(almost anyway)
Tomorrow is the day. Everything has happened so fast. I do not feel prepared AT ALL. This summer at camp was probably the busiest one yet. Or maybe it just felt that way because I had so much more to do outside of camp.
Dusty and I will be leaving sometime between 10 and 11 to drive out to Salt Lake City, Utah. tomorrow. For those of you who don't know exactly what I'm doing, I'll be going to graduate school at the University of Utah. I'm working toward a Master of Science in Nutrition while also completing 1200 hours of supervised practice required to become a Registered Dietitian. It's a two year program, including the summer months, so unfortunately I'm not going to be able to come home for a summer break.
Yeah, yeah, I know what's on everyone's mind: Why Utah? Desert, Mormons, and a 21-hour drive from home? (Well, I'm beginning to wonder that myself, but I'm sure that's just the nerves.) Beyond having almost exactly what I want in a program, it's the area. I fell in love with the western United States the first time I was out there in Summer of 2007 with Miss Chelsea the Math Teacher. And again in Summer 2009. And, of course, on The RoadTrip with the College Besties last summer. Salt Lake is a gorgeous city. It's also got a "small city" feel to it -- more like Duluth or Fargo/Moorhead than Minneapolis/St Paul, which is probably going to be best for me, after growing up in Grand Rapids and then spending four years at sheltered CSB/SJU. It's so clean and the people are nice. Another plus: THE MOUNTAINS! The location is wonderful -- all the benefits of a big city, yet you can drive 20 minutes and be in the middle of nowhere. Amazing.
About the apartment search:
To make a fairly long story short: I was out in SLC with Lizbeth, Eds, and Dusty in June for a couple days to find an apartment. I was incredibly underprepared for this experience and didn't find a whole lot of anything. The thing about SLC is this: it's made up of mostly old homes with new interior renovations. There aren't many large apartment buildings/complexes like we're used to at home. The ones they do have are either way out in the suburbs or waaaay overpriced. I ended up finding a very nice one-bedroom apartment in a nice neighborhood right by their state capitol. Almost everything that I wanted, but it would run me close to $900/month! I put a deposit down to hold the apartment -- I had until August 1 to cancel my application and the only loss would be the $200 deposit I put down.
After doing some serious thinking, I decided to start looking into finding a roommate. Responded to a couple ads on the university's off-campus housing website and the local TV's classifieds and found one fairly quickly. It's been sort of a rollercoaster of emotions with the situation though -- just ask Dusty, ha. Nothing is actually finalized yet -- I guess the landlord is just trusting the roommate and not having me sign a lease or put down any money until I get out there. Just makes me incredibly nervous that I'm going to get out there and have nowhere to live! I'm sure it will all work out just fine though -- Dusty says I need to stop being so paranoid :)
Anyway -- this will be a crazy busy week. We'll be out there hopefully before noon on Tuesday, then have orientation on Friday. I should have some time to update sometime this week.
Love you all!
And, a special THANK YOU, to miss AURORA Watson for all of her help last night and today. She's a pro at this packing thing!
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