It's been a while...

WOW, I cannot believe that it has been 6 months since I have written on my blog! I think about doing it all the time, but I have been so busy (at least since school has started) that I haven't really had the time to sit and do it.

So, here I sit, taking the day off - as I have pretty much done all week. I have been feeling completely awful for the past 2 weeks, I could barely stand to go out (or stay awake) for Halloween celebrations, and I just generally felt like I was hit by a truck. I talked to both of my parents and they both had the same response - "Mono?". So, finally, on November 1st I decided to go to UHS to see if they could help me out. When the doctor walked into the room, I told her how I was feeling (and how it was not due to hangover because I wasn't really even able to drink anything) and also told her that my parents thought it could be mono. After doing a check up, she ruled that I had been sick with the flu and offered to do a mono test. I declined because the doctor said that I did not have a "mono throat" and my liver and spleen were not enlarged. After a week had gone by, my throat began to hurt so badly that it became very hard to swallow. I tried to suck it up and just say that it was because of my sinuses, but it got so bad that I decided to get a follow-up appointment with the doctor. After a blood test, we found that I did, indeed, have mono. GREAT. Just what I need. Two weeks before Thanksgiving break, when school work is pretty much at an all-time high, grad school stuff is due to my professors, and tests are prominent. The good news is that I am beginning to feel better, but I am still EXHAUSTED.

Anyway, I made it through the summer without any broken bones, I have made some great new friends that I can honestly say are amazing, and I have been doing fairly well in school. I started off 2 of my classes with BOMBING the first exam, but it looks as if I will be getting B's in the final grades! Now, its crunch time for grad school stuff. I have to have all my information to my professors by weeks end. I am FREAKING out a little bit about this. I need 3 different professors to write me letters of recommendation. I only have two. I am making up an exam on Monday for one of the professors I was going to ask, so I figured I would just ask her then. BUUUUT, of course nothing ever goes my way. She has me making the exam up with some other lady. EFF. I have to figure something out and ASAP. Ugh.. I am gonna go take a nap before I get myself more stressed out. :-(

BBL.....

And I wonder if I ever cross your mind? For me it happens all the time...

I want to travel. I want to go to new places, sail the open seas, talk to strangers, try new foods. I want to visit friends in other countries. As much as I hate the unknown and vulnerability, there is something about traveling that makes these things appealing. I want to go to Turkey, since I never made it there on SAS, to visit Bahar and have her show me around Istanbul and other places.. and hopefully make it to Pamukkale. I want to see the castles of Ireland, I want to go back to Italy and climb Vesuvius, go back to Greece and get to Santorini. I would even settle for traveling to new places in the US. Go to the north east and see the coastline, visit Theresa in Rhode Island, see the Grand Canyon, go to New Orleans, cruise down Duval in Key West, get to Seattle and drink coffee :P. Hopefully I make it to L.A. in July. I just love new and exciting things.

On a completely unrelated note, I am REALLY excited for the wedding I am in on June 12. I think it will be so fun to get all fancy with my hair, my nails, and my pretty dress. It is at a winery, so it will be great to try the different types of wine they will have - just hope my mom is driving me home. lol. Also, I will be attending a wedding July 17. I need to find myself a date for this wedding! No one likes to go to weddings alone, that's boring. I also need to make some snicker doodles for the wedding. I am gonna have to start making them the week before.. thats a LOT of snicker doodles.

Hmm... what else? I am really bored and cannot sleep, so I am just droning on.  I am ready for summertime. I know I am done with school, but where in the world is the warm weather?! I know for sure that it is NOT in Pennsylvania/Virginia, or anywhere in between. Speaking of summer, I am kind of torn with what to do. I already have 2 jobs in State College, but I kinda want to be in Johnstown for the summer, buuuuuuuuuuuut I think that I will go INSANE at home. I LOVE my family to death, but being there ALL the time is a little stressful, as far as having to answer to someone all the time. Buuuuut I am also going to be kinda lonely in State College. I mean, I will have friends there, but everyone is going to be busy working and some are taking classes, so I feel like a lot of time will be spent alone. Hopefully thats a good thing... might make me focus more on my life. Who knows. Also, someone from my past keeps coming back into my life. I don't know how to feel about this. It kind of makes me feel confused. I feel happy about it because this person is on my mind a lot, but at the same time, its probably not the best thing because... it just is what it is and will most likely not be anything more than that... It is just.. all the good memories are what sticks out in my head. I could list so many good things, but I could list a good number of not so great things. It's just hard and confusing and I just don't even know how to feel.

Confused?

Yeah, me too.

Oh well.

I am really excited to go home. Even if it is just for a few days. It will be nice to be there. Buuut at the same time, I don't want to leave Virginia, because I am pretty sure that this is the last time I will be in my Grandmother's house. This is so hard. Although, this house is SUPER haunted by my Grandfather - I think, anyway.

Well, I think that is all I have to randomly ramble about tonight. Thanks for reading. If you made it this far, you should probably check yourself into the psych ward. I would have stopped reading a long time ago. xoxo Katie

Reality of life.

