First Official Week

So it is just about the end of my first week. I have met the majority of people from the program (although not everyone). Everyone I have met is very friendly and nice. Everyone is from different areas of the U.S., which I think is pretty cool. There is a pretty wide age range as well, a good amount of people took a year off as I did. There are three programs - ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis), General, and SATP (Substance Abuse Treatment Psychology). I am in the general track - the goal for the program is basically to get you more experience to be a strong candidate for a Ph.D. program. The other two tracks are preparing to get licensed and work after graduation.

We had 3 orientations - one for the psych department, one for the grad school, and one for TAs (teaching assistants). They were all pretty informative, but pretty tiring as well (each was 3 hours long). Who knew they had so much to orient us about? At least we got a free t-shirt out of it :).

My first classes were on Thursday (I have a T/Th schedule, some students do have classes Wednesday). Physiological Psychology will be good, I always love neuroscience classes so I am looking forward to that. We didn't get too much into the material but I know I will enjoy it, as always (I <3 Neuroscience).
I met with my TA and he was very nice. I will be doing a lot of grading, maybe some proctoring, maybe teach a class. And I got a free textbook (he is a coauthor on the book for the class)!!
Research Methods was.....research methods. It's strange, I love research when I am participating in data collection, plugging in, analyzing, etc...but the straight numbers tend to bore me. I am going to try hard to improve my understanding & love of math and statistics. I really need to improve to be a better scientist/statistician/researcher. AND it might help with the GREs :). It was not excruciatingly boring though, so that's a good sign!
Oh and I got to see my lab. There is a brand new Psychology building that was built (actually just finished the week before classes). Each professor has their own lab space - ours is 3 rooms with 3 computers and a lounge area. It is a really nice space essentially just for me and my mentor (I am currently the only grad student). I think I will be using it a lot :).

So I got my student ID and parking pass. It's official - I am a UNCW student :). I am really excited to be back in school. The year off actually upped my motivation to be in school and reach towards my long-term goals. I imagine things will be getting very busy very fast. I'm not sure what to expect for graduate school - all I keep hearing is that I will not be bored and it will be challenging. Sounds good to me!

One more week

I am slowly feeling like I am knowing my way around the area a little better. First with my food endeavors. On Saturday, I went to a place called Carolina Farmin' (http://carolinafarmin.com/) that I heard from several sources is a great place for locally-grown, inexpensive produce. Well, I was not disappointed! I got peaches, plums, kale, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash all for about ten bucks!! Finally, a grocery store I really enjoy. They also carry inexpensive bulk items (I will be coming back when I run out of flax seeds :)). The main chain grocery stores around here are Food Lion, Harris Teeter, and Lowes, none of which impress me. I have not been to the local Whole Foods or Costco, but I have heard good things about both.

Other lovely places I have been include The Ivy Cottage, World Market, and Fire and Spice. The Ivy Cottage is a large consignment/thrift store. They have a lot of interesting things there if you are into antiques. All are appropriately priced (I hate consignment shops with a bunch of used junk that is way overpriced). World Market is a chain store that I have never been to (not sure if there are any in the Philadelphia area). They have lots of different things, including jewelry, furniture, decorations, and gourmet food items. I will definitely be returning here to buy gifts and home decor :). Fire and Spice is a small gourmet foods shop that is located in the Cotton Exchange (building with several shops) in downtown Wilmington. I enjoy this store for its local items, large selection of hot sauce, and random delicious-looking food items.

I have been cooking some lovely meals for myself as well. I made a few too many unhealthy meals, but am now getting back into eating healthy. I got a large amount of vegetables recently so am going to be eating those up:). It is not excruciating for me to eat healthy because I do enjoy getting flavors from spices rather than fats. And I know my body feels better when I eat better. To go along with that, I have been trying to do some type of workout every day. I was doing Insanity for a while but today did the Jillian Michael's '30 Day Shred' and remembered how much I liked it. I think I may try to do it all the way through this time.

