Mad-TOWN!

Alright, so for the last two weeks I've had the privilege (and stress) of doing some turbo-touring for grad schools before our departure across the pond. In my head (STUPID!) it seemed perfectly reasonable to cram two school tours in the last three weeks I was going to be home. I thought this would give me more than enough time to view both schools, think about it, and the answer would be clearly presented to me on a lace pillow.

WHY?! WHY did I do this to myself!?

No answer. However, I will say, this was not nearly enough time, because comparing the schools was like apples and oranges. I am about to recap what an incredible weekend I had in Madison, and how they lured me in.

The whole day was perfectly constructed. Erik dropped me off early morning, and I was brought to a class to view. I wasn't interested in actually partaking in a class, I just wanted to view student/teacher ratio, student interaction, etc. Well, not only was this class highly informative, but the student teacher ratio... fabulous.. student interaction, even better. I was then given an honest tour (I really appreciated it, I use to be a campus ambassador and know all the sugar coating tricks) of the AMAZING facilities.. to top it all off, I was able to meet with an advisor who literally had TWO HOURS to talk to me.

Okay- without boring anyone, one more quick thing! They have a 'global health certificate' which you can incorporate into your class load and won't take you any extra time to graduate. Oh, and the mandatory field experience that goes along with getting the certificate?... A paid semester in Uganda!!!!!!!!!!!(that's a computers way of raising your voice a little and saying eeeeeeeeee!)

So without getting too much into logistics, curriculum, and program details (CUTTING EDGE)... they rolled out the red carpet for me, and I should have brought my sunglasses, cause baby I was the star!!

To top this all off, I had one of the best weekends with Erik's family. They are some of the nicest people I know, but more than being nice, they're real... real, genuine people. The kind of people that you are entirely yourself around (and they still keep me around!haha), the kind where after you've spent time with them you smile the whole drive home, the kind of people that show me how and why I love my boyfriend so dang much.... those kind of people.

On Saturday night we had a 'dining experience', and I do not use this word loosely. You can learn alot about yourself and others by trying new foods, plus by adding wine to the equation it guarantees a night of epic proportion. Everyone brought an appetizer, and let me say- they have exquisite taste in food (my idea of fancy is no longer an exotic greek and feta hot pocket, kidding!)

Our appetizers included:

Tuna tartare

Stuffed Mushrooms

Alexander's shrimp

Brie

Escargot

Main entree:

Clam chowder

Dessert:

Cherry pudding cake

By the time I finished, I was Violet Beauregarde and needed to be rolled out of the kitchen. By some unexplainable means, I was hungry in the morning and able to eat a delicious broccoli quiche and apple brunch cake.

Overall, I had a fantastic weekend. I am more perplexed than ever when it comes to choosing the school of 'best fit', but, my worries were erased this weekend due to good company and scary high levels of leptin easing me into a food induced bliss.

(PLUS!!!!: They have TWO puppies! A 1 1/2 old Vizla and an itty bitty one 3 months)