Well I made it to the light at the end of the tunnel of my 4th, but not quite final, year at Penn State. Finals sucked every last bit of life out of me. I had two 8am finals and another one in the afternoon and I worked 20 hours (which is the most we are allowed to work while working for PSU and going to school). Needless to say, I was pretty delirious and my room was a wreck by the end of the week..... buut after all that work, even though I wasn't planning on it, my friends got me to go out to the Indigo with them. We did not even get there until midnight, but it was a GREAT way to end finals week. A couple drinks, a lot of dancing, and some pizza to finish off the night - instead of packing. :P

After 4 hours of sleep, a double shift on Friday, 2 coffees, a milkshake, and LOTS of loud music, dancing and singing, I made it to Virginia.. around 1 am Saturday morning. It's been a pretty uneventful weekend, which is just perfect because I am exhausted. Yesterday, we went to the Herberts for a cookout and game night. It was a really great time. Tonight, we had a mother's day dinner -- even though my grandmother could not even get out of bed. We had a great dinner - cheesy potatoes, they had some kinda beef and I had grouper, creamed spinich, and salad - great drinks - red wine, champagne, and some beer -  and great friends - Donna and Darrell. All was well until my dad sent me upstairs to check on my grandmother to see if she needed anything - even though if she did, she would never tell me. She just isn't doing that well, and it's really hard to see her so weak and fragile. It brought me to tears. I am just scared because I do not do well with losing people that I love. Hopefully she gets better soon, its hard to see her in pain.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Virginia, then its home, and then NYC. Hopefully the next week and a half is GREAT.

April Showers...

April is the LONGEST month everrr when you are in college. So close to finals and summer time, but so freaking long. I have been SUPER busy in the past month. Lots of tests, homework, and school work has kept me busy. My sister came to visit me which was fantastic because I hadn't seen her since Christmas break (I think). We hung out, had a movie night, had a game night, went to the creamery, and just had a good time. The next weekend, I had to go home to go to Emily's bridal shower. It was kind of at an inconvenient time as far as school goes, I had SO much due the next week, but I had to be there cause I am a bridesmaid. I am SO glad that I went, I had a FANTASTIC time seeing Emily and just hanging out.

Then this past weekend (Blue and White), Martie came to visit me! It was absolutely great because I got a nice break from school - even though I had an exam today and a paper to write for today. We went to the ShandyGaff on Friday night because the line for Indigo was OUTRAGEOUS and we got to hang out with my friend Alyssa, which was really nice. Then Saturday, we went to Waffle Shop EARLY before the line started, and instead of going tailgating and whatnot, we went shopping and found some SWEEEEEEEEEET glasses.

Theeeen on Saturday night, we were gonna go to Indigo, but when we stepped outside, it was raining. We tried to get a cab, buuuuut they were all full. Soooo we decided to stay in, take

pictures, make homemade tortillas and hummus, drink, and play card games. Then we went to waffle shop again and we TRIED to upload the pictures from the previous night, buuuuuut my camera deleted the pictures.

Sooooo we decided

to retake the photos! We had SO much fun doing it! I am so sad the weekend is over and its back to reality. I had to wake up at 7 to finish up a paper before my 9 am class, then I had to take a test at 1, which... hopefully went well. But I have pretty much decided that I will NEVER be an SLP in the south! Their accents are too crazy for me! :P

Next week is finals week. AHHHHH. I see the light at the end of the semester. Only one more year until I graduate. The next few months are going to be crucial for me. I have to get my GRE skills up to par, research more schools, and apply to grad school. O M G. I am freaking out a little... but I am concentrating on finals and current grades before I can seriously commit time to research. Also, I have to find places to volunteer for the summer, and get myself another job :-\

hmmm.

Well, a lot has happened since I have last written. I did well in my first semester of CSD, I have not broken any MORE bones, I went to the OBX with Dad, Steph, Moni, and Dad's friends and had a BLAST, acquired a snuggie (thanks mom!), was asked to be in a friend's wedding in June (which I said yes to, and acquired a beautiful bridesmaid's/sun dress), got a job serving food to freshmen - not all in that order.

That brings us to 2010, which began at the OBX. I started the year off with 2 ear infections and strep throat. Awesome, right? Well, at least things can pretty much only go up from there.. right? Well, kinda. I get back to school after spending time with the fam, and things are going well. We celebrated 21st birthdays, celebrated weekends, celebrated friendships.... until a whole group of my friends decided I wasn't gonna be their friend anymore - with no legitimate reason... well at least that I know of. It's all good though, cause I am legit better off without them.
Sooo, a few months pass and its time for SPRING BREAK!

Well, Martie and I decide that we are going on a cruise. We booked a cruise on the Carnival Destiny for 5 nights for only $430!!! AMAZING! We decide to drive to Miami to save money instead of flying. So we met in VA, then drove to Charleston, SC to stay at her friend Matt's apartment. We had fun; we went out for mexican dinner and a margarita (or two, or three). The next day we drove to Miami (overnight) and got on the ship. We had a BLAST. The cruise started Monday, Tuesday was FREEZING at sea, Wednesday was spent in Grand Turk, Thursday was supposed to be spent at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas but it was too windy/wavy for the tender boats to get us to land, so it was a beautiful day at sea, Friday was spent at Nassau, and we came back Saturday. I tried a LOT of new things on the cruise. I ate salmon sushi, lobster, escargot, conch in the Bahamas, grouper.... I feel like there were more, but I cant recall.

