GRE, Grad Apps, I hate math, etc.

Over the past two months or so I've been doing my best to try and prepare for the GRE, which I took today. The test wasn't quite as horrible as I was expecting but the quantitative section(or math as it is so often called) was pretty bad. I have done quite a bit of math practice with my friend Kirsten, a mathematics major, and Hanna, who is just one smart cookie in every subject. The math problems I encountered on the GRE were not what I expected and I found myself perplexed at many of the problems. Looking back I probably shouldn't have even attempted to answer some of the questions but it's over and done with, nothing I can do about it now. I got a decent score on the verbal section, higher than the national average and apparently good enough to still be considered for the schools that I'm applying to. I finished up my application the the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs(UCCS) for their Masters in Public Administration program and I'm still finishing my statements and applications for The New School(International Affairs), New York University(Global Affairs) and the University of Denver(International Studies). I'm hoping to have those finished up in the next few days and hopefully won't be distracted too much by the holidays and the extra hours at work I signed up for.

I'm probably going to sign up to take the Foreign Service Officer written examination in February and I also need to finish up my application for the El Pomar Fellowship here in Colorado Springs. The next few weeks, provided I can finish my applications as soon as possible, should be somewhat relaxed. I want to do some reading, hit the gym as often as possible, and then start studying for the FSO exam. I should know sometime soon if I'm accepted into UCCS and the other applications it looks like I'll have to wait until at least March. I'm excited about the prospect of going back to school but the application process and the GRE have been quite stressful.

In other news, I'm reading a really interesting book called 'The Food Revolution' by John Robbins. I'm only a few chapters in but it's focus is how plant based and vegetarian or vegan diets can lead to a much healthier lifestyle and can also be really good for the environment. I never would have considered the possibility of trying out a vegetarian or vegan diet in the past but this book is slowly convincing me it might be worth looking into. :) We'll see though. Right now I'm just trying a month with no fast food and no soda(starting today, ha!) so we'll see how that goes and then I'll look into some other possible challenges or endeavors. Kind of a short post but I just wanted to write something while I had some time. Happy birthday to my mom today!