It's been over a week since I left Beloit for Sunny California. It's been a crazy week. My project at work is great. I have a lot of autonomy, but it is still creating something that I know people will use.
One thing about my professional career (in terms of Computer Engineering) is to create software and systems that work and that make people's lives easier. It is also to create things that serve some greater purpose. For instance, in my work at the Sexual Assault Treatment Center, my work helped the nurses with the way that they gathered information about their patients -- which made their jobs easier and allowed them to focus on quality care for their patients.
Let me draw that same thought process for the system I'm making here. I'm designing a website that will make the lives of all of the Residence Life staff much easier. So that way they can focus on the things that aren't keeping track of programming or advertising -- but rather focusing on the needs of the residents.
Anyway, enough blubbering about my project. It's going well.
This week has been entertaining, getting to know the area, the town, the people, and everything Arcata, CA.
A couple of things I would like to recount for you.
Friday night, I went into town for dinner, after going through campus with my camera. I ended up at a restaurant called "Hey Juan's Burritos." The place had come with recommendation from many people, so I figured I would give it a shot. As I walked into the place (which is about the size of the Captain's Galley in South Beloit, for those of you who understand that reference), I noticed the transient in the corner and then the smell hit me like a load of bricks. It wasn't the smell of burritos or mexican, no, it was definitely the potent smell of marijuana. Immediately my plans to eat there switched to a "to-go" order, but my interaction was all but over.
As I approached the counter to place my order, I realized that the guy taking my order was less than sober, but the girl making the food was even more chilled out than he was.
Coming into this experience, I knew at some point I would encounter a situation similar to this one, and quite frankly, I'm surprised it took almost a week to come across it. I was also surprisingly proud of how well I handled it. (For those of you not in the know, Click Here!)
And in case you were wondering, the burrito tasted like burrito and it was fantastic. I will definitely be returning soon.
Saturday, I had a big day planned. First, I checked out the Farmer's Market on the Plaza. It was quite the experience. So much more than a market, this is clearly a community gathering. I found some strawberries which are awesome, and I actually ran into the head of housing at Humboldt there. He is a really nice guy, and remembered my name. (You all know how that feels when someone remembers your name...)
After the market, I came home to look up my route to Eureka to see Pixar's Up. Eureka is a town about 10 miles south of Arcata and it contains franchises! The locals of Arcata joke that you have to go to Eureka to buy a pair of pants -- and it's the truth. I took the bus to Eureka and found my way to the theater, placed conveniently right on the bus route.
As I got on the bus, I knew that something amazing was going to happen. Just one of those gut feelings that I get. Sure enough, about 2 stops down an old man in a wheelchair is waiting to get on the bus, except he's heavily intoxicated and it blabbing on about this, that and the other thing. It was HILARIOUS to listen to. Of course, besides the fact that this man was so intoxicated at 230pm.
As usual, the movie was INCREDIBLE. I got to see it in 3D and I recommend that to anyone who wants to see this film does it this way. The animated short before it was probably my favorite one yet (yes, even better than Presto!) and the montage at the beginning of the movie was awesome and sets the tone for the entire movie.
Today was more a chill day, that started off with a round of frisbee golf round with Jeremy and his girlfriend, Mallory. It's been a while since I have thrown the disc around, but it was still a fun time and a good chance to meet Mallory and also see Jeremy in a non-business setting.
I went to Safeway today for groceries and plan to cook this week! I made Sloppy Joes tonight with enough left over for lunch tomorrow, so that is pretty exciting.
This is a complete side-note, but I have been watching 30 Rock and have fallen completely in love with it. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are absolutely hilarious together, and Tracy Jordan just complements them so well.
Coming up this week:
1) Meeting more of the Res Life Staff as they come back from vacation!
2) Will the roommate ever come? Does he exist?
3) More cooking adventures.
Pictures to come by way of You-Tube video.....to be embedded right between these lines. :-)
------------------------
------------------------
Until next time,
Matt
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
HSU -- Hills and Stairs University
Today was my first day working through my internship and it, like every other first day of work I've ever had, was intense. Stressful is really the perfect word, not stress as in "zOMG! I have so much stuff to do" but rather like the "there is so many new things to take in". Names, faces, people, roles, buildings, places, and the list goes on and on.
My project looks to be an interesting one, but something that I can handle and work with. I'll give more details as time goes on.
