Holiays without Family

So here I am in East Lansing Michigan, enjoying an evening with friends an a nice home cooked meal thanks to Sara trying out a new recipe.

I made Easter cookies, have eggs to devil in the morning/afternoon. And tomorrow I will wake up and go to church, enjoy a fantastic Easter service in what is sure to be a more full church than normal. I will sing, I will pray, I will greet the lovely people I have meet in the past 2 years.

But then I will go home- or to my apartment and be alone. Sure I might Skype into Easter morning with my family but its not the same, sometimes I actually think it might be worse than just not knowing, or think that a letter would be better- more romantic for my English major soul. Skype hurts because you can see them but not hug them, you can speak but not truly be heard, you can sit at the table but not partake in the meal and you can love them and not have them understand how much. And yet I would miss Skype if I suddenly didn't have it, aren't I annoying!

It makes me wonder how many Holidays I will spend alone in my lifetime, and by alone I mean without my family either the one I have now or the one I hope to create someday. This will only be holiday #5 alone total in my 24 years so really that's not bad. Being me though I apparently need more to worry about than another cross country move and grad school.

Easter is an amazing holiday that essentially proves to me miracles happen. Is it sad that every holiday I secretly hope my family is coming to surprise me? Silly and childish- I know someday if I ever get the chance I will surprise my children who are far away.

No matter what I will do my best to make this Easter special, fun and filled with joy. Everyday is a gift as my father likes to say, and I believe Easter gives us a very special one. Happy Easter if you Celebrate!

Being Sick Sucks

There is nothing like the flu to make you really re-evaluate moving across the country. Seriously what was I thinking? My mom cant come take care of me when I am sick here! ugh!
Anyway the onset of this sickness- or presence of evil, happened fairly rapidly. I went to dinner and had some fabulous pizza, when about halfway through the meal I could feel the fever settling in. All the aches and pains creeping into my joints making it hard to sign the check. And by the time I got home I was ready for tea and a blanket.

Oh did I mention I am on Duty this week . . . Starting . . . yesterday. SO I settle in cancel my evening meeting. And then the Duty phone rings. And then it rings again and again. And then I needed to facilitate a emergency conflict resolution. OH the joy of student life! :)

This morning I was thinking of maybe going in because - I dont get sick. Turns out I do. At about noon I decided I needed to get out of bed. I was feeling pretty good thought I was better. So I wash my face, brush my teeth. Then I decide to make soup. Half way through soup preparation I was wanting to lie on the floor - how these simple items overexerted me I have no idea. Mind you "making Soup" Means heating it up on the stove. Not hard core chopping, mixing, simmering, and stirring.

And now here I sit on my couch hating cabin fever, answering e-mails watching bad daytime TV - All of which is FAR to violent for my taste. I do have a package maybe its my comforter . . . bu walking all the way down the stairs and carrying it up sounds like climbing mount Everest right now. So I think it will be a surprise for tomorrow.

Right now I really want an Orange Scone from Panera.

Did you know- Being sick sucks.

So its been three weeks

I have been able to really start to understand more about the Michigan culture and MSU. Some interesting things that have taken me some time to get used too.

- The smoking, its everywhere! Last year was the first year smoking was banned from the halls. so students and staff alike still have issues not smoking in the building and not smoking within 25 feet of the building. According to a survey done here 81% of students do not smoke but 98% of students don't believe that statistic. Yes the flier actually said that.

- Recycling and Cars, so they claim to be very Spartan Green here but really the recycling program is in the beginning stages. The effort is being put out and the program is being developed but its a process! I still cant find a bottle recycling bin. Though you get 10 cents for each can/bottle here. Also there is no DEQ, they just let you drive anything here, kinda makes sense for where I am in the whole car scheme of things but still, interesting.

The other exciting thing about this week was that I got paid, and then more exciting went shopping! The only ridiculous thing I bought was a fish tank, and really that's not super ridiculous,fish are good. I also may or may not have bought the clinique counter but that was a necessity. I however did not buy the one thing I went shopping for . . . meaning I guess I will find it this coming week :)
I will be registering my car this week, so good by last bit of Oregon!

Also, MSU and OSU both won their games =ing a fantastic football weekend!

I miss Oregon mostly the People and familiarity, but I am starting to get settled more and more here.

