school has started!

Since my last post, many things have happened.

1. orientation started!

• i got to meet the cohort of people i will be spending the next 2 years with
• got a tour of our facility
• met faculty and staff
• had a potluck dinner where we presented about who we are as incoming masters students
• got trained on allyship and how to be an effective trainer

2. We went Camping!

• it was just for the graduate students
• it rained the whole time!
• my tent got flooded and my feet were wet
• we went to a hot spring and it was awesome!
• 16 people piled into a 12 person van to stay dry and party the night away
• in the morning, hung over and wet, we all decided to pack up and get the heck out of there before breakfast

3. School Started!

• i have 2 classes on mondays and wednesdays
• i have one class on tuesdays and thursdays 
• i am overwhelmed by some of the expected readings and im not convinced there is enough time for everything
• i am already writing my first paper, due today in 6 hours
• one of my teachers, who is also my advisor, is in Iceland and missing the first week of class
• i am excited to take a class in the PPPM department (planning, public policy, and management) though it is going to be hard!
• 2 of my 3 classes are larger then any class i took at Macalester with about 50 people, standing room only
• the seminar for the my masters cohort is going to be fun but we have about 150 pages each week if not more and a 1000 word paper to do. 
• i still need to unpack my room.... 

i have pictures, but i'll upload them later. this was a break from writing my paper. 

davita 

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Davita

Its been 2 weeks! ahhh so much has happened!

Hello!

so, its been a really long time since we have posted, sorry about that. i cant decided if this post is going to be a really long one, full of tons of anecdotes and photos, or if it will be a short list of everything we have done over the last 15 days with pictures and a few blurbs. i guess you will have to just keep reading to find out!

When we spoke last, we had just finished our fist full day, actually... i was writing you during the second day, after leaving the Saturday market. As mentioned before, it was awesome! so many stalls and vendors. i couldnt believe it! we didn't even make it over to the farmers market side of the blocks, because there was just so much to see in the craft and art side, not to mention the food stalls we had a great lunch.

ok Ive decided, its list time!

the Awesome 2 week list of amazing adventure!

• davita's bed was delivered! it smelled like new car, if a new car were a bed and fit into the room nicely! 

• Took Kevin to the airport. it was a really long drive back to Portland, but the 2 Davitas slept in the back seat while the Men chatted. they were Buddies you know!
• after we dropped Kevin off we headed to IKEA! where we sent so much time! like 3 hours looking and sitting on everything. we picked out chairs, a love seat, dressers, a coffee table, desk, kitchen table and chairs, lamps and accessories. it was a trip! and then, when we are going to get everything, they were out of our sofa and we could only fit one of the chairs in the car. the car was packed!

•  That night we went to Walmart to get a few things, which ended up being a bunch of things and then had our fist meal in the apartment, Pizza! 
• on Monday, davita and Adam ventured to campus. Adam had to prepare for interviews he was having over the phone, while davita had to go to a meeting, and just as she got there the person she was to meet and left to go home early. it was a bummer. But instead davita set up Internet and that was awesome. 
• Tuesday davita went back to campus to meet with Gayla the office manager and get her keys for the department as well as her student ID. Adam had his first interviews which went well! 

•  after the campus stuff, davita and Adam ventured to the ocean. it was an hour and a half drive through some small mountains and it was a great drive. when we got to Florence, it was really hard to find a beach, but when we did, it was amazing. from Florence to Coos bay is all sand dunes. the temperature changed so much, back at home it was 90 degrees and at the ocean it was 60. the clouds were so low you could almost touch them! 

 

 
 
 

•  somewhere in this weekish we had Bun Mi, davita and Adams favorite sandwich, which we had maybe 6 times before adam left 9/14. 

 

• we also found a movie theater that is $6! only! and on weekends its $6.25 and before 3pm its only $4. it was awesome. Wednesday i think, Davita, davita, and Adam went to see Kickass 2, though it could have been another night, since davita and adam saw 3 or 4 movies and the days are all running together. 
• Thursday we headed back to IKEA in Portland after Adam's second interview. Adam drove both ways. we had to return Davita's dresser because it was the wrong color and pick up the love seat and a chair, as well as a lamp and a few other things. that night we put everything together and had a wonderful dinner. the house was almost right, all that was missing was Davita's bed! 

 

• Friday was a bit of a Lazy day Davitas Bed Came! we hung around the house, went to see a movie then davita and Adam had their goodbye dinner at Ambrosia. we also got Davita to try Bun Mi and she LOVED IT for lunch!
• Saturday we woke up early and it was a sad sad day, davita had to say goodbye to her Love Adam and put him on a plane. Davita wouldn't let davita be too depressed so we went and did a few errands before heading home. 