Two quick stories:
As shown in the title of this post, I have now discovered what HSU stands for. Hills and Stairs University (as my supervisor so eloquently pointed out on my brief tour of campus). They are EVERYWHERE, but they connect to all of the quads and such all over campus, at some point I will venture around with my camera to give a better idea, but for right now, there are tons of hills, and where there are hills, there are stairs.
Two, for lunch we went to a local place called Japhy's which was quite the experience. A very unique place with a unique sense of food. Much of our discussion at lunch revolved around something that I hit upon in my last post and that is how there are hardly any "chains" in Arcata. Everything is a Mom-and-Pop Shop, and there are very few chain shops here. 2 stores and a subway. That's it. It's just a very different way of life -- but that is Arcata. Even with the chains here, most people don't frequent them. It's very interesting....
Imagine living your life without:
Wal-Mart
Starbucks
Jimmy John's
McDonald's
Target
etc. etc.
That's not to say that there are replacements -- there are, and they are awesome -- ESPECIALLY the coffee. OH, the coffee. LOVE the coffee.
Quite the place that would be right?? That is where I live.
I'll continue to update later this week with more pictures of campus hopefully and other random fun stuff.
Peace,
-M
My project looks to be an interesting one, but something that I can handle and work with. I'll give more details as time goes on.
Two quick stories:
As shown in the title of this post, I have now discovered what HSU stands for. Hills and Stairs University (as my supervisor so eloquently pointed out on my brief tour of campus). They are EVERYWHERE, but they connect to all of the quads and such all over campus, at some point I will venture around with my camera to give a better idea, but for right now, there are tons of hills, and where there are hills, there are stairs.
Two, for lunch we went to a local place called Japhy's which was quite the experience. A very unique place with a unique sense of food. Much of our discussion at lunch revolved around something that I hit upon in my last post and that is how there are hardly any "chains" in Arcata. Everything is a Mom-and-Pop Shop, and there are very few chain shops here. 2 stores and a subway. That's it. It's just a very different way of life -- but that is Arcata. Even with the chains here, most people don't frequent them. It's very interesting....
Imagine living your life without:
Wal-Mart
Starbucks
Jimmy John's
McDonald's
Target
etc. etc.
That's not to say that there are replacements -- there are, and they are awesome -- ESPECIALLY the coffee. OH, the coffee. LOVE the coffee.
Quite the place that would be right?? That is where I live.
I'll continue to update later this week with more pictures of campus hopefully and other random fun stuff.
Peace,
-M
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Welcome to Arcata
The last two days have been quite the exciting run.
Yesterday was really long. And when I say really long, I mean, really long. After finally arriving in Arcata, I found my ride home from Mike who is an RLC at Humboldt.
(For those of you who speak ResLife, RLC = Residence Life Coordinator -- think Hall Director of sorts. Their role is a little different than that, but it's close enough for comparison.
For those of you who have no knowledge of Residence Life, Mike is a person who works at Humboldt with residents of their university-owned housing.)
Mike showed me around Arcata and gave me some basic knowledge of the community. It was nice finally being able to see the downtown area with my eyes instead of the Google Street View. One of the first things I noticed about the town is that there are hardly any chain-stores or anything really "corporate" -- almost every store is a Mom-and-Pop shop. It hasn't been until just recently that their drug store was purchased by CVS, and their theater was bought out by a chain. Other than the Safeway and the Subway, almost everything else is an original.
As we were driving, one of the first things I noticed about this place is how green everything is. I guess you can attribute this to the fact that most of this area is carved out of the forest. The other reason why this area is so lush is the climate here is the fact that the temperature is so moderate here. With a yearly temperature average of 57 degrees and almost 42" of rain a year, there is plenty of time and place and weather for plants to grow here. (Yes, including marijuana!)
While I'm on the topic, the weather here is really unique. Mike, my ride / tour guide, told me that most days it will be some sort of overcast with a temperature right around 55. The sun tends to come out in full force in the spring and fall, but remains behind the clouds most of the summer and winter.
The other thing that is neat about this place is that they have a legitimate town square. Yes, it's square and it's the hub of entertainment in the town. It's called "The Plaza", but it's still a square. (With "Barcata" covering one full side of the square...it's where all the bars are in town. Creative name, I guess.) Needless to say, I'm excited because it makes this place sort of like Stars Hollow. No gazebo in the middle of the square though, sadly. (Rory, there's your second-straight shout out!)
Onto the rest of my adventures.
Last night, I made my first trek into town to get some living essentials -- all the stuff I didn't want to or couldn't pack. It's about a 10-15 minute walk into town from where I live on campus, but the views walking in are phenomenal, so I don't really mind.
