For a couple of years now I have been considering graduate school but have wanted to take some time off first. Now that it's summer and I'm at home and bored and can't get a job I am reconsidering. This past Saturday I went out to White Hill Mansion in Fieldsboro, NJ to volunteer at the Monmouth University field school. Dr. Veit tried to sell me on the brand-new M.A. program at Monmouth in Anthropology. It's a tempting idea but I am looking for very specific things in a graduate program and I'm not sure MU would be the best fit. My favorite right now is Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which has an M.A. program in Applied Archaeology, and is only six hours away from home.
My health has been pretty good actually. I haven't posted much here because honestly I've been feeling pretty normal! I still take my pills and have to be careful about eating and sleeping but for my life, this is as normal as it gets.
Over Spring Break my parents too me and my cousin Kimberly to Paris and London (at the Louvre above - I'm on the left). We had a great time! I was in a lot of pain but I took some Tramadol-APAP I'd been prescribed a few months earlier for breakthrough pain. The label said to take one every 4-6 hours, I believe, but I only took one each day. I felt amazing and had no trouble even making it up and down all those subway stairs.
The next week, back at school, I wasn't so great because I was in withdrawal but it wasn't too bad and after it passed I still felt better than I had before. By the end of the semester I was carrying a backpack again instead of pulling a rolling bag. And I was walking up the hill every day instead of taking the bus. They are small victories but they make a huge difference to how normal and healthy I feel. I don't know whether the pain pills on our trip had anything to do with the improvement, but I am very happy regardless.
So here's to figuring out the rest of my life, one day at a time!
