NY Anniversary

Rachel and I met last Memorial Day.  We've been together a year, yet have traveled internationally, been living together since just after New Year's, and are "engaged to be engaged."  She is the love of my life, so I wanted to treat her right for our anniversary.  I told her we were going to New York  She arranged the bus tickets, while I arranged everything else, and I kept everything that we were doing a complete surprise until the day we did it.

We had a wonderful time!  We wandered the city a lot (she'd never been as a tourist, and it's been a long time since I've been purely to sight see), went to the Top of the Rock, played chess in Central Park, and saw three shows: an off-Broadway parody of the Harry Potter books (hilarious), a jazz show at Birdland (wonderful) and one of my all-time favorite musicals: Wicked.  We had tons of great vegetarian/vegan food, and an overall wonderful experience.

Photo Contest

Today, CUAbroad announced a photo contest for students who traveled abroad during the past school year. Students had to submit three photos, which get voted on. I have so many photos I love, but ended up submitting the following:

Graduation

At long last my college days came to an end, as I received my Masters of Arts degree in Theatre Education on Saturday.  The MATE program has been wonderful, I have learned a great deal, made some great friends, and feel fully prepared for a career in Theatre Education.  I also got to go to Oxford last fall, as part of my graduate work, and of course had the time of my life there.

The ceremony was nice, albeit a bit long, and my family went to a lovely dinner afterwards.  The pictures in the slide show come from my camera (used by Rachel), my mom's camera, and I borrowed a couple of pics from my advisor Rosalind, who was snapping away as well.

Just three days after Graduation, today, I received my first request for a theatre teaching interview.  I have been applying to positions, counties, and schools for the past three months, but this timing was good.  The interview isn't until June, and is at a public school in Waldorf.

I am thrilled to have my degree, thrilled to finish with a nearly perfect GPA (only one A minus in my grad career), and thrilled to be done with graduate school and college!

Wish Come True

Last Summer, right before leaving for Oxford

This blog might sound a little corny, but sometimes wishes do come true, even if it takes a while.  I was a romantic for a long time, yet never had a date on Valentine's Day or my birthday (today).  For a decade my birthday wish when I blew out candles was always the same.  As cliched as it sounds, I wished for true love.  Well, now it has finally come true, as I am with the love of my life Rachel.  It took a while, but in the end my dream was realized.

The End in Sight

Tintagel

With only two days left as a student teacher, finished work in my Education class, and the upcoming performance of Stuck, my MA thesis, the end is in sight.  It has been a long climb, both through undergrad and graduate school, but this will be the end of my degree-seeking schooling.  I am very excited.

Easter

Had a lovely Easter at my parent's house. Rachel is wonderful with my nephews, and my mom made a delicious (Italian) dinner. Overall a very nice day.

Remembering

I had a dentist appointment and he asked what I had been up to over the past few months.  I told him my time abroad was the best time of my life.  Sometimes it is simply nice to remember...

Glastonbury Tor