO FUN, minus my mask kept leaking and I kept inhaling salt water. We saw a sting ray, TONS of schools of fish, and just lots of pretty, pretty fish! We also saw sea urchins... Katie found a starfish... it was just so fun! After snorkeling, we ended up having to put our lounge chairs in halfway in the water because, like I said, we literally couldn't NOT be in the water. It was fun though, and so, so relaxing. We had to go back kind of early though... Donny and I waited until the very last second to board the last boat back to our cruise ship (it was tendered further out in the ocean). That night, we went to a Newlyweds-ish game and it was just so freaking hilarious. Then we played Quest. Ohhhh, Quest.

Our group (10 of us) was group 4... and I found this description online: "Basically it's a form of a scavenger hunt - but with a twist. Points are awarded in this form - 1st person to arrive with the items gets 10 points. 2nd person - 5 points. 3rd person - 3 points. Everyone after that gets 1 point. When you arrive to the cruise director (the one on the microphone), you are to present your number and show him the items. Once that item is pronounced 'CLOSED', no more can be accepted." It started out with tame things... "I need one business card," or "I need one picture of a child." Laura, Donny, and Sam had all been on the cruise before, so they knew what a lot of them were going to be, so we came prepared haha. We were BY FAR the most intense group! I'm sure everyone else hated us. '05. Anyway, it eventually turned into like, 4 people on our team being in their underwear, boys demonstrating on other boys their favorite sexual positions, boys demonstrating on GIRLS their favorite sexual positions, girls showing tattoos and piercings in scandalous places... oh man. It was seriously one of the funniest nights of my life. I was dying of laughter. Katie just... took so many for the team haha. We saw her underwear so, so many times. She also bit a hole in Jake's sock... yeah. I dunno. hahaha. Some picture highlights:



I think it's safe to say that we absolutely dominated the game. We won with like... 70 points. The 2nd place team didn't even have 45 points. Like... absolute destruction. It was so fantastic. When they announced that we were the winners, we were SO obnoxious and like, shoved people out of our way to rush the stage and cheer and chant 'O-H' 'I-O' and oh my gosh it was just a fantastic moment.

Day 4 (Thursday) - Key West
Okay, there's basically nothing all that fun to do in Key West unless you have unlimited money and can go parasailing or something. We walked around, but it was miserable because it was so hot. Donny and I eventually ran into everyone else (minus Megan and Jake, who were off snorkeling and catamaran-ing) and went to the original Margaritaville, which was fun. Donny and I got the house margaritas and they were delishhhhhh. I guess they should be, since the place is called Margaritaville. Anyway, Donny and I were sick of it after that, so we headed back to the ship and packed, since we had to leave so early the next morning. We had our last dinner (where I had my third steak in 4 days...), and watched a decent comedy show. Then Donny and I headed to bed since we had to get up at 6 AM!

Day 5 (Friday) - Miami
We arrived back in Miami this morning to a beautiful sunrise. We were up early to take advantage of the 'Express' checkout or something... turned out to be not worth it at all, since we ended up sitting on Royal Caribbean's shuttle to Ft. Lauderdale for an HOUR. Omg it was the most annoying thing in the world. Luckily we got to the airport on time and got home with no problems.

I'm sorry this is the longest post of all time. Summary: the cruise was awesome, ridiculously hot, tons of fun, relaxing for the most part, and I hope I can do it again soon :)

CRUISE.

My cruise in the Bahamas begins TOMORROW! I can.not.wait. I've never been on a cruise, so I'm super excited. We'll be stopping in Nassau, Coco Cay, and Key West. yaaaaaaaayyyyy. :) The only bad thing is that our flight leaves at like, 6 AM tomorrow morning. Nasty.

Donny's graduation was yesterday morning. It was cooler than Miami's. Meh. Anyway, it was nice to see him graduate! I did have to get up at 5 AM to get to OU, though, haha. That was a bummer. But I drove down to Athens with his sister, and it was fun to chat with her and learn more about her.

