And so it begins....

FINALS!!!!! Yes, somehow midterms just ended and yet finals are due in the next 1-2 weeks! How did this happen? I've started the massive feat of these papers, 3-20 pg papers and a final exam. So far I've written 10 pages in 17 hours, these papers are not as easy as undergrad. Is there a way to put an extra hour or two into each 24 hour day? Can it be 25 or 26 hour days?!? Just for the next few weeks... I foresee Starbucks, Monster, and 5 hour energy drinks being my best friend between now and Dec 16th. I take back my statement I made last year, about people making grad school seem harder than it really is. Last year wasn't too bad, this semester has been brutal, I'm so excited for winter break and not having to look at a textbook or a journal article for a whole month! I am worried about next semester, and I'm desperately hoping that it will not be as bad as this semester. I miss seeing the outside world, besides on my walk to or from school/work or to walk Willy.

I am however SO excited for Christmas, I love the holidays, and I'm planning between finals ending and my trip back home I can get out and see all the decorations here in the city. And I'm looking forward to my trip home to see all my family and friends. Hope everyone else that is experiencing the stress and anxiety of finals gets through it easier than me, and just try and focus on the wonderful break that will start in a few short weeks.

Bye for now <3

Mom and Philly

So my mom came out to visit for a week! We had such a good time! We went shopping, showed her around my neighborhood, went shopping some more, and saw some of the sites around NYC. We also went down to Philly for a couple days. It's on my list of places I've always wanted to go, and since it's only 2 hours away from NY we went! We took the bus down there and did all the touristy stuff. We wandered around old town and saw the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross' House, Independence Hall, and so much more. We had a great time there, and it was nice to be able to both be experiencing Philly for the first time together. When in Philly you must try Philly cheese steaks. So we went to a famous place for them for lunch and then went to a great place for dinner underground where we chose to do wine and cheese tasting for dinner! They are the only place (I think) in the states that has a built in rinser on your table. So when your down with your first wine you can rinse your glass at your table before trying the second wine. It was a really fun dinner! We stayed the night, with a few glitches trying to get to our hotel, and then just shopped and saw the last couple of things we didn't see the day before. It was a great visit and I pretended that I was not in grad school all weekend! Now I'm back to reality and really behind, but it was worth it.

Grams will be here the end of Thanksgiving weekend, and will be taking me to see the Nutcracker! SO excited for that!! I have 1 month left of school, and am going to start writing finals very soon! And then I will only have 1 more semester until I have my Masters in Social Work!!!! SO EXCITED! I can finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Here are a couple pic from my mom's visit, the rest are on http://picasaweb.google.com/cmwright121

Halfway to finals....

So the last few weeks I have lost my social life all together. Although, it was a small social life beforehand, but I have spent most of my free time either working on papers and studying for tests or procrastinating from those by going online or watching TV. ;) I have to admit that this semester so far is MUCH harder than last. I figured second year would be harder, only seems logical, but more interesting since it's more concentrated. Well yes and no, the class I got to choose, I am loving and finding it fascinating, but the others are mandatory and just not interesting at all. This year I can't get by skimming or just reading some of the required readings either. One of my classes particular is taking up most of my time, and that is the one that I am learning how to diagnose in. It's quite interesting, but SO hard to remember everything and SO much reading each week. I'm talking 100-150+ pages for that class alone each week! Luckily, I am at the halfway point, and soon enough will be on my last semester of school! I am so excited for May to get here and not have to waste these beautiful weekends inside writing papers and studying for exams.

My internship is going great this year. It's so much different than last year. Not different in a good or bad way, just different. There is a lot more structure and paperwork! SO much paperwork....but I'm enjoying learning about the population I'm working with (severely persistently mentally ill) and getting to know the clients at my agency. I run 5-6 groups a week ranging from healthy living to teaching them about values, and I also was able to do my first intake this last week (initial assessment). I was told that I might start doing more intakes, and that may become my Tuesdays for the rest of the year...I also will shortly be assigned clients to work with individually. All in all, my internship is going great this year and am enjoying all the staff, interns, clients and the work I'm doing so far.

My mom comes to visit in a little over a week, and I am SO excited to see her! She will be here for a week and we have lots of fun things planned, including a trip to Philadelphia! I will post pictures and update my blog after she leaves!