After getting a solid 12 hours of sleep last night, today I made two trips into the town, once this morning for groceries and once for dinner and movie. As Mike put it yesterday, the grocery stores here per capita is ridiculously large. He's right. I chose to investigate the one closest to me, which is one of these half-organic, half-"real" food places, so it made shopping much more fun to say the least. Other than an excellent selection of produce, they also sell bulk spices. I'd never seen that before, so I think it is noteworthy. I did break down and purchase some cloth bags today. They were a buck each and I get a discount every time I use them at the store. (Michael, I know you will be disappointed....)
Dinner and movie was also fun. I went to the Minor Theater which is one of the oldest theaters in the US originally built to show feature films that still does so. The theater itself had less than 100 seats, but was a cozy place to watch Angels and Demons, so no complaints. Dinner was my first foray into Arcata dining, finding myself at a New York-style pizza restaurant that I will most definitely be patronizing again. Tasty stuff for cheap. Can't beat that.
I will try to get pictures up tomorrow of my apartment and some of the starter ones of Arcata. I've found some real gems that many people will enjoy.
-M
Edit:
Pictures can be found here!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008341&id=1593660019&l=0069c2272f
Yesterday was really long. And when I say really long, I mean, really long. After finally arriving in Arcata, I found my ride home from Mike who is an RLC at Humboldt.
(For those of you who speak ResLife, RLC = Residence Life Coordinator -- think Hall Director of sorts. Their role is a little different than that, but it's close enough for comparison.
For those of you who have no knowledge of Residence Life, Mike is a person who works at Humboldt with residents of their university-owned housing.)
Mike showed me around Arcata and gave me some basic knowledge of the community. It was nice finally being able to see the downtown area with my eyes instead of the Google Street View. One of the first things I noticed about the town is that there are hardly any chain-stores or anything really "corporate" -- almost every store is a Mom-and-Pop shop. It hasn't been until just recently that their drug store was purchased by CVS, and their theater was bought out by a chain. Other than the Safeway and the Subway, almost everything else is an original.
As we were driving, one of the first things I noticed about this place is how green everything is. I guess you can attribute this to the fact that most of this area is carved out of the forest. The other reason why this area is so lush is the climate here is the fact that the temperature is so moderate here. With a yearly temperature average of 57 degrees and almost 42" of rain a year, there is plenty of time and place and weather for plants to grow here. (Yes, including marijuana!)
While I'm on the topic, the weather here is really unique. Mike, my ride / tour guide, told me that most days it will be some sort of overcast with a temperature right around 55. The sun tends to come out in full force in the spring and fall, but remains behind the clouds most of the summer and winter.
The other thing that is neat about this place is that they have a legitimate town square. Yes, it's square and it's the hub of entertainment in the town. It's called "The Plaza", but it's still a square. (With "Barcata" covering one full side of the square...it's where all the bars are in town. Creative name, I guess.) Needless to say, I'm excited because it makes this place sort of like Stars Hollow. No gazebo in the middle of the square though, sadly. (Rory, there's your second-straight shout out!)
Onto the rest of my adventures.
Last night, I made my first trek into town to get some living essentials -- all the stuff I didn't want to or couldn't pack. It's about a 10-15 minute walk into town from where I live on campus, but the views walking in are phenomenal, so I don't really mind.
After getting a solid 12 hours of sleep last night, today I made two trips into the town, once this morning for groceries and once for dinner and movie. As Mike put it yesterday, the grocery stores here per capita is ridiculously large. He's right. I chose to investigate the one closest to me, which is one of these half-organic, half-"real" food places, so it made shopping much more fun to say the least. Other than an excellent selection of produce, they also sell bulk spices. I'd never seen that before, so I think it is noteworthy. I did break down and purchase some cloth bags today. They were a buck each and I get a discount every time I use them at the store. (Michael, I know you will be disappointed....)
Dinner and movie was also fun. I went to the Minor Theater which is one of the oldest theaters in the US originally built to show feature films that still does so. The theater itself had less than 100 seats, but was a cozy place to watch Angels and Demons, so no complaints. Dinner was my first foray into Arcata dining, finding myself at a New York-style pizza restaurant that I will most definitely be patronizing again. Tasty stuff for cheap. Can't beat that.
I will try to get pictures up tomorrow of my apartment and some of the starter ones of Arcata. I've found some real gems that many people will enjoy.
-M
Edit:
Pictures can be found here!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008341&id=1593660019&l=0069c2272f
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Travel Stories...
