Back to my Mobie Self

Four months after leaving the great state of Texas, I'm back to my old tricks. I officially completed my last semester of my undergraduate degree and have a fake rolled up degree to prove it since I'm still waiting for the real thing. This last semester was probably one of the harder I've experienced. There was hardly enough time in the day to try and get all my work done and I had to try very hard to spend time with friends and family before departing. Luckily, the things I gained since August were significantly more than the things I lost. I managed to lose a set of adenoids and tonsils (thanks to my trusty surgeon), lots of sleep, and a bit of my sanity to my engineering senior design project. In contrast, I gained some great things. I successfully completed my senior design requirement by fabricating exercise equipment for our local hospital's pediatric physical therapy center, accepted a full-time job offer for after graduation, and managed to fit in some quality time with friends and family.

Since walking across the stage at graduation, I've actually managed to do very little. As I mentioned earlier, I lost a set of anenoids and tonsils. I had them removed three days after graduation and spent the following 10 days or so on the couch watching lots of movies. It was a very painful process, but I survived so I can't complain too much. It was the first time that I've been incredibly happy to sit down for 10 days straight. Now whenever I eat solid or "sharp" foods, I appreciate them so much more considering I was on a diet of Ensure shakes, soup, and mashed potatoes for 10 days.

The holiday season was quite enjoyable in the snowy north. I only managed to get my car stuck in a ditch once (not bad for 6 years of driving a rear wheel drive car) and spend lots of time with my extended family. My youngest cousins both put me to shame height-wise now, but they seemed very happy to hang out with their older, shorter cousin. I sincerely hope that while moving for my full-time job I can move closer to them.

With all the familly gatherings and academic obligations completed. I am currently en route to the UK and Western Europe for an 11 day tour throughout England, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and France. It should be quite an adventure! The weather will be very similar to home if not a little warmer so that should be fine. The trip is through a tour company called Contiki that my cousin recommended from a trip she took several years back. I had originally planned on taking the trip later, but due to some complications with work, I had to expedite the trip to much earlier. Overall, the trip will be a quick sampler of some of Western Europe's hot spots and a small dip into their cultures. It will be interesting to see the differences between this trip and my previous study abroad to Western Ireland.

Beyond this little trip to Western Europe, I will be southern bound yet again to my full-time rotational program. The program will take me to new locations every six months for the next two years and will be a fantastic learning experience. Accepting the program was a fairly simple decision since I've worked with the company before and have been amazed by how small the company seems when I seem to find connections at every turn.

That's about all for now, but I will contribute more later. Possibly during the trip or at least a few photos when I return.