Back to paper writing, 1 left to do.

bye for now <3

Welcome to Midterms

I have now spent the past 5 hours answering 1 of 6 questions for my midterm paper.....psychiatric exam and 5 axial diagnosis is a lot harder than I thought it would be.....the picture doesn't really do it justice, the only free spot on my bed is where I'm sitting. Oh the joys of grad school!! On the bright side, this time next year I will not have any of this to do!! :)

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2nd year internship

So I have finished my first week of internship and there isn't that much to report. Obviously because of insurance and privacy regulations/laws I can't share specific details with any of you. I am working at a agency that is a few minutes away from my apartment(which is great because I walk home and eat lunch at home everyday). I am working at a agency with a severely persistent mentally ill population. I will be working with everyone with major depression to schizophrenia or personality disorders. Many of the clients will have multiple diagnoses and many also have a history of substance abuse too. All I did this week is a lot of observing. I met all the staff members and many of the clients. There are many different interns from lots of different schools here in the city, their are psychology inters, drama/art therapists, music therapists, peer mentor interns and of course me the social work intern. I was able to sit in on many groups this week and see how different each person runs the groups. Next Monday I go to orientation, where I will learn all the details about their internal computer system and anything else I wasn't taught this week. Everyone is SO nice, and I partially worried that they are just being super nice since it's my first week. My supervisor seems very nice and eager to help me throughout the year. Everyone is willing to help me or answer any questions I have even if they aren't my supervisor, the good thing is many of the current staff members used to be interns at my agency and where hired on so they at one point were in the same situation as I am now. I was told starting next week I will start running my own groups. I'm a bit nervous to run my own group, but I know once I get through my first one it will be fine. I will be running 1-3 groups a day and then eventually will also get my own clients that I will see individually and have to check up on with other group leaders to see if they are participating in groups. I will be helping them find housing, get a job, get into a school program, whatever their goals are I will help them try and achieve. I will be getting 2 to start and eventually end with 4 or 5 clients at the end of the year.

I think that's enough information for now, I'm really excited to continue on this year and see what happens. I will update later this month/early next when I have actually had my first group and possibly even seen my first client. School is school, I'm looking forward to 2 of my 4 classes, and think I will learn a lot in those two, but I really could do without the other two. I've already started the countdown to Christmas break ;)

Bye for now <3

Last Year

The end of summer has come and now I am faced with another year of school. I am however very excited that I entered my last year of school. This is my second and last year of my grad program, and I can't wait to be done with it. I have been going to school for WAY too many years, and am ready for a break. This year I will be at a different internship than last year, but I do not start that until next week so I will update after my first week at my internship. So far I went to 3 of my 4 classes, I was going to have one Friday morning, but I found a open Tuesday night class. Now I will go to my internship Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and school Tuesday and Wednesday. I am taking Clinical Practice w/ Individuals and Families, Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Research 2, and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention. My first teacher didn't show up so I have no idea how my cognitive class will be, but my research class seems to be a little challenging and my Humab Behavior(HB) teacher overwhelmed me with just the first class. I'm very excited about HB however, because we start to learn how to diagnose and learn all the signs/symptoms to help you diagnose....I feel like I'm starting to finally get into the stuff that is new to me and that I need to learn to help me once I get out.

I am happy to be done w/ summer and back into a routine, but I'm sure soon as the stacks of reading pile up I will wish for it to be summer again. I'm loving the new apartment and the location is fantastic. The best part is my internship and school are both a 5 minute or less walk each from my place! Not much more to talk about, just the fact that I have officially started my last year of school, and am anxiously awaiting my internship to start and am crossing my fingers that I enjoy it and have as good of an experience this year as I did last.

Bye for now <3

My new apartment!!!

