First Week Back

Ashley showing school spirit by wearing copies of the latest edition of our school newspaper, The Current.

Left hand blue?

This picture is stunning of all three of us!  (Me, Ashley, Cassie).

Kitchen party!

Ashley and I looking adorable.

I successfully survived my first week of my last semester of college!  Whoo hoo!  My classes are mostly so-so, so far.  Hopefully I'll develop more of an affection for them as we move further along in this semester.  Unfortunately senioritis has definitely set in starting from Day 1, so I'll have to stay strong for the remainder of this school year.

Ryan will be joining our party tomorrow when he comes to move back into UVM!  I miss that boy, so that will be fantastic.

All but one of my textbooks have gotten to me in time for class, so I'm waiting patiently for things to get in order.  I have also been selling my textbooks on half.com.  Can I get a HOO-RAH for extra cash?  :D

In other news, my fish are all still alive and doing fairly well.  My plan for when my guppies, Killer and Diana Ross die, is to go to Walmart and get a new set of 5 and create a new bond with new family members.  <3

I don't have much else to report except for that I'm poor and waiting for my refund to come in from the school.  Ryan is going to help feed me over the next few weeks until I have money to go grocery shopping again.  (I love that boy.)  :)  Well will make it through!

What has your first week back to school looked like?

Textbook Craze (Updated 1/14/12)

It's about that time again.  When you have to frantically find the cheapest option for textbooks for the semester, while trying to make the most amount of money possible selling your old textbooks to other students who want them for cheap.  Whew!

My textbooks for my last semester of college are going to cost around $250.  Not fun.  :(  I'm also selling about 44 books (both textbooks and young adult fiction/paranormal romance) on half.com.  My username there is megan.goodell so if you want to look me up and see what I have for sale, please do!  I have pretty reasonable prices listed for the condition of the books I have for sale, so you should definitely check me out.  :)

In case you aren't able to search by username on half.com, I'll list the books I still have available to sell below.  If you are interested, please comment below with which book you're interested in and I'll let you know the price I'm offering for it and what condition my copy is in.  :)

1. Essentials of the Living World by George Johnson and Jonathan B. Losos (2009, Paperback): George Johnson (Paperback, 2009)    SOLD!


2. The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia by Frances Wood (2004, Paperback): Frances Wood (Paperback, 2004) 


3. The Transformation Of American Religion by Alan Wolfe (2005, Paperback, Reprint): Alan Wolfe (Paperback, 2005) 


4. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy (2006, Paperback, Reissue): James Ellroy (Paperback, 2006) 


5. The Silk Road Journey With Xuanzang by Sally Hovey Wriggins (2003, Paperback, Subsequent Edition): Sally Hovey Wriggins(Paperback, 2003) 


6. The Analects by Confucius (1979, Paperback): Confucius (Paperback, 1979) 


7. Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine by Roy Porter (2003, Hardcover): Roy Porter (Hardcover, 2003) 


8. Capitalism by Paul Bowles (2006, Paperback): Paul Bowles (Paperback, 2006) 


9. Impulse by Ellen Hopkins (2007, Hardcover): Ellen Hopkins (Hardcover, 2007) 


10. Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives by Gregg Vanourek and Christopher Gergen (2008, Hardcover):Christopher Gergen (Hardcover, 2008) 


11. Religions of the West Today by John L. Esposito, Darrell J. Fasching and Todd Lewis (2008, Paperback): Todd Lewis (Paperback, 2008) 


12. How to Survive Your Freshman Year: By Hundreds of College Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors Who Did by By Hundreds of Heads (2009, Paperback): By Hundreds of Heads (Paperback, 2009) 


13. Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers by Kwame Anthony Appiah (2007, Paperback, Reprint): Kwame Anthony Appiah(Paperback, 2007) 


14. Monkey/Folk Novel of China by Cheng'En Wu (1994, Paperback, Reissue): Cheng-En Wu (Paperback, 1994) 


15. Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade by Rachel Louise Snyder (2009, Paperback, Reprint): Rachel Louise Snyder (Paperback, 2009) 


16. Song Quest: The Echorium Sequence by Katherine Roberts (2002, Paperback, Reprint): Katherine Roberts (Paperback, 2002)