We got back to Westerville, I had some yummy steak with my parents, and then I headed back over to Donny's. When I got there, his entire family was at the next door neighbor's high school graduation party. ALL of the adults were drunk. It was slightly hilarious. This one woman kept yelling at me to buy Bonine instead of Dramamine for the cruise, and that taking one of those and a Pepcid AC before drinking would lessen the effects of alcohol while on the cruise haha. She also informed us that eating a peanut butter (sans the jelly) sandwich before going to business meetings (she claims that ALL business meetings "inevitably end in drinking" hahaha) will also prevent hangovers. And the host kept giving Donny's dad shots and it was hysterical. Oh my.

Donny's parents gave me my graduation present... a Coach umbrella :) :) IT IS SO CUTE. I have wanted one of these FOREVER... and she didn't even know! I feel like she has developed a great sense of my tastes haha. First the cute Vera Bradley makeup bag and wristlet for Christmas... now this... props to her.

Time to get ready for dinner. I'll have cruise updates in a week!

Rollerblading

Yesterday I decided to bust out my rollerblades and give them another shot. They were going to be my path to fitness last summer, until I forgot to wear high enough socks, and I soon received such intense cuts that I still have scars. So the rollerblades were quickly forgotten for the rest of the summer. HOWEVER. I have decided to bring them back. I went yesterday and this morning with my sister, who claims she never learned how to skate when she was little. This is a bold-faced lie. Anyway, it's kind of nice going with her, because I get little breaks when I have to wait for her to catch up hahah. Plus, that way, when I start back up again, I'm using more muscle. See how it all works out so nicely? Anyway, my butt and hips and thighs are totally feeling it, and I'm so pumped. I just looked online at how many calories I burn doing this... it's like, more than running. And I hate running. So... yay for that. This is also a much cheaper alternative to joining the gym, which I was contemplating doing. It's still a possibility, but so far, this is working out great. And I don't work until 10 this summer, so I can get up, get in some exercise, then get to work. Perfect.

Ohh, the eye doctor.

What my house currently contains: a bruised, vicodin-riddled mother, a pukey sister, a father who just purchased an andrea bocelli cd on a whim and is now listening to it non-stop, and two very, very unnaturally studious other siblings. It is a very weird time in my household.

On top of that, I can't decide about my new contacts. I have a very hard time going to the eye doctor. I just... get stressed about my answers. "Is 1 better... or 2? ... One? ... or two?" OH MY GOSH. I DONT KNOW. THEY LOOK THE SAME. I always get nervous about whether I'm really answering correctly. Because my prescriptions never end up looking quite as good as I know they could be. And when I said something about it today, he re-checked me and said they were right. We'll see. At least it's an improvement over my OLD optometrist, of whom many of you have heard. He was probably the meanest, crotchety-est old man in the world. He was SO MEAN to me. I cried on two separate occasions in his office. He insulted pretty much every member of my family to their faces. And, on top of that, he just didn't really know what he was talking about. I had my first appointment with the NEW optometrist today and it was like, lightyears better. First, he didn't yell at me or make me cry. Second, he actually showed an interest in what I'm doing with my life. Third, he was SO careful and just showed me that he really wanted to get it right. My old optometrist once forgot to test me for glaucoma... admitted this to my face, and then told me it was "probably fine" and made me leave without getting tested. Somehow I feel as though that would never happen with this man. Like, when I told him that my new prescription still felt a little funny, he completely retested me. Like, THAT gives me confidence. That makes me feel so, so much better. At least he cares.

I ALSO found out from this appointment that my prescription is completely wrong, thanks to Mr. Crotchety Old Man. I'm THREE STEPS TOO HIGH in my right eye, and ONE step too high in my left. I'm sorry, but there is just absolutely no excuse for that. That's ABSURD. No wonder I was getting headaches. Also, I apparently have astigmatism. WHO KNEW. I always knew I had a tiny bit one in one eye, but this doctor has informed me that I have fairly developed astigmatism in both eyes. Um, good to know. He told me that my vision problems are partially due to this, which has never been treated before. He gave me trial contacts that treat the astigmatism (at the lower prescription which I should have been on all the time), and my vision is completely the same, if not better. Which tells me that all along, my eye troubles have NOT been due to worsening eyes, but to the astigmatism instead. Like, if I can get along with a prescription that is THREE steps lower in one eye, but one that also treats astigmatism... um... yeah. Shoulda been on that YEARS ago. Ugh.