I tried uploading to this video directly to here but it wasn't working so I decided to post it on youtube instead. Here is the link to a video of my new apartment, my room is smaller, but the rest of the place is bigger than my last apartment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mGP_5XHCec

Bye for now <3

July

July was a very eventful month for me. For those of you on facebook you already know that the family I was babysitting for this summer had the roof of their building catch on fire and the building is now condemned. The crazy part, was I was there babysitting when I got a knock on the door from the cops saying the building was on fire and I needed to evacuate. I immediately grabbed the kid and ran out the door, forgetting his shoes along the way. Needless to say, because of the whole ordeal the mom stopped going to work to stay "home" w/ the kid and try and find them a new place to live. They lived in a few friends apartments for a few weeks and finally just got a sublet for the next 3 months. I however was all of a sudden jobless because of this fire. I have been frantically looking for work all month and applying to everything I could, I think about 250 jobs total. I FINALLY just got another babysitting job yesterday and start next week for a nice family in the Upper West Side. I will be helping the mother who just had her 3rd child last week. I will mainly be working w/ the 1 and 3 year old girls, taking them to different activities in the city while she stays with her newborn. I also have a few family that said they will use me for nights and weekend babysitting once school starts too, when needed.

Being jobless, I had to cancel the trip to DC I had planned this month to visit my friend and wasn't really able to do many fun things in the city. It's been SO hot here that I haven't really wanted to wander around the city as it is. I did however just move. My lease was up at the end of July and the whole month my roommate and I have been frantically looking for a new place. We had a low rent price we were willing to pay and many requirements, so it was very difficult to find what we wanted. But after seeing 15 apartments, all in a 2 day span, we found a really nice place in the West Village. The West Village is one of my favorite, if not my most favorite areas of the city. The best part is I can walk to school, it's only 3 blocks away, AND I can walk to my internship! The neighborhood is amazing and there is so much to do here, and it is just so pretty. I'm sure I will be posting pictures frequently of the neighborhood. The apartment is great and I will post a video of our place once we get all the furniture in and put together. I am now living w/ a girl that I went to high school with. I knew who she was, but I probably only talked to her a few times while in school. She just recently moved to NYC for law school and we decided to live together. We get along great and I'm looking forward to living w/ her for the next year or more.

That's about all that's going on in my life right now, I'm just trying to enjoy the last few weeks of my summer, I can't believe my last long 4 month summer is almost over!

bye for now <3

Canada

I just got back from my week trip up to Canada to visit friends. Max and Mel are two girls that I met last year when I was on my tour of Europe. They came down for NYE to NYC so I thought it was only fair for me to go to them for Canada Day (July 1st), AND I've never been to Canada. ;) I stayed at there place right outside Ottawa, Ontario. Ottawa is the capitol of Canada and is so pretty. Everything in Canada was so green and gorgeous. The first day I was there was Canada Day and it was spent just like most spend the 4th of July here, we hung out on a balcony of their friends all day and then went to see the fireworks that night. The queen was there in Ottawa so they had extra special fireworks this year, and we were able to watch them overlooking Parliament. The 2nd day I was there was Max's 25th birthday. We made her breakfast and then took her out to dinner, then had some of her friends over for cake back at her house. It was a lot of fun to meet all her friends. The next day we went for a quick overnight trip to Montreal, Quebec. We went shopping and explored part of the city, then had dinner and went out for drinks. Sunday (the 4th of July here), we went to their friends house for a BBQ, it was a joint birthday party for Max and one of her friends. It was so hot so it was nice to lounge around a pool and meet more of their friends. The next day we went around their town and then stopped by the mall, and the last day they took me back to downtown Ottawa to show me Parliament, the canal, and the Byward Market.

It was such a great trip, even if I feel like it past too quickly. We have so much in common and are so similar that we always have a good time, even if we are just sitting around watching tv. The hardest part of my trip is that Ottawa and Montreal are bilingual, and most of their friends speak french as their first language. So they would randomly while speaking break into french. I would listen and quickly turn to look at Mel to ask her to translate for me! She would summarize what they said for me, the part that was the funniest is that most didn't realize they did it, so a few times people would ask me questions in french and not realize that they hadn't just said whatever in english.

I'm hoping that they will come sometime in the next year to visit me again back here in the city, I really do wish we lived closer to each other. However, we are so similar and work so well together that we are planning to travel together. All 3 of us are planning a trip in 2012 to go to Australia. They are planning on going for a few more weeks than me, so I will meet up with them there, but I'm so excited to start planning that trip and go explore more of this world w/ them. I will upload my pictures later this afternoon online, so check my http://picasaweb.google.com/cmwright121 later today for pictures from Canada.

