Grad School, Year 4

Tomorrow I begin my first full semester as a Master's student in the ECU program.  I'm a lot excited and a little nervous.  This is a new direction for me, but I feel like it's the right direction.  I'll still be working in the FXS lab, so I may disappear from the blogging world as I get accustomed to my new class schedule (I have all evening classes instead of morning and early afternoon ones). 

Yet another Illinois adventure

It's only been an evening, but already Illinois is yet again proving to be adventurous for Fragile X lab GRAs!  Our flights were nice and smooth this time (well, except for the massively hard landing at O'hare!), but getting to our hotel was somewhat less smooth.  While driving on a four-lane highway, 3 teenage boys decided to jaywalk across the street.  But they didn't simply cross the street.  They walked out into my lane, and stayed there.  As I approached, they walked toward us and very slowly sidled out of the way (into the other lane).  Even after honking and glaring at them, they didn't seem to think it a bit strange to be meandering among the highway lanes.  A few miles later, things got more frightening.  The highway had filled up since we were approaching the business district, and this meant that cars were frequently making turns into and out of lanes and driveways.  The driver of one particularly large pick-up truck decided that she should be able to turn into our lane even if we were right there.  So she did.  And I swerved into the other lane.  Thankfully there was no one there.  I am beginning to wonder if this rental car is invisible!

Bunny Birthday

Tori and Kita turn 1 year old today!! =)

Change

Today marks my last day as a student in the Child Language program.

I'll start the Early Childhood Unified Education program in the Special Education department at the University of Kansas this summer.  I'm thankful for what I've learned as a student in Child Language, but I'm really excited about being a teacher for itty bitty kiddos.  It means two more years of school, but in the end I'll be able to do what I love!  I'll keep my job as a GRA in the Fragile X lab, so I'll continue to travel on home visits and such.  I'll just be part of a different academic program.  While the change is a bit scary, I'm looking forward to this new chapter in my life.

Gatlinburg Conference 2012

Wow. I guess I've been busier than I expected this semester!

I've spent this week at the 45th Annual Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Annapolis, MD.  I presented a poster last night on my master's thesis, and that went very well.