2 weeks

It's been two weeks since I left Clarkston and my amazing winter break to come back to Missoula to start out graduate school semester number two!  It's actually been really great.  I thought I would need some time to readjust...and actually the first two or three days were quite the whirlwind (probably because I didn't come back until the night before classes started), but after that, I felt fine.  And I still do feel fine.  Maybe my heart and brain have accepted that this is how things are right now, and I will get through everything just fine! Maybe that's my high emotional intelligence coming through...we discussed that this week in my Theories of Health Behavior and Counseling class.  My other first-year grad student peers (there are only three of us in a class of over 30) agreed that I would score high on an emotional intelligence assessment...and I think they would too.

A lot has happened in these two weeks:

• I successfully was away from Casey and June without missing them TOO much.
• I got a research assistantship raise. YAY!
• I was put in a group for a huge program planning project, and we selected homeless women in Missoula as our target population.
• I met my eager undergrads of Beginning Fitness, and they are so great.
• I've started to budget my money.   Yes, I'm 22 and I have never kept track of my spending.  I figured it was about time.
• I finished a novel about the cholera outbreaks in the 1800's in Europe called "The Ghost Map" for my Environmental and Rural Health class.  It was a good read...I would recommend it to anyone.
• I met a new group of students in my Intercultural Youth and Family Development class...there are eight of us...we meet for 3 hours on Thursdays and talk about youth and family development issues, both locally and globally.  Very interesting.
• I found out I am going to learn how to use a scantron machine...how exciting! I've had many exams graded by one, but never knew how it worked...so next Tuesday at noon, the learning will begin. I'll let you know how it goes.
• I watched my first ever hockey game! It was alright...no fights.
• I've reconnected with some Missoula and grad school friends after the long break.  Cheers!
• I found out that a possible project for my thesis has the opportunity to get published.  Obviously, nothing has happened yet, but there is an evaluation out there that my advisor will be doing, and she asked if I would be interested in helping with it, and it has the possibility of being published.  I know that is vague, but that's really all I know. I will keep you updated.  I know it involves quality of life indicators with reservation communities and a community garden... :)

So, in sum, it has been a busy two weeks! Casey will be here later today, and we're looking forward to a weekend full of rest and relaxation.  Hopefully the next two weeks will be just as exciting, amazing, and fast :)