Bye for now <3

Florida

I had a great trip to Florida. It was too short, but I was glad I got to at least see Angie and where she now calls home. Friday Angie took me on a tour of her town, then we went to visit her sister. Angie's nephew, who is 6 - is my boyfriend, and he had a gift for me when I got there. He baked me cookies, gave me a picture of himself, made me a lego heart, and gave me a marriage license and wedding ring! She lives right outside Daytona Beach, so Saturday we spent the day at the beach. She showed me the nightlife in her town on Saturday night and then Sunday I left. It was really short, but it was great to catch up, and next time I go I'm hoping to be there for more than a few days and maybe go to some of the theme parks in Orlando. Here are a few pictures from my trip.

Summer

So it is officially summer now, and I have already blown through one of my four months of summer. The weather here has been incredible hot and humid lately, which I guess for NYC is unseasonable for this time of year. Not owning an A/C has made it so much worse too. I have gotten most of my grades in and ended the semester with 1 A, 1 A-, 1 B+, and a Pass. I have one class I'm still waiting on a grade from, but I think it will be an A-. I also finally started my nanny position a few weeks back. It is defiantly a struggle working with this 3 y/o little boy, but we both are adjusting to spending many hours a day together and it's slowly getting better and better. I also got my placement for next year. I'm not sure if I talked about it at all in my last post, but next years placement will be in Manhattan on the west side at a company called FEGS, I will be working for the PROS program helping adults who are mildly to severely/chronically mentally ill find employment, housing, and basically just help them achieve whatever goals they currently hold for themselves. I'm excited to see what this new placement has to offer, and a good part of the program is in April next year they bring HR down and hire some of the second year interns.

My summer has been very full of eventful things so far, and it's only going to get more exciting. This past weekend a group of friends and I went to the Belmont (the 3rd a final race of the triple crown). I had so much fun, we took a trolley there and back and watched races all day and hung out with friends, and made some new ones too. Thanks to Aunt Carolyn, this weekend I am going to visit Angie (my old roommate and friend) who lives in Florida. I am so excited to see her and see where she now calls home. Then in two and a half weeks I leave for Canada. I will be up there visiting my friends who I met last year in Europe for a week. They came down at New Years time to visit NYC, and now I'm going to see Canada. I will be there for Canada Day and one of the girls 25th birthdays. I am so excited to be going up there to visit them, and look forward to seeing Canada. The rest of the summer I have no real plans so far, except I would like to go visit my roommate who is interning in DC for the summer.

I updated my pictures from this summer, here is the link.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cmwright121/Summer2010#

bye for now <3

Up to date...

Here is the link to my pictures. I have finally put up my pictures from my trip back home, and updated this past semesters album too. You can see new pictures in Spring and Summer 2010. I have gotten a few grades, but not all yet and start my job this weekend. I spent the week catching up with my new roommate. My other roommate moved to DC for an internship on Capitol Hill, so a girl that I went to high school with is subletting her room til the end of our lease here. We knew each other and hung out w/ similar people in high school but didn't really know each other, so it's nice to reminisce and catch up on old times.

Aunt Carolyn did the NICEST thing and gave me her air vouchers that were about to expire. So in a couple weeks I will be going to visit my friend and old roommate, who moved about the same time as me last year, in Florida. I'm so excited to see her and am super excited to see some of Florida. I unfortunately because of my new job will only be there 2 days, but that's better than nothing and I'm so glad I finally get to hang out with her again. I miss her terribly, and because she isn't back in Cali anymore I can't even see her when I go home to visit.

That's about it for now. Here is the link for pictures...

http://picasaweb.google.com/cmwright121

bye for now <3

D-O-N-E!!!!

I AM OFFICIALLY HALF WAY DONE WITH MY MASTERS!!!!! The past few weeks have been extremely brutal and for some reason spring finals are always more tedious to write and take than fall finals. BUT I now have a 4 month summer!!! That's right, 4 months! I have never had such a long summer. I will be getting my grades soon and will update once I figure that all out. The field office called me a few weeks ago and I should also be finding out my 2nd year placement in the next few weeks. Costa Rica, like I said before, fell through because it was REALLY expensive, and even with summer loans I couldn't afford it. I started looking and applying for jobs a few weeks back, I was applying for everything and anything because not many people or companies want to hire someone knowing that they have to quit at the end of the summer. I got a great job and start next week. I will be a caregiver/nanny/babysitter, whatever you want to call it, for a 3 y/o boy. The best part is that it is a block away from my house! A two min walk! I will work 3 days a week, and still have 3 day weekends this summer so I'm planning a few weekend trips to visit few friends that are moving out of the city for the summer. The great thing is I can crash on their couches so my trips will be very inexpensive, so I can save some of my babysitting earning.