It was nice having this time to explore the area and get myself settled, but I am definitely ready for school to start. Having a structure is good for me. Orientation is Monday August 20th, one week from today :)!

Getting in the groove

Wow, in two more days, I will have lived here for two weeks! The city is growing on me the more and more I am here.

I have tried out some delicious restaurants - including Wasabi Sushi, Genki Sushi, and Flaming Amy's. I am trying to find the best sushi restaurant around here because I LOVE it. I have previously tried Nikki's Sushi (a small chain around here) and was very disappointed. Matt and I used to go to Bonjung Sushi in Collegeville when I went to Ursinus and LOVED it. It was definitely one of my favorite restaurants of all time. Right now, of the three I have tried, Genki Sushi is winning. Flaming Amy's was delicious as the reviews stated - I got a speciality burrito with chicken and it was very yummy. The Copper Penny is definitely winning overall though. It is a Philadelphia sports bar in downtown Wilmington - but that's not the reason I love it. The food is bar food - but awesome bar food.

I have done a lot of shopping and exploring the area as well. From my location, it usually takes me about 15 minutes to get where I need to go - which is fine with me. Pretty much the same situation as I was living in West Chester - any shopping I needed to do was in Exton usually, about 15 minutes away. It will also take me anywhere from 10-15 minutes to get to school (depending on traffic). Anyway, there is a Target, Homegoods, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and lots of other chains. I will miss Wegman's, H&M, and DSW a lot. The only problem with Wilmington is that if it does not have the store you want (which it usually does) you have to go pretty far to get it (either Charlotte - 3.5 hrs or Myrtle Beach - 1.5 hrs)

I volunteered with Cattails adoption agency stationed at Petsmart. That was fun (can't wait to have my own cat!!!). I went to the farmer's market - that was nice, I probably will visit again (it's every Saturday). I went to the DMV to take my driver test to get my new NC license (which I PASSED by the way). The same day I went to Walmart. If you want to see the "rough" people from Wilmington, I advise to either visit Walmart or the DMV :). I have been slowly decorating and unpacking just about every day. It is finally almost done! Above is a picture of me sitting in my office/2nd bedroom. I really love the natural light that comes in. I got nice blue curtains (for $3.29 a pair at goodwill by the way) for each room that still need to go in the office (I ran out of nails and had to wait to do those). And I went to Antique stores on Castle St. (there are a ton of cool antique shops here - still plenty to visit that I have not yet).

The weather here is very strange lately (I am not sure if it is the norm yet or not. People have told me that it's normal around here than others have said it is very unusual and not normal. So I don't know!). Yes, it is hot. But just about every day has rained at very varying intervals of time. It is usually extremely unpredictable rain. It will beautiful blue skies one minute, then ten minutes later a thunderstorm! Yesterday, I was doing my errands, and driving I could barely see and the roads were flooded and there was thunder and lightning. It slowly rained a bit lighter but the sky was still dark. I went into a store for about a half hour and came back out and it was beautifully sunny and lovely blue skies. STRANGE!

I met with my mentor last week and am meeting with her again tomorrow. We went to mental health court and met with the judge and the psychologist and the rest of the treatment team. It was a new and enlightening experience. I will either be doing research here or with a new project starting with cognitive enhancement therapy (I am hoping this one goes through, as it is more closely related to my research interests). I am very glad I can get started on things before school starts. I am excited to start. The week of the 20th is when orientation and classes all start. Whooohooo!! I have been ready for graduate school since last year and I am so excited the time is finally here.

Today's agenda is.....Insanity (workout I currently love. I wanted to lose a few more pounds before school starts but it has been harder than I thought. I have trouble in general when I do not have a busy and set schedule. We will see what I can do :)). Clean up/ organize the living room and my bedroom. Check the mail. Oh and read my articles I have been putting off too long!
Goodbye friends