Trying to get to 10

I need to post more frequently, because I really don't want this to be the first month in the history of Ray's blog usage that I don't get to at least 10 posts in a month. I was looking at some of my old blogs, and it was not uncommon for me to get at least ten posts a week. Now, I'm so boring that I cannot even get ten in a month without stretching it.

So yesterday was definitely weird. My dad was on edge all day partially because of their trip today. It's kind of weird to think that my sister's gone for the next 4 months, off starting a new college life and starting on a completely fresh plate. I mean, talk about fresh, she doesn't know anybody at her university, but it looks like based on her emails back and forth from her roommate that she should have a much better experience with dorms than I had.

We spent like 2 hours last night trying to figure out her schedule. There aren't many options for her, but hopefully we got the things she needs. Her schedule is pretty cool, as it consists of Essentials of Hematology, Hemostasis, and Urinalysis, Calculus I, Physics I, Physics I Lab, her military science class for ROTC, and either Histology or Swahili I. She's trying to get into a full Swahili class because she's going to Tanzania next summer for a nutrition program there and she wants to be able to converse with the people over there. Isn't that cool?

Then we looked, and they had all the spring classes posted, so we figured out that she should do Physics II, Physics Lab II, Spanish Grammar, Chemistry Lab II, Swahili II, Basic Human Nutrition, and her second military science class.

With all of that, she's set for her nutrition trip to Africa, and is a good ways toward her majors, in Human Biology, Spanish and a required minor in Military Science.

Meanwhile, I'm here desperately trying to figure out what I might be taking in the spring, having enough money to cover all of my books and credit card expenses, working out a study schedule for all of my classes, worrying about the two GRE's that I have to take, fitting in everything I want to do with college and life over the next two years.

Not to mention that I have to look for internships at research places this summer--which looks like it's going to be REALLY hard to get into. [Bad grammar, I know]. I have two that I'm looking at right now, and it's certain to grow. My first two choices right now are at the Pasteur Institut [not a spelling error, it's French] in Paris and the University of Wisconsin's summer research program.

Then I have to save money for my grad school tour, which my father so kindy reminded me is going to be really hard for me to pay for. But this is a serious decision. I have 10 schools now that I'm considering-two are really easy to see because they're CU-Boulder and CSU-and most are not in Colorado. I'm down to Hawaii, Washington State, CSU, CU, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Purdue, Indiana, Penn State, and Harvard. Of those ten, Harvard is the easiest to cut because I want to just see if I can get in (they only take 15 people out of over 500 applications, trust me, I'm not getting in). So really, it's only nine schools I'm serious about. I figure that this spring break, it would be good for me to go see 5 of them, since WI, MI, IN, and PA are all really close to each other, compared to western states. However, my dad insists that I'll probably only be able to see Wisconsin, Michigan, and MAYBE Purdue with how much I get paid and how much I work.

So, when would I get to see Penn State and Indiana????
Ironically, Purdue and Indiana are like 4 hours apart, and I don't have time to see them how?

But yeah. Rough stuff.

Hopefully though, things will work out. For me, they have a tendency of doing that. The only thing I really have to worry about long term is GRE and finding research opportunities. However, I tend to excel under pressure, so it's pressure that's coming.

I have to work tomorrow, since Dwire has a community open house. Any Coloradoans in the Springs want to see what the state spent over five million dollars on? It cost you at least a dollar. For me, it cost like $500. If you want to see where your dollar+ went, then you should come take a look. It's SERIOUSLY nice. Plus, you can come see me!

Ok, that's not much of a plus.

Starbucks tomorrow with peoples. That should boost me somewhat.