I somehow pulled off a great surprise. I went home this past week to visit my family. It was the only time this summer I was free to go, because school is over and I don't start my job til the end of this month, so it was perfect timing to go home and visit....AND it just so happens that Mother's Day fell during the time I wanted to come visit. SO I surprised my mom, and did a great job, no one spilled the beans and told her, even though me and my sister many time almost slipped. She was very very surprised and wouldn't let go of me for a while, she kept saying she was dreaming. It was great to be home and visit with the family and see my friends. My dad helped out so that I could bring Willy w/ me because it would have cost more to board him here than to bring him back and forth with me. Thanks Dad! I was able to see most of my friends, and spend quality time with them and the family. It was only a week trip, which always flies by too quickly, but I'm excited to be back in the city and experience Summer here. There is so many things to do and experience during summers here, I'm looking forward to concerts, plays, and movies in the parks, and just spending time outside exploring the city more.

I just flew home from CA tonight, and am on Pacific time still so I can't sleep, but I will update later this week w/ some pics from my visit and a bit more about whats going on in my life. Sorry it's been so long since I updated this, but the day after I finished finals I flew home.

Bye for now <3

Finals

I'm in the midst of finals, writing papers, figuring out group projects, and thinking about what I am going to do this summer for work. I get an email, forgetting I even applied, I found out I got into the Costa Rica program this summer...unfortunately I can't afford it and I have to decline it :( I was very excited that out of all the applicants I was chosen to go, they must have liked my application enough to see something there. I'm sad I can't go and venture into a country I haven't been to, but I'm more sad that I can't go to become more fluent in a language that would benefit me to know. Well back to finals, but this Human Behavior analysis of a book I had to read is going to be the death of me. 2 weeks til I am officially 1/2 way done with grad school!

Bye for now <3


Currently listening to: Undisclosed Desires by Muse

April

So the last month has been a crazy one for me. I had midterms due, 2 spring breaks (one from my school, and one from the elementary school I intern at), and I had 6 birthday! I have to admit that this past month has defiantly been the most hectic in my social life. I was going to birthday parties and dinner all month, and with the spring breaks I decided not to do any school work, which was probably not the best choice, but I needed a break! I'm so lucky that I'm interning at a school because I was able to get the second break. Kimmie came during my second spring break, and it was such a fun visit. We went and saw all the tourist sites, and walked about 20 miles while she was here. Her visit was too short, and makes me sad that I'm so far away. Willy moved out here a day before Kimmie came (Thanks to Shanna for being so nice and bringing him!) so she was here to help Willy adjust to NY living. He has adapted well, I'm shocked that we have yet to have an accident in my apartment. I was gone Wednesday for my normal 12.5 hours at school, and thought he would have for sure found something to pee on besides the wee pad I have down. I was shocked when I got home and everything was in place from where I left it and I couldn't find any wet spots and didn't spell pee. He is not so sure yet about the dog parks, but I know it will grow on him eventually. It's so great to have him back though, I was here WAY too long without him.

Now for April....I lose all that social life I had last month. No more dinners during the week, or on the weekends. No going out with friends. I have finals due in 3.5 weeks now....I can't believe I am almost 1/2 way done with my Masters!!! I have to write 3 15pg papers (one I have to read a 400pg book first-I'm on 219 right now), study and take a final exam, and write my part of a group paper, edit the group paper, and give a group presentation. I HATE presenting, so I'm hoping that I can speak less since I will be the one editing the paper! We shall see if my group members allow that. I am done with my internship on the 29th of this month, so I have to start talking to the kids about how I will be leaving and that they will have new social workers next year. I think it's gunna be kinda hard with a couple of them. :( School ends on the 28th, except one class goes until the 5th of May because we had a snow day in Feb. and we have to make up that class.

