Done with our first year in PhD School!

I did it! I completed my first year at UNC, grades are still pending but I'm 90% confident that I passed. This past semester was the most intense and rigorous of my entire schooling career. I think that is saying a lot as my educational history includes 4 years at St. Olaf and 2 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I think I learned more than ever before and I can actually apply what I'm learning directly to my work at NIEHS.

So now I get to enjoy a summer of ONLY having to work 9 to 5! How much better does that get? I can leave work at the end of the day and have evenings and weekends all to myself. This will mean lots of happy hours with other friends working in Research Triangle Park this summer (there are actually quite a few of us). It almost seems to good to be true.

This weekend I am going to my best friend Mali's bachelorette party in Chicago, which I have organized with lots of help from the other bridesmaid, Babs, and a few great friends living in Chicago now. I could not have planned everything without their help and I'm getting really excited for the weekend ahead. Hopefully everything goes smoothly but once I'm there I will be soooo ready to just enjoy the weekend.

The day after our last final my friend, Nadia, flew to South Africa where she will be spending the next couple of months working. She will be blogging about her experience so check out her blog at: http://impalas-in-my-backyard.blogspot.com/

Oh and I am getting a puppy! I have to wait until August when I move into my new house which has a huge backyard! I will keep you posted as soon as Pup Search 2011 begins.

Have a great day and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!!!