I Heart Gameday!

It is finally tailgate season as ASU just had their first home football game of the 2011 season. (We won - woot woot!) Next to Summer and March Madness, tailgate season is my favorite season. 

Since my undergrad did not have tailgating, I still get overwhelmingly excited about hanging out in the middle of Raley parking lot with the other grad students from my program, playing Corn Hole (bean bags to those of us from the Midwest), listening to either "Dirt Road Anthem" or "Black and Yellow" on repeat, chowing down on burgers and hot dogs and ending the day with some great Mountaineer football! 

Plus, how can you not love game day when you get beautiful fall days and a stadium that has a view of the Blue Ridge Moutains in the background! 

So for most of the remaining Saturdays this fall you will find me in the "back of a jacked up tailgate" loving life and cheering on App State!

What Comes Next

It's hard to think that even though it feels like I just got to App State and started my graduate program, that in reality it will soon be over. In just a few months, I will be starting the job search process and applying for positions all over the US looking for the next great fit! Not gonna lie, it's a little intimating. Within this graduate program I have always felt that I have been planning life six months in advance and I haven't ever really had the opportunity to be present where I am. But I guess that's the nature of this beast we call graduate school. So, in attempts to be proactive and figure out the next step in life, I have started contacting a school in Scotland that I visited in April to see if there is any possibility that I can set up a short term internship with them after I graduate. The goal: The University of St. Andrews. There is no doubt that out of all the Universities we visited while abroad, St. Andrews made the largest impact and the best impression. The feeling I had while at that school was similar to what I have felt at ASU - it felt like home. It wasn't hard for me to picture myself living and thriving there. Due to that feeling, I have taken the leap of faith in pursuing an internship opportunity there. Fingers crossed! I know that this is the time for me to take risks like this. Once I start my full time job, these international experiences won't be as available and I don't want to look back and regret not taking this chance. However, I do have hesitations. There are factors - things and people - which cause me to reconsider if this is something I really want to do. I get caught up in asking a lot of "what if's" which I know I should not do. I have often struggled with making decisions only based on what it means for me. But with this, I need to take a deep breath and give it a try. To be completely cliche' if it's meant to be it will all work out. Guess now, I just get to wait and see what comes next!