17. Chakra Clearing: Awakening Your Spiritual Power to Know and Heal by Doreen Virtue (1998, Paperback): Doreen Virtue(Paperback, 1998) 


18. The Only Wiccan Spell Book You'll Ever Need by Marian Singer and Trish Macgregor (2004, Paperback): Trish Macgregor(Paperback, 2004) 


19. High Wizardry by Diane Duane (2001, Paperback): Diane Duane (Paperback, 2001) 


20. Incubus by Janet Elizabeth Jones (2010, Paperback): Janet Elizabeth Jones (Paperback, 2010) 


21. Magickal Mermaids And Water Creatures by D. J. Conway and D.J. Conway (2005, Paperback): D. J. Conway (Paperback, 2005)


22. Teen Witch: Wicca for a New Generation by Silver Ravenwolf (1998, Paperback): Silver Ravenwolf (Paperback, 1998) 


23. Lilith's Dream: A Tale of the Vampire Life by Whitley Strieber (2002, Hardcover): Whitley Strieber (Hardcover, 2002) 


24. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman (2007, Paperback, Updated): Thomas L. Friedman (Paperback, 2007)  SOLD!


25. Realm of Shadows by Heather X. Graham (2002, Paperback): Heather X. Graham (Paperback, 2002)


26. Witching Moon by Rebecca York (2003, Paperback): Rebecca York (Paperback, 2003) 


27. Hell's Heroes by Darren Shan (2010, Hardcover): Darren Shan (Hardcover, 2010) (Mine is a paperback).  Was listed incorrectly somehow.


28. Under Town by Charles Ogden (2006, Hardcover): Charles Ogden (Hardcover, 2006) 


29. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (2006, Paperback): Eoin Colfer (Paperback, 2006) 


30. Classic American Ghost Stories: 200 Years of Ghost Lore from the Great Plains, New England, the South, and the Pacific Northwest (1990, Paperback) (Paperback, 1990)  (Mine is a hardcover).


31. Weaveworld by Clive Barker (2001, Paperback): Clive Barker (Paperback, 2001)


32. Death's Shadow by Darren Shan (2009, Paperback, Reprint): Darren Shan (Paperback, 2009) 


33. Witches Incorporated by K. E. Mills (2009, Paperback, Original): K. E. Mills (Paperback, 2009) 


34. Seducing an Angel by Mary Balogh (2010, Paperback, Reprint): Mary Balogh (Paperback, 2010) 


35. Wizards at War by Diane Duane (2007, Paperback, Reprint): Diane Duane (Paperback, 2007) 


36. Wizard's Dilemma by Diane Duane (2002, Paperback, Reprint): Diane Duane (Paperback, 2002) 


37. Social Work Practice And Social Justice by William S. Rowe and Karen M. Sowers (2006, Paperback): Karen M. Sowers(Paperback, 2006) 


38. People Skills by Robert Bolton (1986, Paperback, Reissue): Robert Bolton (Paperback, 1986) 


39. Encyclopedia Of Haunted Places: Ghostly Locales From Around The World (2008, Hardcover) (Hardcover, 2008)


40. The Amulet Of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud (2004, Paperback, Reprint): Jonathan Stroud (Paperback, 2004) 


41. Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer (2000, Hardcover): Joan Bauer (Hardcover, 2000)


42. The Golem's Eye  by Jonathan Stroud.  Paperback.


43. Soulstice by Simon Holt (2009, Hardcover): Simon Holt (Hardcover, 2009) 


44. Understanding Digital Culture by Vincent Miller (2011, Paperback): Vincent Miller (Paperback, 2011) 

Its Been A Really Long Time...

Hello, everyone!