• the rest of the weekend was spent at home, except for a few trips to the grocery store and stuff. but mostly spent at home. we did go to Barns and Noble, as well as looked at the Real Mall and found that movies there are $9. Ha, never gonna happen
• not sure what we did Monday, maybe that's when we went to the mall. yeah i think that's what happened.
• Tuesday Davita made some awesome food, Tuna Casserole and Peach Cobbler while davita had a meeting with her advisor. she also navigated the Bus system. the meeting was great and we walked to the river! 

• on Wednesday we ventured out of the house to a crazy drug store called Hirons. it has everything, even a post office! Davita shipped a package and got a few things, while davita got her school supplies. 

• After Hirons we went exploring to find Lane Community College. the main campus is about 20 minutes at most from our house, but is in the mountains by then! it was crazy cool. we were definitely not expecting that. the campus was nestled between some ridges and was beautiful. very large and you could tell that Lane County really cared about its people with a campus like that!
• on our way home we saw a recreation sign and had to stop at Amazon Park. we went into the community center and had a wonderful talk and welcome from Jill. she told us about all sorts of programs, gave us a run down of the activities and different centers and gave us copies of newspapers and local journals and events that are happening. 
• Thursday we tried a new pancake place for breakfast, totally not as good as the original pancake house. not at all. but it was fun getting out and exploring a little. i really needed it because i was having a bit of a rough morning and Davita new just what to do! 
• Friday was Orientation day! davita ventured to campus by bus ( i am totally going to do that all the time! why dive, so easy! ) and met her cohort for the first time. there was a lunch where we met some current faculty and staff and some current masters and phd students. we also got a run down of all orientation schedule and a tour of the building. 
• OH! My GOODNESS! the staff of the university, as well as the other 6 satellite schools are in negotiation with their colleges for new contract. Uof O in particular is not responding so they voted to strike on 9/30 the FIRST DAY OF CLASSES! crazy! 
• on Saturday we went to the farmers market in the afternoon. davita was feeling really sick, but Davita convinced her it would be fun. we got so much stuff, and it was really nice out. the rain had stopped. after the market we were starving and davita was going to pass out that we found a new local restaurant called Cornucopia and had awesome burgers!

 
 

• that night, davita made cookies, since our oven is electric and seems to be strange, we had to test something out that would be easy! 
• and finally, today, our Lazy day. we did laundry and hung out. Davita made some phone calls and took a nap. davita wrote letters to pen pals and watched some netflix and wrote this blog post. 
• tomorrow orientation really starts! 

Until next time! 

the DDs 

September 17

I noticed today that the last posting was on the7th, hmmm, I guess we took this relaxing thing a bit far. I have been sitting in our living room for the past hour watching traffic and people as the rain pours down, and its coming down hard. Which doesn't seem to phase those that are biking or walking. Most people are in their rain gear, especially the kids (there is a lovely daycare center with amazing outdoor grounds a block from our place) who are in brightly colored boots and coats and umbrellas and seem to be stomping puddles. There is also a bottle, can, recycling place near here as there is a steady stream of people pushing grocery carts full of stuff....many who have become recognizable to me. I'm storing this info away for those future times when money gets tight!

davita is about to upload pictures and text about the last 2 weeks and then I will be back........miss you all!

Two days in one. Spokane to Eugene, and our first full day in our new city.

The ride from Spokane, or Spokey as we a ride full of contrast. what i mean by this is that it had mountains, but was the easiest drive, had grasslands and gorges, valleys and rivers, foothills and flatlands. It was the easiest and most beautiful drive we had so far, as well the last part of the drive being the hardest. it was the hardest, not because of the terrain or the roads, but due to the weather (crazy downpour and wind) and hitting portland rush hour traffic.

but im getting ahead of myself...


When we left Spokane, it was after a very restful evening. we had a really wonderful dinner at an Italian restaurant and it was just what we needed. The drive from Spokane to Portland was long but amazing. we were in-between mountains in a great grassland, full of dry rolling hills.

once we entered Oregon, the land was similar but things started to change. it was amazing to see the land go through so many stages. we followed the river most of the way, the Columbia river through the Columbia gorge and it was breath taking. we went through mountains along the river and below cliffs. it was one of the coolest parts of the drive. 

 

 
 
 

Portland was killer, we got in around 5, which meant rush hour. we drove and drove and pushed through the crazy ran until we made it to Eugene. it could have been a great part of the drive, but all i was paying attention to was not getting blown into another lane. 

we did get to see some farms, grass seed farms, lots of horses and sheep and the mountains to the east. once we got to Springfield, we saw a sign for Eugene, but didn't actually turn that way. it was killer for my family to hear me say that we didn't make it yet, that we only got to Springfield, not Eugene. but i took a picture anyway. 

that night we went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner and shared a king sweet with a pull out bed and rollaway bed. it was cozy but nice. 

our frist real day in Eugene was relaxed. we tried to sleep in, but that didn't work. but we took our time anyway and decided to check out of the Courtyard Marriott and stay at a local Inn that Davita and i stayed at when we were in town in March. after we checked in and put or stuff in our rooms we went to the Original Origial Pancake House for brunch. we ate ourselves silly! 