So that pretty much brings us up to speed with my life over the past few months. I am thinking about moving to Queens for the summer, but there are some things that need worked out before that can happen. It would be a fantastic summer filled with Martie time, game nights, but also lots of money making. It will be oh so exciting for quite a few reasonnnnnssssss.

Oh life.

SO much has happened to me this year. I have learned a lot about who I am and who I want to be. I think that I finally have my head in the right place, finally, in my senior year (even though I will have whole other year before I graduate in May 2011...weird to think about). I have been working in my classes for my new major. I love it. I have met some great new people and have become VERY close with the people currently in my life. I think I have begun to straighten things out with family, but, still have more work to do there. Between breaking 3 bones within 4 months, boys, friends, family, I have had a bit of a wake-up call... and like I said, I think I am on a better track.

I finally got cleared last Wednesday to resume normal activity with my ankle, which is GREAT news! I have been going to the gym and my limp is minimal, so I couldn't be any happier. (Although I should be at the gym now.. I just have NO energy, so I am gonna finish this up and clean... and MAYBE get to the gym before 9..).

I have realized what great friends I have in my life. Jen (my roommate) and I have cleared up things that went sour last year, and living with her has been great. I think that we have become pretty good friends and it makes me truely happy that I don't dread coming back to my apartment. Jer and I have also made up, and I love him like a brother. Mark... well, he has a new girlfriend, so he is mostly MIA, but still makes some time to come over and goof off. I really am happy for him that he has found a good girl, I just hope he can stay focused on school and graduate on time! Mr. Kreshnik, I just found out last night, is graduating in December! WHAAAT!? That is so scary to think about. He is the first of my better friends to graduate and leave!! I guess I have to get used to it, since most (and when I say most, I mean a good 85-90%) of my friends will be graduating and moving on with their lives. I think that Lauren has become my best friend here. We have helped each other through the bad and celebrated the good. Hopefully, we can stay great friends after she leaves in the fall, but I don't want to think about that. Also, Adrian has become a really great friend (even if I am unsure about her boy situation, I still try to support her, because it is a really hard situation for her). The Polish boys (& Craig too!) across the hall are so great to me. They make me laugh and I just love going over there and hanging out with them. I am glad to have Ana and Deb back at UT (even if I don't see them as much anymore since they moved to the T building...).

In the past.. year or so, Marcella (my fcubeddd W2T) and I have become REALLY close. This really makes me happy. I have known her literally all my life and cannot wait to move up to New York to live with her. She has been coming to visit me at school and I am pretty sure she loves it, and I love going to the city to visit her, even if it doesn't happen as often as I would like... its just hard with school.

So Halloween is this weekend, and I am pretty pumped. Marcella is coming! Kyle and Nicole are also coming and I cannot wait to see them as well! I miss them being in State College, so I really appreciate when they come up and visit (even if it's not solely to visit me). I have two costumes planned out, but they are a secret. I'll let you know how it goes sometime later.. :P

I miss my sister. I haven't seen her in a long while. I feel like things are slowly getting better between us, even though we still fight a little too much (but its mostly when we are together). I know she is having a rough time at school and I wish I could go visit her, but I am legit out of money. :( I need a job.

Anyway, I think that is all for right now.
Peace, Love, and Bobby Sherman lol

Reflections..

So here I am. One year ago, this very moment, I was on a boat (yes, I know. I'm on a boat) en route to Bergen, Norway. I honestly cannot believe it has been a whole year. I was so nervous and so very excited to experience everything that was about to happen for the next 2 and a half months. The first person I really met was my roommate, Amber. She was a great roommate. Yes, we had our differences and got on each others nerves from time to time (which is bound to happen when your room is 2x2, haha), but overall she was a good roommate. Then I met Marissa, and we obviously became best friends on the trip and I miss her so much, and then her roommate Aimee and many more people from there.

As I sit here, looking at pictures and reminiscing, I feel like I learned SO SO much about myself through friends, the staff on the ship, the countries we visited, and the people I met in these countries. I certainly caught a BAD case of the travel bug after this trip, and can't wait for my next journey -- whether it be in the US or somewhere else. (Although, I AM looking to try and go again next summer......)

Anyway, enough sappy reminiscing. In 5 days, I am about to have a milestone birthday. Yes, the big 2-1. I am pretty excited about this, despite my lack of money to support being able to go out and drink with friends. I am just really excited that my good friends are coming out to see me (if they aren't already here) and celebrate my birthday! I am excited for everyone to come, but in particular, my SAShole -- Marissa and also my Fcubed -- Marcella! I miss them so much!

So. That's about all I have to say right now as I am EXHAUSTED and have 4 papers to write in the next 2 weeks... so back to that. I will write again sometime after muh birthday and let you (whoever you may be) know how it goes.

Until then...