I haven't really posted more than one or two blog posts this past semester.  The truth is, I haven't really had much to say!  I've been too busy actually enjoying my life and having a great time of it to actually sit down and take the time to share.  So, here is an overview of important things that have happened this semester:

• Straight As!  Whoo hoo!!!
• Internship at The Arbors has been going well!  I'll be ready when I get back for next semester to pick up the pace a little and continue making my time there as awesome as possible.
• Making leaps and bounds through the Netflix queue.  Since Netflix split up its plan with the price increases, I've been subscribed online to the stream online plan.  Once I watch everything I can get through instant streaming, I'll switch to the physical disc mailing plan.  My most recent love has been How I Met Your Mother.  Words cannot describe...
• Grocery shopping and paying bills worked out awesome with my refund from the school up until the last 3 weeks.  I'll need to rethink that for next time.. Haha!
• Ryan and I are still going strong!  We sailed through our 5, 6, 7, and 8 month anniversaries.  April 5th of 2012 will mark our 1 year as an official couple!  YEEAHHHH!!!
• I bought fish!  I started off the summer with 5 guppies.  One died from the stress of the transfer from the store to my tank.  Then there were 4: Cappie (the only one with visible distinguishable marks), and "The Supremes" (the other 3 look-alikes).  Unfortunately now we're down to only two of the Supremes left (whom I have now dubbed Killer and Donna).  **Note, all my guppies were males--however, you have to admit that Cappie and The Supremes is kind of catchy...**  AND the newest addition to the family is a beta named Emmett.  He has his own tank and his own life, and I think that makes him happy.
• Space (my car) has thrived and deteriorated and thrived again!  We're hanging in the balance at around 160,000 miles.  We have winter tires but no snow....and we have oil and antifreeze that remains within the inner workings of the vehicle.  Win for all involved.
• Excellent drunken house parties have occurred: the very realistic Prohibition 1920s Speakeasy (where many of the attendees were underage [of course, this is college] so we all hid in the basement to manage the noise levels-good times), the famous Mustache party (yep-you guessed it. Mustache mandatory for attendance), ALL of Halloween weekend (3 parties in 2 days-not bad!), the quietish Christmas party between close Burlington-bound people in my life, and of course the other various nights that involved going to bars or staying in and mixing fun drinks by ourselves!
• Very few stressful nights worrying about homework and how I'm going to manage all of my classwork plus life in general.  4 classes per semester is PERFECT!  I'm so glad I put in all my hard times my Freshman/Sophomore years.  Senior year is a breeze so far, and I'm loving every second of it!  Sure there have been a few downs or hiccups in the general flow of things, but speaking overall, this has really been my best semester at Champlain so far.
• Oh, and I totally taught myself how to knit over Thanksgiving break via YouTube videos.  Oh yeah.  New life skills FOR THE WIN!

I'm so happy that this year has been going so well.  I can't imagine what this year would have been like with a schedule like my Spring semester of Sophomore year.  (That was when I broke up with Luke, was managing a 12 hr/wk unpaid internship, working as a Peer Advisor for as many hours/wk as was necessary, as well as working ~10hrs/wk for my mandatory work-study hours so I could have a paycheck).  I really wasn't sure I was going to make it that semester.  BUT-I did, and I'm stronger for it.  

I'm proud of myself for all I have accomplished so far.  I work damn hard and I deserve a lot of respect for all I do.  What is next on my list is to start applying for grad schools:  Boston University, Springfield College, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire.  I'm working on getting all of my required application materials together over this break, and sending them out quite soon once I return to Burlington/Winooski.  

Lastly: I have been a busy beaver over break.  I got home on Friday evening, and it is now Tuesday.  In this time, my mother and I have switched bedrooms.  I'm enjoying being home SO much more.  I don't feel so depressed and aimless as I thought I would.  A big project like this is just what I needed to keep myself busy and motivated.  I seriously got rid of about 5 bags of garbage, and donated another 5 or so to the Salvation Army.  The reason for this is that my old room was about 1/2 the size of the basement (about 1/4 of the entire house).  I moved from this big room to my moms normal-sized bedroom that actually has windows!  She moved into the bigger room.  Therefore, I needed to really focus on getting rid of a lot of my old stuff so that it would all fit into this new, smaller, more manageable room.  I cleaned out everything: stuff from past boyfriends that have been sitting or buried in my room, things I haven't touched or worried about in years, stuff I thought I would definitely need/use but never got around to, and even some stuff I had been emotionally attached to.  However, it was time to let it all go, to let it be free.  While I may still have another bag or two of trash to take out, I feel great!  Cleansed.  Like I'm getting rid of everything so that whatever comes after Champlain will have room to take hold and lead me to where I'm supposed to be-without leaving too much behind.  So far both my mother and I seem happy with the trade.