I looked more into the study aboard program in Costa Rica, and although I would love to do it, I physically cannot afford it. So I will be in NY all summer (which is a 4 month summer for me!) I am looking for a job, and my current supervisor has passed my resume onto a former employer who is trying to get him back at their agency. If I am able to get a job there I would be working with adults who are disabled. If I cannot get a job there, then I will just apply to admin jobs or receptionist jobs, because I'm sure I can't get much more than that with a company knowing that I will have to go back to school in the fall. That's about it for now. Off to go work more on my finals.

<3 Bye for now.

Kimmie's visit to NYC!

here are some pictures from her visit....more to come once I have a few minutes to write more.

It's Springtime in the city!

The leaves are finally coming back on all the trees and they are so pretty w/ all the white and pink little flowers!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

March

The beginning of the month was very stressful, full of midterm exams and papers. This past week has been great, the weather was in the 60s and 70s and it was my spring break! I was able to relax and just wander around the city in the wonderful weather. I went on a couple jogs by the East River, and sat on my rooftop and read, and went to Central Park one day. It was a great break, but I go back to school and my internship next week. I have 8 friends birthdays in the next 2 weeks, so it will be busy with birthday parties and dinners. In 2.5 weeks Willy moved out to NY! I can't wait to have my dog back, I miss him so much, and I know that he will adjust to NY living quickly. A day after Willy moves out here Kimmie comes to visit me during her spring break. I can't wait for her to come and see NY, and let me show her all the awesomeness of NYC! She will be here for Easter, and I have a few other friends not going home for Easter, so we might have a joint Easter thingy.

As soon as Kimmie leaves I am on the home stretch to being half way done with my Masters! That's right, I am almost half way done!!! I have 6 weeks left as of now, so once Kimmie leaves I will be focusing on finals, finals, and more finals. I have to wrap up things at my internship and discuss termination with my clients. The children are used to have a new Social Worker each year at the school, but it doesn't make it any easier to say bye. I have filled out my paperwork for my 2nd year placement, and am hoping to be placed in the psych ward of a hospital or a in-patient residential facility. I should find out sometime mid summer.

I am still waiting for the tutoring position to start, I have gotten fingerprinted, and according to the women I spoke to earlier today I should be getting a phone call to complete the hiring process on Monday. So I can get 3 months of tutoring kids before they have summer break. I also may have a possible job opportunity with my current supervisor's old company. I don't know much more than it would be with disabled adults, but my supervisor will inform us more about it this upcoming week.

Lastly, I am hoping to go study abroad in Costa Rica this summer. The program is through the Social Work program at NYU and I would go for 3 weeks to Costa Rica and take an immersion Spanish class. According to students that went last year, you will come back fluent (on an elementary school level) in Spanish. It would open so many doors to be fluent in Spanish, especially in the field I am in. A lot of my clients come from immigrant families and do not speak the language, and the most prominent language we see is some form of Spanish. I found out the cost of the program, and now am waiting to find out how much financial aid will cover for summer classes. I would love to go, and it would benefit me in the long run professionally, but I don't have extra money to spend on anything. So if financial aid can not give me enough to cover the program cost, then I will be staying here in August instead of going to Costa Rica.

That's about it for now...I will update again after Kimmie leaves and let y'all know all about her visit!

bye for now <3

NC for the weekend

I went to North Carolina this weekend and had a wonderful time. I got out of NY just as the snow storm hit, I was the last AA flight out of NY. I finally got to meet Hannah, and spend time with the girls and my brother and sister in law. I had a great weekend full of playing with the girls, and going out to dinner w/ Brian and Mere. I also had a chance to go experience Monkey Joes, and it's seriously the best idea someone has come up with! They now need to invent one for adults too!! :) I wish I lived closer to all of them, I've been back only a day and I already miss them so much. The next few weeks may be a bit stressful for me, I have midterms to write and a exam to study for, and I have to make up a day at my internship for leaving early to beat the snowstorm. Here are a few pics from this weekend, the rest are on http://picasaweb.google.com/cmwright121

Bye for now <3

Baltimore and DC

Here are a few pictures from my trip this weekend to Maryland and Washington DC. Washington Monument, White House, Charm City Cakes in Baltimore, and a pretty church next to the Basilica in Baltimore.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

