After months of waiting and thinking and being in limbo, I
accepted an offer to join the graduate chemistry program at University of
Oregon! I had known since January, when
I received my first acceptance, that I would definitely
be attending school in the fall, but I needed to wait until I had more
information to decide where. I didn’t
want to let myself get too excited about any one place until I knew for sure I’d
be going there. Now it’s all set! I’ll be moving to Eugene, Oregon in the fall
and hanging out there for the next five years or so.
UO follows a trimester schedule, which means classes don’t start
until the end of September. In my first
year there, I’ll take classes, teach lab sections, and spend a term each
with three research groups. This will give me the chance to try out different areas of chemistry and clarify what I'm most interested in. I'm anticipating a big adjustment going back to being a student. After undergrad all I wanted to do was something "not school" for a while, and I'm glad that I did take a break. Now I'm choosing to return to school to further my own goals, but I'm not thrilled that I'll have homework again! Then again, there will be perks I never had as an undergrad at a teeny school -- free bus rides and all kinds of student discounts.
So that’s fall. Until
then, I plan to take advantage of my last foreseeable chance to have several
months to myself. The only things I could consider bucket list items for Pittsburgh are trying a handful more breweries, finishing the series of bike maintenance classes at the co-op, and going camping at one of the nearby state parks. Otherwise, I'll be working on my own projects, resting, visiting family and friends, and figuring out how to move myself across the country.