So anyway, I still don't know how I feel about these contacts. Contacts that treat astigmatisms have a specific "up" and "down", so they have to be in place all the time, whereas regular contacts can just kinda spin around and it's fine. So that feels very weird to me... I keep blinking a lot. And I've developed a slight headache, but I think that's just because I'm not used to this prescription or these contacts. Hopefully this all works out.

Another thoughtful thing this doctor did was give me a new solution that is supposed to help with allergies. Like, seriously, I don't know why this doctor is infinitely nicer than the other guy. But he is, and it's great. He's Donny's optometrist, and Donny recommended that my family see him, and it was such a great decision. YAY finding new doctors! YAY abandoning old horrible doctors!

Now that I've spent 15 minutes typing up stuff about my eyes I'm sure you don't care about... my mom had kidney-stone-procedure-ish stuff done today, and she's recuperating. She's in a lot of pain, but I think the Vicodin is definitely helping when it's not wearing off. While she and my dad were at the clinic, I got a call saying my little sister was puking at school, and that I had to pick her up. Me + puking do NOT go well together, so I was a little worried, but she was done puking by the time I got there, thank goodness. It was SO weird to go back to my middle school, though. It's been so long since I've been in there. Looks the same, though. My sister's best friend who helped her to the bathroom mysteriously ALSO puked later in the day, so I dunno what's going on there.

My dad asked me for a book to read while he was waiting at the clinic for my mom to be done with her procedure. How embarrassing when your dad comes to you for a history book. I know that's what he wanted. How even MORE embarrassing when you're able to offer him approximately 15 books on the Nazis, and pretty much nothing else. He ended up going with one about the Black Death... ohhhh, how happy and cheery my preferred line of literature is.

Agenda for the rest of the night: tend to mother's needs, avoid pukey sister even though she's not puking anymore, perhaps read some more, and perhaps watch Rachel's Getting Married (my new Netflix). I'm excited.

Emily Post

After lunch today, we stopped by The Book Loft in German Village. I noticed a book on the shelves that I've had on MY bookshelves for a long time, but have never gotten around to reading, and that is the biography of Emily Post. She was (and probably still is) the most popular etiquette expert in the US throughout the early to mid 1900s. I've been reading it pretty much nonstop since I got home. I don't know why other people's lives fascinate me so much, but they do. She grew up extremely privileged (her father became a very famous architect, and her mother's family was in railroads)... she attended a private girls' school, had a debutante ball, and everything else that basically went along with being a rich girl in the late 1800s. I just think things like that are SO INTERESTING. Which is why this book will probably consume the better part of my weekend.

Through reading today and discovering the Book Loft, I've renewed my love for books. I don't know why I haven't read in so long, but it's pretty silly. I honestly (this is not an exaggeration) have at least 15 books I have purchased and have not read. Most of them are pretty daunting... I'd say almost all are 500+ page books about Nazis haha. Yet another area of history I find fascinating. ANYWAY, I have so much to read and I fully plan on finishing the majority of those books this summer. Hopefully the slow early summer at the call center will allow me to get some headway on that. I can't forget re-reading the entire Harry Potter series in time for the new movie, either... yikes.

My mom's "procedure" (I don't know what to call it, since it's not technically surgery) is tomorrow, so just keep her in your thoughts :) I know she's really nervous about it, just because she's never had any sort of procedure/surgery/major medical issue before, but she will be fine.

Also... I'm sad that Thursdays no longer include watching the Office. They need to just go ahead and start the new season. ALSO. The SVU finale was INCREDIBLE. That's all I'll say.

