The Grind

I started classes last week and I'm still trying to decide if working 40 hours a week and taking 9 credit hours of graduate classes is the smartest idea. So far I really like my classes and I feel like a lot of the material is very important and going to be very practical short and long term. I'm taking a Management Development workshop, Organizational Management and Change,, and Policy Process and Democracy. For the most part I seem to be the youngest person in my classes and most of my classmates are already well into their careers and many work in some type of management or upper level administrative position. I've met some nice, interesting people, my professors seem to be pretty knowledgeable and experienced and the material, for the most part, is interesting. I am probably going to be doing more reading and writing this semester than I did during any semester as an undegrad. Just gotta stay focused and not get burned out too quick. :)

In other news, my work's HR department was none too pleased about my work rant blog post. I stood my ground though and didn't back down. I told them writing is how I vent and express my thoughts and emotions. As most noted, I changed my blog address, just in case, but will not be censoring myself or hiding my thoughts on crap like that. I'm keeping my eyes out for other opportunities, hoping for some decent part time work so I can focus more on school and do my best work this semester. In the meanwhile, this will do.

In other news, Hanna is in Colorado now and it's been really nice having her here. In between work and classes I've been trying to spend time with her, show her around Colorado Springs and go to the gym as often as possible. This will be quite a bit easier if I'm able to work part time. More on that if anything worthwhile comes my way.

While I'm happy to be back in school and I feel fortunate to have a job, a place to live, clothes on my back and food on my plate, I've been getting real antsy and stir crazy lately. I am going to Vegas for my good friend Tino's birthday in a couple of weeks but I've been really itching to do some traveling. I might check out a study abroad information session tomorrow to see if the MPA program has any short term study abroad programs I can do at the end of this semester or during the summer. Even if it's only a short term thing for a few weeks, I would love to be able to go study in Europe or South America temporarily. If I can find anything worth applying to, I'll post more about that later. :)

More to come, thanks for reading.