What a year

wow! So walking home from running errands, I was walking down a street that had stereotypical NY apartments, brick buildings w/ fire escapes. The street looked so pretty, even if the lack of leaves on the trees, and the dirty melting snow on the edges of the sidewalk. I realized as I walked down the street that if someone would have told me a year ago that I would be living in NYC and going to NYU I would have thought them crazy. First off, there is NO WAY that NYU would accept me, and secondly NYC?!? I always thought that it would be so much fun to live here for a summer but I thought that I couldn't last longer than that here just from what I saw in movies, tv shows, and how people described it to me. I have to admit when I came to visit I didn't understand what the big fuse was, and why everyone hated this city so much. So many people have very strong feelings about NYC, some positive, but mainly they were negative thoughts and feelings. I have been here about 6 months and I think I fall into the category of those who have positive feelings towards and about NYC. I think this city is amazing and I love that there is always something to do, somewhere to go, and you never have to do the same thing twice or eat at the same restaurant twice.

A year of go I would have thought you were crazy that I would move cross country and leave all my friends and family to go to graduate school. It was really hard, and still is hard to not be able to just take a quick trip home for the day, but I am so glad that i did it. I think I would have always regretted and wondered "what if" if I hadn't come. I know that this is not a city I want to spend the rest of my life in, but for someone in their early 20s I think it's a great place. Moving away forced me to leave my comfort zone and do many things that I wouldn't have done if I still lived in California. I will run errands and go shopping alone, I will go to the movies alone, and I will even eat in a restaurant alone. I feel like as a person I really have grown in the last half a year, and I have learned a lot about myself and who I want to be.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cmwright121

That is all for now, off to Baltimore and DC in the morning! :)

This is a video that I made for my mom showing all the snow we got here in NYC today! Shut down public schools for the first time in 8 years and NYU the first time since 9/11.

Blizzard of 2010

So pretty, can't wait to go build a snowman!! :)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

February

January has come and gone and now I beginning my busy social life for the next month. This semester seems to be easier than last, maybe it's just because I know what to expect this time around, or these classes/professors are just easier. I have one midterm at the end of this month, one next month, and an exam next month. One of my classes there is no midterm but weekly 1 pg papers. I like 2 of my 4 classes, which is a step up from the 0 I liked last semester. The good part is they are my last two classes, so by the time I start to get burnt out because of my 12 hour school days, I can remember that I enjoy my last 2 classes.

This month I have a lot going on. Next week I have a couple field trips with the children at my internship, so we are busy trying to get them all organized and get everything we need for the trips. Next weekend, Valentine's Day and Presidents Day weekend, my friend Amanda is also coming to visit! I'm so excited to see her and show her my city! ;) The week after that I do not have my internship because schools here have winter recess for a week in February, the week of Presidents Day. The weekend after Presidents Day I am going w/ my friend to Maryland to get a personal tour of Baltimore and then down to DC for a day. I'm so excited, because those are both places that I have not been, and both are on my list of places in the states I want to go! :) The last week this month I have a midterm due, then I leave to go to North Carolina to visit my brother, sister in law, and my 2 little nieces! I'm so excited to finally meet Hannah! It's been too long since I have been to NC and been able to visit my brother and his family.

I'm excited for all the fun adventures this month, but I know that school is the first priority, and I want my grades this semester to be just as good as last. I'm actually procrastinating right now from my readings....so back to that.

<3 Bye for now

Culture and Social Issues of Central America - Study Abroad in Costa Rica

This course will introduce students to the European-heritage and Indigenous cultures of and contemporary socio-political issues facing developing countries with a focus on Latin America emphasizing issues affecting children and families in of Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Using Costa Rica as the focus of study, domestic and international aid responses to poverty and vulnerable populations, public and private, will be explored.

This course is an opportunity to learn about and from the developing world… in Costa Rica! From a global perspective (with an emphasis on Latin America), we will explore social policy issues as they affect vulnerable populations, particularly children and families. We will be introduced to domestic and international aid responses through guest lectures and site visits.

For the field portion of the program, we will be spending three to six afternoons at a public child care center for very poor, pre-school children, half of whom are Costa Rican and half of whom are from Nicaragua. Students should be prepared to engage the children in activities (arts and crafts, music, dance, games), providing their own supplies.