Off to read more about Emily Post :)

Just kidding about going to Cincinnati on Friday... my mom is having kidney surgery on Thursday, and it sounds like she'll be pretty sore for a long time, and I'm the only one that will be around on Friday to take care of her most of the day, so I'm staying home. Kinda bummed, but it's my family, so there's no second thought there. And there will be more Reds games :)

Also, I have come to the conclusion that I need to throw away roughly half the stuff in my room. It's impossible, but I have to start somewhere. There's no way any of this will fit in my new apartment.

Upcoming events

Tonight is the Law & Order SVU finale. We don't even need to get into how excited I am for that. But seriously, Mariska Hargitay is absolutely beautiful. If I could look like anyone, it would be her... and maybe also Reese Witherspoon.


In other news... other upcoming events:
Tomorrow: lunch in German Village with... people? Haha I don't even know who is going yet.
Friday-Saturday: going to Cincinnati for a Reds game and quality friend time!!
Monday-Wednesday: getting re-trained at the call center! YAY MONEY.
Saturday: Donny's (and the rest of OU's!) graduation!!!
Sunday: Opening the '05 time capsule!!! What am I most excited about? Opening the bottles of wine that have been in there for four years haha.
Monday: oh you know. Leaving for our cruise in the Bahamas (!!!!!)
Other June events: Laura's cookout, Donny's graduation party, and FIREWORKS at Kiley's!

My only concern about all of this is money. I just took a LARGE sum of money out of savings to pay off my ridiculous purchases on my credit card. I'm extremely ashamed of all of this and I am sick of spending money I don't have... especially when I'm supposed to be SAVING money for my rent this year. Not to mention the $15,000 in debt I'll have in a year.

Nonetheless, I'm excited for everything to come. This summer has been a blast so far, and I can't wait for it to continue! I'm excited for more Westerville friends to come home so that we can all hang out!

I bought my OSU football tickets and I am BEYOND excited. When I went online to buy them yesterday, I was seriously so nervous that my heart was beating audibly. It was THUMPING. Aaaand I got them. For a measly $170... vomit.

Two things I do not like about OSU so far:
1. The prices for everything. I know this isn't really a fair comparison, but I didn't have to pay for anything at Miami. I didn't have to pay NEARLY as much for a parking pass, I didn't have to pay for ANY sporting events... sigh.
2. I am already feeling like just another number at OSU. I NEVER felt that way at Miami. I never slipped through the cracks at Miami, and that's already happened at OSU and I haven't even started yet!

Anyway. I'm off to eat lunch and maybe read some HP in celebration of the upcoming movie (slash... I have to re-read so that I remember what actually will be happening in the movie)... and then bumming around until my sister's softball game! AND THEN SVU. YAYYYYY.

Jon & Kate + 8 + other stuff

Okay. I'm just going to get this off my chest quickly. Jon & Kate Plus 8 has provided me with endless hours of entertainment, laughter, wanting to kidnap their kids (joking), and just good mushy happy feelings. But honestly, it is ruining their marriage and their family. They claim that everything they do is for their kids. Their show (also "for their kids") is ruining the structure of their family. Therefore, I think they should cut this show off immediately and just work on fixing their family. They should STOP doing publicity for their show/their book/themselves, they should STOP doing speaking engagements, and they should definitely STOP filming. And they should focus on their family and repairing their marriage. Kthx.

Also, Kourtney Kardashian is an idiot for dating Scott for as long as she has. He is clearly the shadiest guy of all time (perhaps second to Spencer Pratt, but that's a minor detail). Okay. Enough tv show talk.

Anyway. I feel like I've become really emotional lately, and I've had a hard time accepting all of my friendships and everything that is going on around me. I'm unsatisfied with a lot, and it's really bothering me. Both the fact that it bothers me, and the actual state of my friendships themselves. I can't decide if it's me overreacting and overanalyzing, or if there's really something wrong. I think I just need to kind of get away for awhile. I don't know if escaping is the right answer but that's all I really know. When I have problems, I pretend they don't exist for as long as I possibly can. Like, I don't even let myself think about them. I just completely push them out of my mind. But it gets to the point where it is now, which is where I can't ignore them any longer and I just get super emo and sad. I hate it. Mostly I just hate the fact that I have issues. I like to pretend that my life is perfect. Haaaaaaa. False.