Wow. What a day!
As I write, I'm in San Francisco waiting for my next flight that will bring me to my final destination of Arcata. I've got nothing left, I'm just exhausted and I really just want to get to a bed. The last 24 hours have been extremely challenging. The idea of being alone and being so far away from anyone I know really started to set in on Friday morning. Conveniently, I had left myself one rather large task to do before I left home to keep my mind occupied -- PACKING.
For those that know me, you know a few things that enhance this story:
1) I'm not necessarily "organized", but I am sharp as a tack and remember where I put things.
2) My wardrobe is relatively simple.
Backtrack to move out from Marquette this semester. This experience can only really be classified as "hot mess". I wanted and needed to get out of Carpenter and things just ended up in boxes in my basement. This made packing for CA much more interesting. Most of my clothes were out, but very little else. Needless to say, I was able to find everything (...except for one thing...) and managed to maneuver it into roughly 75 pounds of stuff. Even I was pretty impressed with my ability to pull it together under pressure.
I did mention that there was one thing that I couldn't find. But I'm very proud to announce that not only do I hold a Social Security Card, but that I also know where it is. As Jess (@mollyputz88) knows, this provided me a VERY healthy distraction during finals week when I was freaking out about not having it. It turns out I had stashed it at home....thank goodness.
After getting my life in order, I was able to get about 2 hours of sleep to prepare for my crazy day. GLORIOUS. I did get some more sleep on my way to the Milwaukee Airport, but once we got there it was entertaining.
United tells all customers to be there 90 minutes before their flight departs when in Milwaukee. 5am departure time equals a 330am arrival at the airport correct? Sounds great, except for the fact that United doesn't open their ticket counters until 4am. No naturally when my dad and I arrive at 3am, the airport is dead. Gotta love air travel.
O'Hare was fun, met a family that was traveling to Hawaii to see their son come back from a year-long deployment with the Marines. It was heart-warming for me to hear their story and especially on Memorial Day weekend, it helped to put everything into perspective.
Now, I'm at San Francisco waiting for my final flight of the day into Arcata. It's kind of foggy, but the locals say that is normal, and it can make flying in and out of here a total crap-fest. Let's hope my flight goes according to plan -- Matt needs a BED.
Haunting Thoughts:
One thing that I've been pondering for a while is the concept of how walking is an act of falling. How everytime you take a step, you don't know if you will be able to safely place that foot back down. We constantly fall -- but we fall forward.
As I take these next steps in my life, toward this summer, toward my Senior year of college, toward Grad School, I think it is important to note that you do fall forward with every step. If you don't fall, it wouldn't be a step in that direction.
Here's to taking the next step, and having enough faith in myself to know that the foot will land down safe and sound, only to prepare to take the next step.
Pictures to come!!
-M
(Side Note: After I wrote this, I proceeded to have my flight to Arcata delayed 2 times due to fog, making my trip almost 4 full hours longer than necessary.)
As I write, I'm in San Francisco waiting for my next flight that will bring me to my final destination of Arcata. I've got nothing left, I'm just exhausted and I really just want to get to a bed. The last 24 hours have been extremely challenging. The idea of being alone and being so far away from anyone I know really started to set in on Friday morning. Conveniently, I had left myself one rather large task to do before I left home to keep my mind occupied -- PACKING.
For those that know me, you know a few things that enhance this story:
1) I'm not necessarily "organized", but I am sharp as a tack and remember where I put things.
2) My wardrobe is relatively simple.
Backtrack to move out from Marquette this semester. This experience can only really be classified as "hot mess". I wanted and needed to get out of Carpenter and things just ended up in boxes in my basement. This made packing for CA much more interesting. Most of my clothes were out, but very little else. Needless to say, I was able to find everything (...except for one thing...) and managed to maneuver it into roughly 75 pounds of stuff. Even I was pretty impressed with my ability to pull it together under pressure.
I did mention that there was one thing that I couldn't find. But I'm very proud to announce that not only do I hold a Social Security Card, but that I also know where it is. As Jess (@mollyputz88) knows, this provided me a VERY healthy distraction during finals week when I was freaking out about not having it. It turns out I had stashed it at home....thank goodness.
After getting my life in order, I was able to get about 2 hours of sleep to prepare for my crazy day. GLORIOUS. I did get some more sleep on my way to the Milwaukee Airport, but once we got there it was entertaining.
