Transitions

Well, it's official, summer is over, and fall is moving in. This summer went by SO fast, I know they all usually do, but this one seemed to go by the fastest. It was a good summer, not the best, but a good one. I had 5 weeks off to do completely nothing before my summer job started, went to the beach twice, spent a lot of time at the pool, went to several baseball games, attended 2 weddings and bachelorette parties, celebrated 4 years with Sterling, had a great 4th summer with ACE camp, and hung out a bunch with the friends, family, and boyfriend! Overall it was a very relaxing summer, and I know I probably won't get too many more like this one so I better have enjoyed it!

....and with summer ending, so brings the next chapter in life: the year off...

The year off has started with a bang. I got a pretty perfect "in between" job. I am an instructional assistant to a little 1st grader who has autism. I am in a 1st grade classroom all day, and have morning car, lunch, and afternoon bus duty. It is a pretty easy job. I feel like I got lucky to be with the little guy I am with, I know a lot of other IA's can have difficult students, but mine is definitely one of the easier ones (so far! lets keep our fingers crossed). The only bad thing is, is that he may be moving soon and I don't know where or who I will be with after that. I do have a contract with the school system so I will have a job, but I am already getting attached to my little guy and the classroom I am in, I don't really want to leave! I also don't really want to leave the school, the principle and staff are super nice and friendly. I am still trying to get used to the fact that the studnets call me "Ms. Johnson", I don't feel old enough to have that said to me yet! It is also taking some getting used to working with all older adults. At camp and at school, I've always worked with people my same age, so it is different working with older people. Sometimes I feel like I have more in common with the 5th graders than some of the older teachers! ha. Overall, I think this will be a good experience for me so I can get practice working with kids in case I decide to work in a school setting one day.

During the summer, I had a thought about applying for grad school at Appalachian State for this coming spring semester. I had pretty much made up my mind that I was going to apply until I got this school job. I decided it was probably better to go ahead and wait to apply for fall 2011. It will give me more time to save money and more time to study for the second round of GRE's! And will give me plenty of time to plan for a certain something if that happens. So I will definitely be applying for fall semester 2011, as planned before.

I think I am handling the transition from JMU to Roanoke pretty well. I think I am finally over missing JMU and wishing I was going back, I think I have moved on. The biggest thing that has helped me cope with not heading back this semseter is being with Sterling. I do not miss the long distance relationship AT ALL. It is sooo nice being in the same city, and knowing that we do not have to leave each other again. Our relationship is finally right where I want it and I'm so ready to start building our lives together. Another thing that I do not miss is homework! I love getting off work and have nothing to do-no reading, busy work, or studying! But there is one thing I do miss, and that's living on my own. I do have independence living with my dad, but it's still not complete-living on your own-independence. I have thought seriously about moving out but I decided against it because it seems pointless to pay rent when I could be saving that money. So, until grad school, I will be living at home-rent and bill free.

Whew, so that was an update on the past 4 months of my life. I've said it before, but I'm going to try harder to update the blog more.

Thanks for reading!
Kate