THEN! THEN we went to get our key and unload our car. the carpets were still wet so we put all our stuff in the kitchen. out place is nice, and all the locals say its far from things, but that is all relative. really its less then 10 minutes in a car from campus, is on a bus line as well as bike path, we are a block away from a gas station and a grocery store, across the street from a park with a killer frisbee golf course (though we dont play), and has nice green space and picnic tables for grilling and relaxing. 

 
 
 

After we unloaded we went to campus. it was hard for Kevin to get a feel for where the school was due to nothing being tall. it is hard for us to see through all the trees, so we went to campus and walked around. i showed Kevin and Adam the ES building and talked with Gayla the administrative director for the program. once we were done with that we decided to go look for beds, since Davita and i don't have one. we went to Mattress Mania and they were having a HUDGE sale and we got really nice beds. my bed will be delivered today and Davita's on friday. we then went to the home depot and got keys made and headed back to the hotel. by this time it was about 6 and we all wanted to relax. For diner we went to a Thai place, Adam Kevin and I and brought Davita back some food.

Until next time: where we will talk about our second full day and going to the Saturday market and anything else we do. if there is no post for 9/7 dont fret, on sunday we are taking kevin to the portland airport and going to IKEA and the APPLE store and maybe a few thrift stores so there may be a lot of updates about the apartment coming in the next few days.

thanks for reading!

Bozeman to Spokane, entering The Great PNW (Pacific North West)

Short Anecdote from the drive on highway 212 from Deadwood to Bozeman. 

We have been driving for quite a while on Hwy 212 and it doesn't seem to be getting any shorter. the foothills are getting larger, the grass and are are hot and dry and the land around us is all but dead looking, this place needs some rain! but i digress, setting the sean is hard.... well, we davita's car is in the lead and cindy is having a tough time with the hills. we are going around a bend, at an incline, heading to the top of a foothill when a car starts trying to pass both Davita and davita. at that very moment, davita sees something strange in the middle of the road. was it a deer or an antelope like the song says? was it a black bear? No it was a COW!  a cow just standing in the middle of the lane, with a TRUCK speeding down the mountain (i mean foothill). i reduce my speed drastically, the car that is passing us doesn't seem to see it at first and then slows down too, and the truck is squealing and slamming on its breaks... luckily the cow darted back to the safety of the grassland and out of the road. but i could just see all sorts of situations in which cow guts got all over my car... 

The End.

The drive from Bozeman to Spokane was one, if not the, most beautiful drives we had these last 4 days.  It was filled with plains and foothills, mountains and valleys, Passes and ranges, and lakes and cities. Adam and Kevin drove the first stretch of the day, after much discussion with the hotel staff about the type of mountain driving that we would be doing that day. it was said that the first stretch to Missula was the easier of the half's and having a new driver and a scared of mountain driver drive that part would be best. 

We went through at least 3 passes in the morning part of our drive, and the Men did wonderflly. it was still an Interstate highway so the speeds were upwards of 75 and the lanes were big and the road went through the mountains mostly following the rivers. 

within the first hour, we passed the continental dived, which was 6393 feet between Bozeman and Butte MT. that was really exciting. when we got the Butte, we made all kinds of Butte jokes and then continued on to Missula. it was an easy drive and the there was only about one or 2 more passes to go through. actually im not interlay sure about how many because for the first time all trip i was able to fall asleep while adam drove. 

when we got to Missoula we stopped for lunch and went to some ATMs and filled up our gas tanks. i wanted to Moon the college because they turned me down but i didint. we switched drivers and went on. at this point we had been driving for about 2.5-3 hours and had another 2.5-3 to go. the difference between the first and second half of the drive was the road conditions, and the number of passes we went through. once we left Montana and entered Idaho the roads instantly changed. they were bumpy, uneven and badly paved. the safety reflectors were almost non and so it made us feel a little less safe. but the ride through the mountains was easy and at times exciting as we made our way to Spokane and all the way down and out of the mountains. 

 

we got into Spokane a lot sooner then we had thought, mostly because we drove really well and didn't get caught in roadwork areas, but also because we entered our last timezone change. we are now officially in Pacific time which is 2 hours earlier the Central time. so we arrived before 5pm and checked into our hotel and hung out for a while before dinner. 

Dinner was actually really nice. we went to an italian restaurant and had amazing food. it was a treat to be able to sit down for a few hours and relax and eat really good food. after dinner we came back to the hotel and Davita, davita and Adam were in bed and asleep shortly after 9pm. 

it has definitely started to hit me for sure and i think Davita too, that we are almost there. it feels like we

are no longer on vacation but getting closer to our new life and that is scary to me. i am excited about this last leg of the journey from Spokane to Eugene (7hours and 40mins). with every day that passes and we get farther from Milwaukee, and closer to Eugene we are also getting closer to our new life and further away from what we know and the people we love. 

Until next time