Wonderful Week 2

I had a fantastical day! I feel like I actually did work and was productive I was busy and had no down time! I hate down time. I love my staff love my job and love life! And love not using commas!

First week at Case!

One week down! :)

This week has been filled with new people places and names.  My mind is overflowing with important information. I really hope I get the hang of things here soon! My office, which is on the first floor of the building, is slowly getting up and running with all the supplies I need - facilities has already been super helpful in getting my pictures hung up.  I have my fancy e-mail address and the ability to schedule meetings and appointments, and my next week calendar is slowly filling up.  This week I felt fairly like a fish out of water, not knowing where I should be, what I should be doing and who I should be talking too. They have been helping me get adjusted and have been very accommodating.  I am really excited that my books are slowly on their way here! I am also excited about getting started on actual aspects of work instead of just training!  I love working so it will be very nice to be busy!

The staff I work with in the building is fantastic I love the senior staff they are all really nice and have been really helpful.  The RM's (Resident Mentors- aka RA) are fantastic as well. They had a Meet and Greet for me on Wednesday called "Moonlight Mocktails with Melissa" and they all stood in a circle and sang to me so I can cross that off my life goals and I got an awesome toast as well. 

All in all its been a great week . . .

Did you know: Dairy Store Ice Cream is DELICIOUS!

The Apartment

Once I arrived here in East Lansing my mother and I made an effort to get my apartment into livable working order.  We unloaded the car, it only took 2 trips, the first night and then attempted to find the store everyone was raving about Meyers.  Well we went the direction TOMTOM said, and for the first time in our trip he (I mean it   . . .) did not deliver. I was very frustrated. Well randomly as we sought out food at a local Wendy's we looked across the street and found the MEIJERs.  Apparently I spell things weird for MI.  oy evay! So while there we found a blanket and a few other things that were important (soap for example) and finally I begged my mother to leave because I was to tired to continue shopping (no that does not happen often).  So after a good night’s sleep in MY own place we started getting the place put together.  Moved furniture, cleaned, unpacked the 3 totes and countless vacuum packed bags.  The living spaces got put together first and then we went on more discovery of East Lansing adventures. We found the mall, Target; re-visited the Meijer’s, which is like a K-mart but with a LOT more stuff. 
We also discovered something called a "Michigan Left" which is when you have to turn right to turn left. It’s very counterproductive to me I say just get rid of the medians in the road but whatever.
-Side note, Willie Nelson will be on campus next week-
So Sunday we were pretty tired still so we turned in early and Monday while I was at work my mother finished setting up the place! YAY! This was particularly nice because we all know home much I love cleaning  . . . ha ha.  By the time my mother left Monday the apartment looked great and continues to stay clean, so all you non believers out there can back off! lol :)

Travels to Lansing!

Well, We made it to the wonderful town of East Lansing! After three FULL days of driving we arrived at the MSU campus at about 9:30pm eastern time.

Day one, We attempted to leave by 6am but lets be realistic, and remember who we are talking about. My mother and I left much closer to 7am because we had to stop and see my grandmother before I left. We got some much needed coffee and we were off! We drove through the gorge which was so pretty and then through the far less remarkable part of Oregon, Idaho, and Utah. Once darkness hit there were insane amounts of bugs that now are spattered across the front of my car. Finally at 9pm Mountain time we made it to my Aunt and Uncles house in Evenston, Wyoming. They have an amazing house! We stayed there and went to a nice breakfast in the morning with them before heading out around 9am.

Day two- Today was a lot of uphill and flat driving across the states of Wyoming and Nebraska. No offense to either of these states but they are not to much to look at, the dessert in Wyoming was pretty but Nebraska has very little to offer. We made it into Iowa a bit after midnight and stayed at the Marriott.

Day Three- we left at about 9am again this morning though we were in Central time now. Iowa was very pretty to drive through and wins as most attractive state on our drive. Also rest stops in Iowa are amazing, I highly recommend them. We traversed across Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and made it to Michigan at 7pm Eastern time. After 2 hours driving across the state we found our way to Lansing and the MSU campus!

Sara and Bree both greeted us and I got my keys! There are so many! I already color coded them, and all I can think of is constantly hearing "DON'T LOSE YOUR KEYS" from Cindy Empey.

I would like to give a special shout out to TOMTOM, without the GPS we would surely have not made it all the way here!

Did you know . . . There are 17,000 residents on the MSU campus?