SURPRISE!!!

So I am at home in Florence! Hooray!! and it was a complete surprise to Rebecca, who is really hard to keep secrets from so double success!  She was supposed to come with the parents to Florida before I leave for Morocco to celebrate her birthday on the 17th as well as to send me off and for them to bring Layla back to Florence for a stay at camp Skinner.  However, because she starts her brand new big-girl job on the 15th, she cant come down to see me anymore before I leave or party hardy for her birthday...So I decided to surprise her and come home instead.  To be honest I never thought I would pull it off because I'm a bad secret keeper about stuff like this anyway and because she's really good at knowing when I'm hiding something.  :)  But we did it!  Also, papa was surprised because he didn't think I was coming until tomorrow morning!  It is so nice to be home...you forget sometimes that you can get homesick, even when you know that you're old enough to be out on your own!  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and fully appreciates their families as I plan to this weekend!

Travel tips???

Hi readers! So today I just thought I'd throw a question out there and see if anyone has any advice...I'm starting to prepare for my trip to Morocco in August and I was wondering if anyone has any good trips for overseas travel??  I will have long plane rides, lots of different hotels, and even a night in the desert so I have to be prepared for anything! 

Thanks in advance and I hope everyone is having a great week!

Weekend!

So it's getting harder and harder to see the weekends end...I'm not sure why because I'm getting closer and closer to the end of the semester I suppose I should want them to be over more quickly so that they can just be done.  Oh well, at least this weekend I got to do something completely fun and not school related at all! HARRY POTTER!!! :) I have been a Harry Potter fan since I was in the 7th grade when I read the very first book.  For the last 10 years or so there has always been another book or movie to look forward to about some of my favorite characters and this weekend ended the era.  Isn't it amazing how someone can write a story that is so involved and memorizing that you think of the characters as real people? It is such a gift and I hope that in the future there will continue to be authors (who don't write textbooks) that can catch my attention so fully and take me to a whole new world for entertainment and escape!  Thank you JK Rowling and I hope all of you have a story that you love and that makes you as happy as the tales of Harry and his friends have made me! Happy Monday!

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth...

Hello readers! I'm so sorry I have fallen behind on updating here but the last couple of weeks have been really busy.  I think last I wrote, I had just gotten back from visiting Salkehatchie and was of course preparing for a test...which is all I feel like I've done since then.  In case y'all didn't know this grad school thing is hard! However, I think  I've turned a corner.  We are now over halfway through the semester and through our first year! And although I think I took one of the hardest tests I've ever taken to date this morning, I'm feeling pretty good about all that I have learned over the last 7 months.  

I'm also now done with my fieldwork component for this term.  I spent the last 4 Fridays traveling to Gainesville, Fl to shadow an occupational therapist at an outpatient clinic called Shands for Kids.  It was awesome!!!  I loved every minute of it (even if I did have to get up at 4:30 am to get there on time)  I learned so much and got good feedback about my interactions with the kids and about my interest in the population.  It's so reassuring to know that there is a field out there that I so enjoy and that I'm hoping I have the right tools and personality to excel in.  Plus, in what other job could you ever finger paint, scooter board, play wii, swing, and have a dodgeball war all in the same day?!

Also, just a quick update on Morocco...the trip is getting so close that I'm starting to get all my ducks in a row (and starting to stress about my declaration to make it there with only one bag!) I have been so awed by all the love and support I have received from my family and friends in regards to this trip.  Although traveling abroad always comes with some level of anxiety, I am so at peace with this decision and so excited to go learn and grow as a therapist and as a person, and a lot of that is due to those that I have here at home that support me through anything!

Ok, I think this is long enough for now! Love to you all!