United tells all customers to be there 90 minutes before their flight departs when in Milwaukee. 5am departure time equals a 330am arrival at the airport correct? Sounds great, except for the fact that United doesn't open their ticket counters until 4am. No naturally when my dad and I arrive at 3am, the airport is dead. Gotta love air travel.
O'Hare was fun, met a family that was traveling to Hawaii to see their son come back from a year-long deployment with the Marines. It was heart-warming for me to hear their story and especially on Memorial Day weekend, it helped to put everything into perspective.
Now, I'm at San Francisco waiting for my final flight of the day into Arcata. It's kind of foggy, but the locals say that is normal, and it can make flying in and out of here a total crap-fest. Let's hope my flight goes according to plan -- Matt needs a BED.
Haunting Thoughts:
One thing that I've been pondering for a while is the concept of how walking is an act of falling. How everytime you take a step, you don't know if you will be able to safely place that foot back down. We constantly fall -- but we fall forward.
As I take these next steps in my life, toward this summer, toward my Senior year of college, toward Grad School, I think it is important to note that you do fall forward with every step. If you don't fall, it wouldn't be a step in that direction.
Here's to taking the next step, and having enough faith in myself to know that the foot will land down safe and sound, only to prepare to take the next step.
Pictures to come!!
-M
(Side Note: After I wrote this, I proceeded to have my flight to Arcata delayed 2 times due to fog, making my trip almost 4 full hours longer than necessary.)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Tell Me Again...WHAT are you doing this summer?
Hello friends!
This summer I will be spending two months in Arcata, California through an ACUHO-I Internship at Humboldt State University. While there, I will be working through HSU's Office of Housing and Dining with some of their technological needs.
Are you confused yet? -- So were my parents. (And let's face it, they still are pretty confused!)
Here's some more info on ACHUO-I and HSU.
About ACUHO-I:
From it's website: "ACUHO-I is the Association of College and University Housing Officers -International. ACUHO-I members believe in developing exceptional residential experiences at colleges, universities, and other post-secondary institutions around the world.
The ACUHO-I Housing Internship Program is one of the most prestigious and competitive higher education internship opportunities available to undergraduate and graduate students. Today's students are seeking experiences that not only shape them as future housing professionals, but also influence their current education. The Housing Internship Program offers an unprecedented learning experience for both the interns and the host sites.
For interns, the Housing Internship Program offers a broader experience by accomplishing new tasks and being exposed to a different housing operation at a different institution. By learning about the administration of student housing, interns will be able to contribute new ideas to their home institution. Interns also have the chance to interact with future employers and mentors."
About Humboldt State / Arcata, CA:
From Wikipedia: "Humboldt State University (HSU) is the northernmost campus of the California State University system, located in Arcata within Humboldt County, California, USA. The main campus, nestled at the edge of a coast redwood forest, is situated on Preston hill overlooking Arcata and with commanding views of Arcata Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Its location eight miles (13 km) north of Eureka and 279 miles (449 km) north of San Francisco on the North Coast of California is notable for its natural beauty."
The Short and Sweet Version:
I'm building a website through a really awesome internship program, and they are going to house, feed, and pay me to do so.
Right now, I'm feeling pretty good about this whole process.
Is it nerve-wracking? Yes.
Is it scary? Yes.
Is it exactly what I need right now? YES.
Many of my closest Marquette friends know this, but I had a really rough semester. It was a rough semester for me academically, spiritually, emotionally, and just in many of the day-to-day things to get done. Towards the end of the semester, things started to clear up, but what I needed more than anything was a break from Marquette.
Don't get me wrong, Marquette is a phenomenal place, and a place that I love dearly, but you could classify it as one of those "it's not you, it's me"-type of things. I need some time, some space, and a new place. That is why Humboldt looks so promising. Going out west to get a fresh perspective is exactly what I needed for this break from school.
This also brings me to the name of this site -- Westward Expansion. The expansion is not only physical but also professional, emotional, and found in the maturation that will happen this summer. I think it is only fitting that the name of this blog be modeled after what I will be experiencing this summer, seeing as how it will be keeping track of those very things. So keeping that mind, I provide it with a cool name with a deeper meaning -- how traditional of me.
Also, if you didn't know by now, now you know -- my plan is to go into the the Student Affairs field upon graduation from Marquette. Part of entering that field is that I have to go to grad school to get a Masters Degree. More school is fine with me, but I think this summer is an excellent opportunity to see how I operate in new situations again -- a status check of sorts. It's been a few years since I've been placed in a situation like this, and I have changed in many ways since my freshmen year of undergrad.