Anyway, so I think I would like to get away for awhile but um, a few problems with that. 1) Where would I go by myself? Weird. 2) That would probably require a somewhat significant amount of money. The amount of money I have spent on clothes in the last two days is pretty much disgusting, so I'm attempting to not spend as much money right now. and 3) Pretty much #1 again. Haha. Seriously, where does one go to like, just get away? By themselves? The spa? Okay, that's like, half a day. I'm talking like... 2 days. So... a hotel? Boring? Any ideas?

In other news, it was really wonderful to hang out with some Westerville friends this weekend. I just haven't seen some of them in so long, and it was great to reconnect. We can always get together and act like we just saw each other yesterday, even though it's been months. That's one of the many reasons I love us. They're so dependable, in the sense that they are just so welcoming and consistent. And I can expect that every time. I love it :)

I also loved reconnecting with Shelley. Again, she's one of those friends that I can just not see for literally MONTHS, and then we can hang out and immediately talk for hours like no time has passed at all. We've definitely had our ups and downs... but like... there's something about her that I have never found in another friend. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I know that I won't find it again. We are so incredibly different, but there's something about us that just... clicks. I don't know. It's kind of great. Anyway, I'm so glad that I am going to be going to school with her again (for the first time in 4 years!). I can't wait to meet her new friends and have her meet/hang out with Erin and Alyssa and all my new MAcc friends. AH yay just the thought of it puts a smile on my face :)

Basically, what this long post comes down to is the fact that 1) reality shows have consumed my life, 2) I have psychological issues, 3) I am looking for a way to get away, and 4) I love reconnecting with friends. The end.

What. Is. My. Problemmmmm.

I am NEVER satisfied.

This weekend

This weekend was so great! On Thursday I drove from Columbus to Athens to visit Donny at OU! We went out Thursday night, and it was a lot of fun! ... Minus getting verbally-sexually assaulted by a girl haha. Turns out I have a nice ass.

I went out to lunch with Katie on Friday while Donny was at a meeting. We got Chipotle... mmmmm. And she stood up for me when I got like, zero steak in my burrito bol. What a good friend :)

Donny and I were going to go hiking on Friday, but it ended up being a little too hot outside. Gross. It was too bad, because I finally got excited to do something outdoorsy haha. So we just ended up hanging out around campus and walking around. I feel like I don't really say a lot about my relationship with Donny, but I'll just say this: I really, really love him a lot. He makes me incredibly happy, and I can't believe that I was lucky enough to find him so early in my life. Just walking around with him, something that's so incredibly simple, was just so wonderful. :)

Anyway, so Saturday we got up and I took him and Tyler to 6 Fest on my way to Miami. Zach's graduation party was Saturday night at a bar in Covington, so I stopped by my apartment, got ready, and then we all went to the bar. It was actually really, really fun! The bar was so chill and his family was there, and I mean, we drank for free, so that was also great. We watched a bartender do tricks with fire, which was fun. And then we got back to our apartment and just hung out! It was so, so nice to see everyone again, just a week after graduating.

But I think I also have a problem. I just feel the need to move on too quickly. I know that I am supposed to be sad and like, in mourning of my time being over at Miami. And I am sad. I'm going to miss Miami more than I know right now. But I don't like dragging it on. I think I need a nice balance between being incredibly sad and being ambivalent about it all. I need to work on that.

This summer is shaping up to be incredibly fun!
May 21-23 Joining the fellow recent Miami alums at James' cabin in Pennsylvania
May 27 BBQ for soon-to-be MAcc students!
May 29-30 Going to OU (possibly) for some sort of dance event?
June 13 Donny's graduation
June 15-19 CRUISE IN THE BAHAMAS!!!!!!
June 21 Laura's cookout
June 28 Fireworks at Kiley's!
July 29 KELLY CLARKSON CONCERRTTTTT

And much more, I'm sure!

Yay :) Off to watch The Women (or is it underlined... I don't even know)!