So, I found out this week that my program each summer goes to Costa Rica for a study abroad class. All I know so far is as much as I posted above (the course description) But I was thinking this would be a pretty cool thing to go and do. I want to travel more and although I have a always associated study abroad w/ Europe, why not go to a place I have never been and speaks the language I am trying to soon become bi-lingual in. We shall see what happens, I can not find out any more until after the information session in the begging of March. Very excited though of the possibility

SNOW!!! View from my office :)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

And so it begins again...

This is the last weekend of freedom for me before my spring semester begins. I had a great month off and was able to recharge and get ready for this next semester. I am hoping that my classes are more interesting this semester, because Fall was a lot of repetition from what I learned the past 4 years in undergrad. I was extremely bored in my classes last semester because it was all so repetative, but according to my faculty adviser I may be bored my whole first year. So I will cross my fingers that at least some of my classes will have new and exciting topics for me to learn. I will be taking 4 classes again along with still continuing on at my internship at the elementary school in the Bronx. I did choose to take all my classes on one day, we shall see how quickly I regret doing that. I will be going to my internship Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday; and I will have 11 hour days on Wednesday when I go to school. This leaves me with 3 day weekends every weekend! I am trying to find a job of some sort to do on Fridays and/or in the evenings the days I have my internship, I had a promising opportunity but I'm not sure if it is going to work out or not now. My classes this semester are: Practice II, Research I, Clinical Practice w/ Groups, and Human Behavior in the Social Environment II. I FINALLY got the majority of my grades from last semester, I still am waiting for my Social Policy and Welfare grade, but so far I have gotten 1 B, 1 A-, and 1 A. I'm guessing the Policy grade will either be an A- or a B+. Not too bad for my first semester in grad school. The exciting part that I keep telling myself is that I am now a quarter of the way done with my Masters and that much close to freedom! At least freedom from school books, essays, and exams!

I also have a busy social life this semester too, now seeing how much time school takes I see that I do have enough time to do other things too. I have a friend coming to visit every month from back home in Cali for a long weekend. My sister is also coming in March during her Spring break, and I am going down to North Carolina to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and 2 nieces next month! I am finally going to see more of the North East too, my friend from Maryland invited me to come down with her during one of the long weekends in February to see Baltimore and then she said she would take me to DC too. I'm also looking into studying abroad this summer for 3-6 weeks. I am going to a meeting later this month to see if I can afford it and if the courses offered can count as an elective towards my Masters. And in July I plan to go up to Ottawa, Canada to visit my Canadian friends who came down here for New Years. I am very much looking forward to all the exciting adventures ahead and continuing to learn at my internship and become a better therapist.

New Pictures

I have updated my webpage with all my pictures on it. It is current with all my pictures from this past fall, from Christmas in California, and also my pictures from my NYE. Here is the link to view them all. http://picasaweb.google.com/cmwright121

I will update later this week or early next week about my grades and next semester's classes. :)

Happy New Year

I had a great trip home to see my family and visit with most of my friends. It was great to be in warmer weather (a little too warm for December) but it's SoCal. I was home for a week and a half and it was not enough to visit with everyone enough. Christmas was great and I got very needed warm clothes! The day I came back to NY my friends from Canada, that I met this summer in Europe, came down to visit for a week. We were busy the whole time they were here, showing them all the tourist and must see site seeing place. We also did ALOT of shopping. Well I did looking, but they were able to have a larger selection to choose from here than they do back at home, and our clothes and shoes are cheaper than in Canada. We went to a club for NYE and had a good time. Their whole visit was jam packed but it was great to hang out with them again. I already started to plan my trip this summer to go up to Canada for a long weekend to visit them! The past 4-6 weeks have been packed with finals, Christmas back in Cali, and out of town visitors. It was a great time, but I am looking forward to slowing down the next few weeks. I start back to my internship tomorrow (same school I was at this past fall) and have that 3 times a week until May, classes do not start until the 20th, so I have a few weeks to relax until I'm back into the swing of school. I am so exhausted from being on the go for so long, I'm going to go eat some dinner and go to bed early. I will update soon about what classes I will be taking and how I did on my first semester of grad school.

<3 Bye for now.