It really hit the fan in mid-November for us.
Peter left for his six-month Germany rotation on the 16th, which was crushing. I have never actually lived by myself so this will be an...interesting experiment. He'll hopefully graduate faster, so that should be worth it, but him leaving wasn't fun.
Luckily I didn't have much time to really think about it right out of the gate. On the 18th I left for NYC, where this year's Engineers Without Borders conference was -- but also to visit my aunt, of course. The conference was great and the project poster I made (pdf) won 2nd place, which meant $150 for the chapter! Sue and I hit up Eataly, which was very fun (especially the fresh mozzarella and fancy pate samples). My mom and Beth Ann also joined in for some hijinks, including going to a Dark Dining dinner where you eat but cannot see a thing. We also spotted some crazy hats at one of the Grand Central Christmas booths and visited Canstruction - which also marked the first time I've seen the world trade center site since I was very little. A busy time for me, with conferencing during the day and hijinks in the evenings, but enjoyable.
Mom and I then took the train down to Newark (along with World's Most Obnoxious Mom, ie "do you want to go to the bathroom? Are you hungry? You should eat, aren't you hungry? What stop are we? Where are we going? That's right, DC? Are we going to DC?" For. Three. Hours. LADY SHUT YOUR MOUTH) on the 22nd or so. I originally had bought round-trip airfare to JFK, but it was a super cheap day and so I didn't feel bad ditching it and buying Amtrak down to DE and Southwest back to Pittsburgh...driving so long by myself would have been more of a pain. Then it was turkey time! Thanksgiving was great (it always is!) and Peter's dad brought down not one, not two, not even three -- FOUR different pies. It was amaaazing. The next day, of course, was a good black friday jaunt with mom.
Despite all this fun, the entire time I was thinking about / working on my research proposal for the 30th - yikes! This was especially awful as the internet at home was failing, dial-up slow, auuugh. Although it's not as big a deal as quals, it was certainly preying on enough of my mind to switch my flight back to Pittsburgh to Saturday versus Monday out of anxiousness. I was really unduly anxious, since it's not as do-or-die as quals, but probably because of all the mayhem leading up to the day I was kind of overloaded. Worst-timed major presentation of my life so far! But although I was sweating it, I did fine on Wednesday, thank goodness! I now am a PhD candidate and have a green light on the rest of my research career...wee.
Although I don't drink beer, I celebrated a bit by going to the GSA-sponsored beer tasting at Phipps. Walking around the gardens at any time is pretty fun, but at night and with some beer it is even more entertaining. I think this photo sums it up rather nicely, and ends on a good note for this post. :)
Peter left for his six-month Germany rotation on the 16th, which was crushing. I have never actually lived by myself so this will be an...interesting experiment. He'll hopefully graduate faster, so that should be worth it, but him leaving wasn't fun.
Luckily I didn't have much time to really think about it right out of the gate. On the 18th I left for NYC, where this year's Engineers Without Borders conference was -- but also to visit my aunt, of course. The conference was great and the project poster I made (pdf) won 2nd place, which meant $150 for the chapter! Sue and I hit up Eataly, which was very fun (especially the fresh mozzarella and fancy pate samples). My mom and Beth Ann also joined in for some hijinks, including going to a Dark Dining dinner where you eat but cannot see a thing. We also spotted some crazy hats at one of the Grand Central Christmas booths and visited Canstruction - which also marked the first time I've seen the world trade center site since I was very little. A busy time for me, with conferencing during the day and hijinks in the evenings, but enjoyable.
Mom and I then took the train down to Newark (along with World's Most Obnoxious Mom, ie "do you want to go to the bathroom? Are you hungry? You should eat, aren't you hungry? What stop are we? Where are we going? That's right, DC? Are we going to DC?" For. Three. Hours. LADY SHUT YOUR MOUTH) on the 22nd or so. I originally had bought round-trip airfare to JFK, but it was a super cheap day and so I didn't feel bad ditching it and buying Amtrak down to DE and Southwest back to Pittsburgh...driving so long by myself would have been more of a pain. Then it was turkey time! Thanksgiving was great (it always is!) and Peter's dad brought down not one, not two, not even three -- FOUR different pies. It was amaaazing. The next day, of course, was a good black friday jaunt with mom.
Despite all this fun, the entire time I was thinking about / working on my research proposal for the 30th - yikes! This was especially awful as the internet at home was failing, dial-up slow, auuugh. Although it's not as big a deal as quals, it was certainly preying on enough of my mind to switch my flight back to Pittsburgh to Saturday versus Monday out of anxiousness. I was really unduly anxious, since it's not as do-or-die as quals, but probably because of all the mayhem leading up to the day I was kind of overloaded. Worst-timed major presentation of my life so far! But although I was sweating it, I did fine on Wednesday, thank goodness! I now am a PhD candidate and have a green light on the rest of my research career...wee.
Although I don't drink beer, I celebrated a bit by going to the GSA-sponsored beer tasting at Phipps. Walking around the gardens at any time is pretty fun, but at night and with some beer it is even more entertaining. I think this photo sums it up rather nicely, and ends on a good note for this post. :)
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