Through the Middle

Posted in Travel, RPCV by Dom on November 7th, 2008

So I made it out of Notre Dame after four overtimes. If only they could have punched one through and not lost…Oh well the past is in the past and we all know how much I care about sports anyway. Notre Dame as a school though was quite interesting. Super small program, taking only one a year. A whole lot of freedom and support. That seemed real cool.

Continued on over to Columbus. Hung out with both sides of the family the first day. That was nice. Had an early Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house. All the food was quite excellent. Especially the sweet corn. Two years without it is one thing but two years only being able to eat the corn flakes equivalent really made me appreciate it and miss it that much more. I piled like three extra scoops on my plate and because I didn’t see it until last it was all on top of my salad and potatoes and all that business. I’m not a mixer but some things just have to be done. In addition there was goose and duck and sweet potato pies and all kinds of other pies; like pumpkin. It was excellent. It was nice to see great grandma again and all the children and spouses of the cousins that are all grown up now. These times they are a changing.

Cruised over to Philadelphia yesterday. Supposedly a seven hour drive. I didn’t time it, I don’t know. It was pretty great because there was like no traffic. The weather was pretty fantastic yesterday too. Kind of warm but a nice cool breeze with all the green and orange and yellow leaves overhanging the highway. Every now and then it would hit me how different it was from the Malawian scenery but for the most part it was just some colorful leaves. Staying with a family friend here. Got some more Yuengling and some hot wings for dinner last night. It’s good to be in America.

Went to see the school here today. That turned out to be a bit ridiculous with a couple reschedules and rain. It seems to be a really awesome program though. I talked with a professor and hung out with some of the current grad students while they worked on some projects. The program seemed to really be connected to the city; which is real cool. Coming back was a bit of a financial fiasco because I’m not good at managing my money here yet and got on a $6 train with only $3. The guy just took the other $3 out on me. Whatever though, I got home. ATM tomorrow though.

I keep thinking/dreaming of a nap, and I keep postponing it. Tomorrow will probably just continue the cycle. Heading North again tomorrow. Oh so I just realized I forgot to talk about OSU. Their program seemed solid, but very teaching oriented. As in that’s pretty much the only new doors that would be opened for me from obtaining their degree. Since teaching is pretty far down my list right now I’m just not so interested in it. They had a very classical approach to the masters. Where I choose a topic and spend three years researching it and then present my findings as a thesis and defend it. All the while only formally meeting with my advisor once a year. I want something a bit more hands on and theoretical if that makes sense.