Life As a Grad Student

I'm officially the worst blogger ... EVER!!!

Sorry for that. Well, here is my list of the top 10 faves ( in no particular order) about grad school/Austin so far...

1. Meeting new friends- My friendship circle has gone global- it's a great thing. I have friends from Brazil and China- I am always amazed at how brave they were to come, and how well they fit in.

2. Learning to accept differences... and bite my tongue when necessary
( Small classroom setting + extremely outspoken people = some (not-so-great) debates)

3. Living in a big city- I'm never bored
4. Running by the lake (some good people watching here- the gay sightings multiply by the lake)
5. Hula Hut (my favorite restaurant) is located only about 10 minutes away from my apt.
6. Slowly figuring out what I want to do/don't want to do with my life
7. Being challenged daily- by professors and assignments and public transportation- which I still refuse to take because I'm scared/don't know how to use it
( I have quickly learned that I am my biggest roadblock when it comes down to what I want to do)

8. Ryan (and his dogs) are in Austin- he is very helpful when it comes to the technological aspect of my work. :)
9. People watching
10. Realizing that I am here for a reason- maybe I'm not sure what it is yet, and maybe my likes/dislikes might change along the way... but I'm here- and not by mistake.

My DISLIKES:
1. Bicyclists- every time one of them is riding their stupid BIKE in front of my CAR I am tempted to just RUN them over. Call it "bike" rage if you must... but the next time one of them is going 25 MPH in front of my car- I will run them over.

2. Traffic- I live downtown which is great, until about 4:30-6:30 Monday-Friday when the mass exodus occurs. All of the roads/highways become jammed with bumper to bumper traffic- I try to avoid driving during those times.

3. Squirrels- the UT squirrels aren't as nice as Baylor squirrels- I think it's because they are from the streets- I like to think of them as thugs in the squirrel world.

4. Public Transportation- everyone uses public transportation here- except me. I'm scared of it/don't know how to use it- would probably end up in Houston if I tried it. I will stick to my car.

5. The Creeper- He is a man in our program- who thinks he knows everything about everything- and chooses to interject his opinion whenever he feels necessary- which is every 5 seconds. He has been nicknamed the creeper- and he is about twice my age. He once told our class he spent some of his life in Hollywood as a "gutter punk (umm.. I'm from Cali- and have never heard that term before)" that sold acid out of a tent.. ... CLASSY- not so much...

6. Lack of time- I feel as if I spend most of my time in class, lab or practicum- if I'm not in one of those, I'm trying to catch up on sleep, or covering an event/lecture/meeting/etc for a story- oh yeah.. and I haven't even started my Master's project yet.

7. Not knowing what my "area of expertise" will be: each student needs to adopt a specialization- where they will take graduate level courses in that area- so I can obtain a more knowledge in that certain area, therefore, being able to better report on it. I was thinking Women's health...

8. Being.. at least... an hour and half away from any of my Baylor friends

9. The economy- I'm scared- companies all over are trying to condense their staff- not expand. I'm worried I won't be able to find a good job when I graduate.

10. Politics- Good Lord- people here are CRAZY about politics. No, I don't care who you are voting for... and NO, I'm not going to tell you who I'm voting for- and under NO circumstances can we have a small political discussion. Absolutely NOT.

Love you and miss you all....