Well, this wraps everything up rather nicely from the past 4 months of my life.  I feel like I need to find a new purpose for blogging again.  I wish I could be as dedicated as other folks in writing a fabulous blog-stuff other people actually care about instead of something that looks like a journal of my life.  I will gladly accept any and all blogging ideas and suggestions below.  Tell me what you'd most want to hear/learn about!  If it is something that lines up well with my interests or knowledge and expertise, I will try to move the blog in that direction--and work on posting more frequently.  :)

Auf Wiedersehen!

It's About that Time Again

Welcome back to Mental Regurgitation!


This post will bring out my nerd-ness and expose just how much of a geek I am, but that's okay.  I'm willing to bear it all.  ;)  

I'M SO EXCITED FOR SCHOOL TO START!!!!

Yesterday I packed up my backpack for the first day of school (Aug. 29th) and made sure I had everything I needed for my first classes.  I'm a little worried but also excited for this semester and how it's going to go.  Tuesdays are my easy days where I just have 1 class from 11-12:15, so that'll be awesome for grocery shopping and all of that fun magical stuff that needs to happen on a weekly basis (also known as errands).  Sleeping in won't be so bad, either.  Wednesdays and Saturdays are 8hr packed days of my internship-so hopefully all will be well!  I have a very light class schedule, so I'm hoping this semester will be AWESOME and that I can ace every class!

I love the routine of getting ready for a new school year.  I love new stationary and notebooks, new pens and pencils, and new FRESH semester schedules.  I love the smell of new textbooks and settling into new classrooms with new peers.  

Pair all of that with how much FUN fall fashion can be, and we have a pretty great start to a school year inundated with homework, tests, nervousness, stress, and anxiety.  Whoo hooo!

Because I am a bigger girl (as most of you know by now,) I'll share one of my favorite places to shop for clothing that fits women like me.  For new awesome fall fashions in sizes  14-28, click here.

And on a slightly different note, my mother's birthday fell yesterday.  So she came up to Burlington and we decided to go to Ri Ra's for dinner.  Here I proceeded to get drunk off of a Long Island Iced Tea and a Watermelon Schnapps.  Oh yeah.  :]

All in all-this has been a great summer, and I'm totally ready for an excellent school year.  Ashley will be moving into the bedroom next to mine very soon (Saturday) and the gang (me, Ryan, Ashley, and Joe) will reconvene once everyone is settled!  (We'd love to have Velvet back as well, but she's doing her thing in NY and getting by as best she can.  We miss her!)

Welcome to the Life of a Broke College Student!

My family and I are working with Financial Aid and Student Accounts at my college right now, attempting to figure out what we owe them or what they owe is.  As I'm sure you can imagine, it is a frustrating process.

So, my entire senior year hangs in balance as I wait to discover whether I will have enough money to handle buying all of my own groceries, or if I have to take a meal plan at the college so that my scholarships, loans and grant money will cover it.  And as I'm sure you can imagine, I'm stressed.

I was lucky enough to pay off almost all of my credit card debt today, however I now have to purchase this semester's textbooks and pay for groceries for the next 2 weeks.  Lovely.

I really hope things will work out in my favor for this school year.  I've got my game face on and I'm ready to work hard and play harder.

xoxo

Mismatched Cups

You know what's frustrating?

When you have a million mismatched cups and mugs in your kitchen cabinet and things don't fit quite right because of it.  But on the other hand, some of those cups have sentimental value, and you couldn't imagine yourself parting with them.

Welcome to college.

As I stood in my kitchen the other day putting dishes away, I had a flash-forward of my life.

My darling Ryan and I were happily en route in our life together: married, no kids yet, and I was still putting dishes away.  But we had an actual dish set.  Dishes that went together, that matched.  No more thrown-together plastic and glass dishware that consisted of my current dishware.  (And no more cheapie silverware from Walmart [5 for $1, anyone?]).

I'm really excited and ready to push beyond my mismatched THINGS in college life.  I'm ready to have my own place where I can own a complete dish set if I want, where I can host Christmas cocktail parties and serve alcohol because I'm over 21, and where I can really get a snapshot of what the rest of my life is going to look like.  (And make some changes if necessary).

As for the mismatched cup era?  Well, it was fun.  Developing relationships with half plastic/half glass dish sets has been a good time through the hilarity of college.  But, I'm ready for something better.