Post-Graduation

Graduation weekend was so hectic! Plus I was borderline sick due to my allergies, so that didn't really help things. Overall, though, I am so happy that my family was all able to come to watch me graduate. I kind of felt bad that I wasn't able to spend more time with them, but let's be honest, it was more important to me to see my friends that I am going to miss soon. I think (slash hope) they understood! I was also SO happy to have Donny there. He definitely, definitely kept me sane throughout the whole thing. I can't wait to be there when he graduates in a month! Plus I bought a new dress to wear, so that's exciting.

So now I'm back at home, slowly but surely unpacking, while enjoying my new TV :) It is my graduation present from my parents and I am SO happy with it! It's actually funny how it happened... I was just randomly talking to my parents, and I let them know that I wanted to buy a new TV with the graduation money I got. My dad sort of disappeared for a few minutes and when he came back, he had a TV with him! They were going to give it to me the next day, but figured it was too perfect of an opportunity to pass up! And it's nice, because it's bigger than the one I would have bought for myself, so yay! Now I get to keep that money to spend on something else, too!!


"The Real Housewives of New Jersey"... let's just say that I just watched my first episode and I am completely, completely addicted already. I love Bravo beyond belief. They just need a "Real Housewives" for every city in America... "The Real Housewives of Des Moines"... it might work, yeah?

In other news, Laura is saving my life by GIVING ME (FOR FREE) a great black leather couch, a super kitchen table and chairs, a mattress, a desk, end tables, a few appliances, and maybe a couple lamps for my new apartment. Aka... she is saving me at least $600. I LOVE HER. We're going to have to figure out what to do though... I really don't think we have room for all of that furniture in my basement, especially since my dad is trying to finish it. I don't even know if we can get the couch downstairs. Meh. I'm not about to turn down this furniture. If you're not planning on going to her garage sale, you definitely should, because she's going to have so much great stuff!!

Plans for the rest of the week:

• finish unpacking
• finish Zach's t-shirt blanket
  
• maybe stop by the call center and verify that they really will take me back for the summer. Honestly, if not, I have NO idea what I'm going to do. I REALLY need a job.
• schedule a lunch with my grandparents and cousin
• go to OU!! then drive to kentucky for zach's graduation party!

I'm really looking forward to this 4.5 month summer :)

Four years ago, I stepped onto this campus with low expectations. I wasn't one of the many current Miami students who can say they knew they belonged here the second they stepped on campus. I thought it was pretty, sure. It's undeniable how beautiful this campus is. But I didn't have an overwhelming feeling that this is where I belonged. I wanted it to be that place, but I wasn't sure it was.

Four years later, I've come to realize that maybe I still don't belong here. But you know what? I can't imagine myself anywhere else. I've come to love the place I was unsure about at the beginning. I've made friends that are just... so phenomenal. I'm sitting in a room with almost all of my best friends right now and I'm just... so happy. There are other not-so-good things going on in my life right now, but in this moment, I know that I am perfectly happy. These people ARE Miami to me. I was so nervous about leaving my group of friends from high school. I know that hardly anyone had what I had in high school... a huge group of friends who all truly loved each other. I knew that I couldn't duplicate that. I was scared I'd never find anything close. But I have. I've found a group of people who have supported me for the last four years. They have been here when my high school friends couldn't be (or weren't). They have been here when I've struggled with my long distance relationship. They've been here to cheer me up when I've been in the worst of moods. I've felt alone many times, sure, but I know that at the end of the day, I will always have them. Always.

Beyond that, I've received an incredible education, received a full-time job offer, and have been accepted into grad school. I've learned from absolute geniuses, and I've found fields other than accounting that have captivated me and have made me expand my interests and my views on the world (particularly women's history). I've met classmates who I am positive will have a huge impact on the world. I am so excited to see where they all end up, because I know they will go far.

All in all, it's been an incredible four years. I've run out of good adjectives to use to describe them, so I guess I'll just stick with incredible. I know that the rest of my life holds so much more, and I'm excited to continue with new experiences. But I will always, ALWAYS look back on my time at Miami with fondness.

Four years have come and gone and I have a lot to show for it. The best thing I got out of this time is my wonderful group of friends :)