Then and Now...

Four years ago, I fell in love with football. I've always enjoyed it, but I really fell head over heels when I started college. However, a few things have changed in the past year.

One year ago, I attended a football game decked out in casual gold and blue with my girls...

This year, I am dressed up in red and black with my boyfriend!

A year ago, I was watching a leather-clad man "Bring on the Mountaineers!"

This year, I watched a very large bulldog be carried into the stadium surrounded by fans.

For me, these two football years can't even be compared...they are apples and oranges. I wouldn't trade or change them. I love them both for their uniqueness. And, I am looking forward to both my teams having an amazing season this year!

Assitantship-ing

This past week my graduate assistantship has really gotten up and running. I am so grateful to have it to pay for my college, but I've been terrified that it would be to much for me to handle. Thankfully, it started of slow, but the past couple days I've really jumped head first into it. However, as I met with the professor that I work with today, I've realized that it provides many unplanned benefits, such as making me feel smart. For example, I've been praised for completing the simplest of tasks that he couldn't do himself. These include but are not limited to:

• Creating a line graph in Excel
• Printing return address labels from a template
• Filing a stack of jumbled old papers
• Recalculating mean scores in a spreadsheet

Needless to say, most of you could have done any of these tasks. But, it still nice to hear him brag about how I'm "smart but not nerdy" to the other professors...especially when one is a WVU Alum! I definitely think this is a job worth sticking with...

The Wrong Colors...

Today I picked up my UGA football tickets for the 2008 season. And, it couldn't have been more ironic that the band was practicing at the same exact time. When I first arrived, I was really excited. But, as I got the tickets and started walking back to my car, it struck me how wrong everything felt. The tickets were not Gold & Blue but Red & Black. And, the band wasn't playing Country Roads or even Simple Gifts! Now as I sit here listening to "2009 Gold N Blue" though, everything is a bit more in perspective. I will never be a fair weather fan with my Alma Mater, but I need football games to attend, too. So, I have no guilt in cheering for Georgia. I want them to do well. I just want WVU to do well, also. So, this will be a very interesting year going to SEC games dressed up and then coming home to watch Big East games in my Maniac tees and a hat. But, my dream would be a national championship game between my two teams. So, tomorrow, I will get excited by wearing my UGA scrubs to work. But, I am always going to bleed gold and blue!

2009 Gold N Blue

St. Mary's Adventures...

As of this week, I am an MSW Intern at St. Mary's Hospital here in Athens. And, I've survived my first few days! They have been such busy days. I am learning TONS. Now that it is Friday, I can confidently use the fax machine, make copies, file papers, and retrieve charts! Haha...that's not all, though. I am also learning the medical lingo and am now not only able to explain what a DMA-6 and a Level-1 is, but I can complete them, too! I'm also building report with the nursing staff and am recognized by at least one of the hospitalist doctors! Yay! I've also started to learn the difference between all the different SNFs and can list of the most popular ones. And, I'm sure all of this is much more fascinating to me than anyone else, but I am excited! I just can't wait until I can actually do work on my own...

The Beach!

This past weekend, I went to the beach for the first time EVER in all of my life that I can remember. Obviously, since I was born on an island in the Phillipines, I saw it at some point. I just can't remember that. Friday night, Devin and I tried to visit Savannah on our way there, but there was an underground electrical fire that blacked out power to almost all of downtown. So, we got to do a little sight seeing but not much. Then, we met up with Cory, Sarah, Paul, and Mary and traveled out to Tybee Island. That night, I got to see the ocean!!! I was so excited for this that I think everyone else was just about to shut me up for good so I could never talk about it again. Thankfully, we made it to the beach before they had to do that, though.



On Saturday, we spent time on the beach and in the water on and off throughout the day. We had fun with frisbee, sand castle building, and LOTS of swimming. The biggest shock for me was repeatedly getting salt water in my mouth until I got a better grip on keeping my mouth closed and anticipating the waves. It was really gross before that. But, even with that, I loved just spending time in the water as much as I could.






That night, we went to The Crab Shack where they feed you waaaay too much shellfish. Devin, Cory, and Paul ate raw clams, but Sarah and I refused to try them. All of us shared a giant platter of crab legs, shrimp, mussels, crawfish, sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob. We didn't even come close to finishing all of the food.



By Sunday, we were all pretty worn out and headed home after checking out in the morning. I have found that I love love LOVE the beach and am already planning my next trip to somewhere even more exotic. Can anyone say Cayman Islands? :]

Toilet Troubles

Since I have moved into my new place at the end of May, our toilets have functioned less than satisfactory. In the year previous to me coming, the plumber had been out to visit several times but never solved any problems. Well...it all changed for the worse when I tried to flush a tissue (that's it!) yesterday. The toilet quickly backed up faster than I could plunge and started pouring over. With nowhere to go, it leaked under the toilet, down to the first floor, and started coming out through the light fixture above our table. It was horrible! After becoming covered in toilet water (eww) trying to clean it up, the situation was under control. However, we are still waiting on an electrician more than 24 hours later to come check the light. And, my toilet has mocked me by having no problems flushing ever since. Darn plumbing!

A Morgantown Weekend

This past weekend I got to return to my "home" in Stalnaker Hall to hang out with Alysen! She was moving back to the dorms, and I just had to see her. Not seeing Alysen for a whole summer was waaay to long. Good friends don't come along every day, and she's a keeper! I also got to see all sorts of other friends and familiar faces making an amazing couple of days!

We stayed up super late having "girl talk" and catching up on each others' lives. (Alysen will probably kill me for posting this picture.)

This was an amazing shot I got of downtown Morgantown.

Eating Double Doozies and shopping in the mall finished out a great girls' weekend!