  

Intern Intern Intern!

InternQueen.com

The past week or so has been all about the art of Internships.  After my first internship prospect for my senior year-long internship at the Lund Family Center fell through, I was a little at a loss for what to do next.  Fortunately, Tarn (one of the Social Work faculty at Champlain) contacted me telling me she had a contact at the Arbors at Shelburne and that she thought this woman would be an awesome supervisor for me.

Soooo...I immediately e-mailed Tara (my potential future supervisor at the Arbors,) and asked to set up an interview and a tour.  A little background info on the Arbors: it is essentially a retirement home that includes a respite program, as well as an Alzheimer's and dementia population.  Last Friday 6/10, I went out for my interview.  I was considerably nervous because all interviews can be a little scary.  But Tara was very welcoming and accommodating, and we had a great conversation about what I could do to help out at the Arbors (AKA my internship duties).  After the successful interview portion, I was taken on a tour through the facility and got to meet some of the other staff and residents.  Tara told me she would love to have me on as an intern, and BAM!  Internship!

At first I was a little skeptical about working with the elderly because I had had a bad experience volunteering in a nursing home when I was doing volunteer work when I was 14 years old.  But, I attempted (and am still attempting) to keep an open mind about this.  After the tour I became very excited because it feels like Tara is going to be an awesome supervisor for me, and the community just feels much more inclusive than my first experience working with the elderly.  This is going to be such a great opportunity for me.  I'm hoping that I find I have a passion for working with the elderly, and that this will prove to be an experience that points me in a career direction I'm meant to work in.  (I am currently picturing Pocahontas with John Smith's compass and the arrow in her heart pointing her in the direction she needs to go.)

Not only am I excited about possibly finding a population I'm passionate about working with, but I'm excited about the job security that will come with this particular population.  As we all know, the baby boomers are all finally reaching retirement age.  Over the next 20 years (at least) there is going to be a great need for people in social services to work with and for the elder population.  This means there will be a promising start to my career and a great kickoff to the first 20 years of my professional career.  Whoo hoo!

My second bit of news relating to internships is that I have been accepted to be an Intern Queen Campus Ambassador for Champlain College!  If you have never been to the Intern Queen, Inc. website, click the giant link at the top of this posting.  Lauren Berger started this site to help students get internships.  Her website has a special system to help potential interns connect with potential employers.  The Campus Ambassadors represent their respective colleges and universities, and help connect the students at these educational institutions to InternQueen.com and ultimately to a future internship!

I am what looks like the first Campus Ambassador for any college/university in the state of Vermont, and consequently, there are very few internships posted for VT.  I'm hoping to change that.  Also, the population of social services/humanities students and potential employers seems to also be pretty bleak.  Again, I hope to work on changing this and to get Vermont more interested and invested in InternQueen.com and Lauren Berger's mission.  I think the concept is absolutely great, and I'm honored to represent this company!

All in all, my professional life is looking up again.  I have successfully secured an internship for my senior year, and it's will a supervisor who I think will meet all of my needs easily.  (I like someone who is approachable and generally accessible in case I have questions or in case an emergency arises.)  I hope I will prove to be an awesome addition to the Arbor's team, and that I find I really do have a true passion in working with the elder population.

Everything in good time.

SO-if you're looking for an internship of sorts, please feel free to contact me!  I currently have the inside scoop.  :)

XOXO
~Megan

It's Been A While

Hello, everyone!

So, with my laptop finally back in my possession, life is good again.  As of Friday I will be totally ALL caught up on my homework, and I'll be in a good place.

Speaking of Friday, our beloved Eden is coming from 4 hours away at PSU to stay here in Burlington with Ryan and I for the weekend!  This is the first time she'll have been able to see the UVM/Champlain campuses (campii?) from the Meg Ryan point of view.  It is going to be spectacular.  :)

In other news, I've been very gluttonous the past few days.  It sucks.  I need to kick it up a notch.  I was treated by Res Life to an amazing dinner at the Olive Garden last night, and I ate soooo much.  And Ryan got me a bag of Lindor Milk Chocolate truffles....which are mostly gone.  So...needless to say...I should maybe do some crunches tonight?!  I need to lose this weight!!! Even if I have to find a way to shake and shimmy every night for an hour or so!