If you haven't figured out from the tone of this post, another thing you should know about me is that my life is hilarious. I find humor in everything and needless to say, my writing will be reflective of that. So naturally, this blog will not only track my professional development that takes place on the West Coast, but it will always tell the stories of my antics and the random (yet comedic) things that happen to me.
I will recounting some of the finer moments here in text, video, and pictures. (Yes, video!) But, if you want more updates feel free to follow me on Twitter (@mattyweiss) or you can read those same updates on the right-hand side of this page.
I fly out on Saturday the 23rd and start working on the 26th, so I will probably get my first post up in the middle of next week. (Fire the up the flickr too, there will probably be photos as well!!)
Until then, peace
-M
This summer I will be spending two months in Arcata, California through an ACUHO-I Internship at Humboldt State University. While there, I will be working through HSU's Office of Housing and Dining with some of their technological needs.
Are you confused yet? -- So were my parents. (And let's face it, they still are pretty confused!)
Here's some more info on ACHUO-I and HSU.
About ACUHO-I:
From it's website: "ACUHO-I is the Association of College and University Housing Officers -International. ACUHO-I members believe in developing exceptional residential experiences at colleges, universities, and other post-secondary institutions around the world.
The ACUHO-I Housing Internship Program is one of the most prestigious and competitive higher education internship opportunities available to undergraduate and graduate students. Today's students are seeking experiences that not only shape them as future housing professionals, but also influence their current education. The Housing Internship Program offers an unprecedented learning experience for both the interns and the host sites.
For interns, the Housing Internship Program offers a broader experience by accomplishing new tasks and being exposed to a different housing operation at a different institution. By learning about the administration of student housing, interns will be able to contribute new ideas to their home institution. Interns also have the chance to interact with future employers and mentors."
About Humboldt State / Arcata, CA:
From Wikipedia: "Humboldt State University (HSU) is the northernmost campus of the California State University system, located in Arcata within Humboldt County, California, USA. The main campus, nestled at the edge of a coast redwood forest, is situated on Preston hill overlooking Arcata and with commanding views of Arcata Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Its location eight miles (13 km) north of Eureka and 279 miles (449 km) north of San Francisco on the North Coast of California is notable for its natural beauty."
The Short and Sweet Version:
I'm building a website through a really awesome internship program, and they are going to house, feed, and pay me to do so.
Right now, I'm feeling pretty good about this whole process.
Is it nerve-wracking? Yes.
Is it scary? Yes.
Is it exactly what I need right now? YES.
Many of my closest Marquette friends know this, but I had a really rough semester. It was a rough semester for me academically, spiritually, emotionally, and just in many of the day-to-day things to get done. Towards the end of the semester, things started to clear up, but what I needed more than anything was a break from Marquette.
Don't get me wrong, Marquette is a phenomenal place, and a place that I love dearly, but you could classify it as one of those "it's not you, it's me"-type of things. I need some time, some space, and a new place. That is why Humboldt looks so promising. Going out west to get a fresh perspective is exactly what I needed for this break from school.
This also brings me to the name of this site -- Westward Expansion. The expansion is not only physical but also professional, emotional, and found in the maturation that will happen this summer. I think it is only fitting that the name of this blog be modeled after what I will be experiencing this summer, seeing as how it will be keeping track of those very things. So keeping that mind, I provide it with a cool name with a deeper meaning -- how traditional of me.
Also, if you didn't know by now, now you know -- my plan is to go into the the Student Affairs field upon graduation from Marquette. Part of entering that field is that I have to go to grad school to get a Masters Degree. More school is fine with me, but I think this summer is an excellent opportunity to see how I operate in new situations again -- a status check of sorts. It's been a few years since I've been placed in a situation like this, and I have changed in many ways since my freshmen year of undergrad.
If you haven't figured out from the tone of this post, another thing you should know about me is that my life is hilarious. I find humor in everything and needless to say, my writing will be reflective of that. So naturally, this blog will not only track my professional development that takes place on the West Coast, but it will always tell the stories of my antics and the random (yet comedic) things that happen to me.
I will recounting some of the finer moments here in text, video, and pictures. (Yes, video!) But, if you want more updates feel free to follow me on Twitter (@mattyweiss) or you can read those same updates on the right-hand side of this page.
I fly out on Saturday the 23rd and start working on the 26th, so I will probably get my first post up in the middle of next week. (Fire the up the flickr too, there will probably be photos as well!!)
Until then, peace
-M
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