Another factoid of my life: I may or may not be able to get a car over Spring Break.  So, here's the deal.  My 21st birthday falls on Spring Break from college.  This year (along with receiving the legal right to drink alcohol,) my mother was planning to get me my first car EVER!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!  BUT-this is all dependant on when she gets her Federal Tax Refund back.  She sent her forms out about 2 weeks ago, and they JUST got there the day before last.  Um...what?  Post office fail or federal government fail?  Maybe both.  They're the same thing, really. 

Soooo...here's my deal.  I thought I would finally have the chance to feel like I'm on equal footing (or tires?) with everyone else my age.  I've been driving my mothers car since I was 15.  It's really hard to hear other kids saying "Oh, let's just take my car" as if it's no big deal for 6 years.  It gets old after a while.  It shouldn't be such a touchy subject, but for those who don't have something that everyone else takes for granted...it's frustrating. 

Having a car is something that Vermont kids (especially) place a lot of value on.  Having your first car means you can finally have freedom.  Because it takes at LEAST a 15 minute drive to get anywhere worthwhile in VT, if you don't have a car, you're pretty much stuck.  I'm so sick of having to depend on other people's schedules and moods to determine whether or not I get to go somewhere.  I've dealt with it for 21 years of my life, the past 6 of which have felt extremely long.  I want to be a normal person with a car!  I would like to not have to depend on stupid bus schedules or mooch off friends for rides to the grocery store!  I would like to not have to barter with my mother during my breaks from school about if she has to work tomorrow, and if I can borrow her car. 

Long story short...this has been a long time coming.  I feel like a donkey with a carrot being dangled in my face.  The federal government better get their $H!T together and hurry up with my mother's refund so I can stop feeling like an inadequate college student.  Please and thank you.

(One vehicle my mom told me about was for sale in W. Rutland or somesuchplace.  It's a black Saturn Vue.  My mom currently has a blue one, but black works for me too!  We're looking into getting a standard because I have so much fun driving a stick shift.  Here's what one will potentially look like:)

Cute, right?  :)

I'm going to do my best to be patient.  I mean, even if I don't get the vehicle (which I really hope I do...otherwise some other plans of mine might be a little screwed...) I can still do this:

FYI...my mother has plans to get me drunk.  It's been a plan in motion since I was 9.  :)

SO-I hope this catches you up to where I'm at in life.  I have missed Blogger!  It feels good to write this out of my system.  <3

Until next time...
May the road rise to meet you (but not too quickly...)
XOXO
-Megan

Netflix Queue

Hello, Blogosphere!

Today I'm here to chat with you all about Netflix, and what my queue currently looks like. 

Back in October, I finally decided that I was sick of trying to (illegally) stream videos and things to watch when I got bored (and deal with the stress of wondering if I had infected my computer with a virus in the process,) so I decided to give Netflix a try after noticing that it really wasn't a scam, and that many of my college counterparts are also signed up.

Long story short, I LOVED it.  I quickly went through and found literally hundreds of titles that I've wanted to see but haven't had the chance, as well as oldies but goodies.  Unfortunately, my excitement was capped when I reached the 500 title limit for the queue.  Hahahaha.  Awesome.

Since then, I've been working hard to bring down the queue to a more manageable level, which is sometimes really rather difficult considering some of the other stuff I have on my list (separate from the queue) consists of about 40 television shows I've wanted to see or have heard pretty good things about, but never had time/was able to sit down and watch them as they were aired on television. 

Now-I'm making up for lost time.  At 500 movies and 40 television shows (not counting the many seasons some of them have,) I definitely have my work cut out for me.

Now, what's taking so long?  Well, when I signed up for Netflix I told Ryan we would be able to watch a lot of these movies together, and when we were both satisfied, we could delete the title from the queue.  That turned out to be a much more difficult process than originally intended.  Our schedules are both very hectic, so it's becoming a 'Megan-watches-a-movie-and-rates-it-and-when-Ryan-watches-it-he-can-delete-it-from-the-Queue' sort of process.  Currently, I'm at about 450-something movies in the physical queue (the ones that physically get sent to your mailbox,) and about 48 titles in the Instant Watch queue.

In short-we're working on it.  :)  There's a LOT of really great media out there, and I'm proud to be supporting Netflix with my business.  They have an amazing company, and I think I'll be registered with them until the day I die (or run out of movies and television shows to watch.) 

XXOO

-Megan

Grad School Decisions: MSW

Choosing a school is scary shit.  I'm not going to make any ifs, ands, or buts about it, NOR am I going to beat around the bush and say "it's a very important decision in a young person's life."

This semester, I've started looking at different MSW programs at various schools all around the nation.  I feel like I did when I was a senior in high school trying to figure out where to go for undergrad...lost, confused, and utterly helpless.  It was, after all, merely sheer luck that landed me here at Champlain.  I didn't even want to apply at first.  I don't know why, but I just wasn't feeling it.  But my grandmother made me, and turns out, Champlain gave me the best financial aid package.  Although I was still hell-bent on the University of Southern Maine as my #1 choice for college, I didn't want to put a $13,000/yr Parent PLUS loan on my mom.  One year from sending in my acceptance postcard, I'm busting butt on papers and learning the layout of Burlington (on foot.)

I'm really bad at figuring out what to do or where to go with my life.  Obviously I love/want to/am good at/need to help people, which landed me (eventually) in Social Work.  Now that I'm in Social Work, I don't know which population I want to work with.  Because of that, I don't know what school I want to go to! 

The three colleges I have asked for info from and have replied so far are: Boston College, the University of Maryland, and Hawaii Pacific University.  (Why Hawaii?)  Let me tell you:

I'm in this funny predicament at Champlain.  The Social Work program isn't accredited.  Of course, the class graduating behind me will be, but that's unimportant.  What is important, is that the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) has declared that those who entered the SWK program in 2009 will be the ones graduating from an accredited program.  Here's where I come in.  While first starting at Champlain, I joined as a Criminal Justice major.  Unfortunately, it didn't really fit my personality, so I switched and fell in love with SWK.  I started college in 2008.  By the time I got back next semester to start semester #2/8, it was the year 2009.  See where I'm going?  Well, that's an awesome loophole (see, I'm adequate at CRJ!) but it won't help me when I'm graduating in 2012.  Apparently the difference between whether I'm "accredited" or not is what it says on my diploma/degree/certificate/whatever-they're-calling-it-these-days. 

So, I went to talk to some of my advisers.  Here's the thing.  I'm only going to be off by one SWK course or possibly two from the soon-to-be accredited class.  The reason accreditation is SO important to me is because it means a LOT in terms of time & money.  I plan to apply for Advanced Standing in whatever college or university I get accepted to.  Advanced standing for me will mean the difference between just taking 1 year to get my MSW, and taking 2-2.5 yrs to get my MSW.  Which would you prefer?  Yeah, I thought so.

The next piece: my FIRST CHOICE school to attend is UVM (right here in Burlington.)  The deal with that is I can start the graduate program a mere 2 weeks after I graduate from my undergrad program.  And if I get Advanced Standing, I'll be graduating with my Master's when Ryan is graduating with his undergrad Theater degree.  Awww, how cute!  Also, this choice would save me double on time and money as it'll be in-state, and IF I get A.S., it'll only be another year of school.

Here's the deal with me considering out-of-state schools.  UVM has the only campus-based MSW program in the state of VT.  I am NOT taking online courses to get my MSW.  That's crap.  Absolute crap.  Especially in my career field.

So - if I'm only accepted to UVM as a regular 2-yr MSW student, but I get accepted out-of-state with A.S., I'm going to consider prices and go with whatever is cheaper.  And if I'm having to go out-of-state, why not go someplace nice where I can enjoy myself for a year?  I'm a born-n'-raised VTer.  I've done my time with the winters and such.  Almost 21 years worth, to be exact.  If I have the chance to go to college in Hawaii, and it's cheaper than going to college here in chilly VT, whytheheckwouldyouNOT take that opportunity?

So, what am I doing over my 1.5 week break?  I'm going to sit down with my family and continue researching schools.  I'm going to share all of these thoughts with them (or maybe have them print off this post,) and start making this choice a lot less scary than it is for me right now.  I need some help.

I'll keep you informed as I gather more info on which way I'm leaning.

:)

XXOO

<3 Megan <3