Travel Bug

As those who know me well know, I often get bitten by the travel bug and feel the need to always keep moving. So, thankfully, some medical school interviews started coming in and I was able to do what I do best this month and book travel! I took my first trip to my beautiful, sunny birth state of Arizona to visit and interview at the University of Arizona-Phoenix medical school. My Papa picked me up at the airport with the efficiency of the ex-military ex-quarterback that he is and we went straight to...the hair salon. duh. After months of living in a town with absolutely no recognizable hair care venues, I had to take advantage of all that Scottsdale has to offer :). My first night in town, I attended a mixer hosted by current students that allowed us to meet, greet, and grill them on their likes and dislikes about the medical program. It offered great info as this was my first encounter with this type of scenario and gave me some great material for my subsequent interviews.

The next day, I went on to take part in the strangest, most exhausting experience one can imagine, the MMI or multiple-mini interview. This process places you into a numbered rotation of timed exercises that test your interpersonal skills and ability to think on your feet. One room contained a crying actress role-play scenario, another a two-applicant collaborative drawing task, and the others ethical and moral dilemna discussions covering topics from the paparazzi to school shooters to ghost authorship. I jumped through these hoops only to come out even more confused about the medical school application process and hoping that my gut instinct answers had been what these faculty happened to be looking for. I won't know the result of this debacle until anywhere from one to five months. Aside from this, I loved the medical school. The new biomedical campus currently under construction in downtown Phoenix looks amazing, ultra-modern, and would be opened just in time for our inaugural medical school class.

My next interview will send me to San Antonio, TX to interview at UT San Antonio in an actual one-on-one (thank God!) interview. The joy of escaping the cold, drizzly sleet of Pittsburgh weather and traveling to warm, sunshiney places is inexplicable for me. This week we reached the 40's in terms of temp. and inside our house the thermostat read 62 degrees. This is for polar bears! I cannot believe I was ever from Colorado nor will I ever permanently (hopefully) live somewhere cold again. Bentley tells me he too doesn't like it so that's settled.

On the football front, we have witnessed more of the same these past couple weeks. LD is hanging in there physically and trying his best to make things happen on the field. We faced two conference teams and lost both games to ourselves. Things like blocked punts happen all too often to us and are often the leading cause of deficits in the game. Everyone wants very badly to restore this team to greatness and keeps working at it, although the prognosis for this season itself looks bleak. They are a young and resilient team, though, and if they could stop shooting themselves in the foot every three plays they'd be great. This weekend, we host West Virginia State University at home for our homecoming game. LD and I are very excited to host my parents, his parents and brother, and my aunt and uncle for the long weekend. They are making the trip from Colorado, Florida, and Arizona respectively, and we can't wait for the fun fall festivities in store. I was informed by LD that this school actually has a homecoming dance and that people actually go so we will be attending that Saturday night also. I will most likely be the only 23-year-old, non-student in attendance, as usual. We jokingly call me the coug in situations such as these. Anyways, more updates and hopefully beautiful fall photos to come after this weekend. Maybe even a win to report one day soon, or so we hope and pray. Happy Autumn! 

0-3 but still fighting

If you want to follow the team this season, all games can be watched through this site.

After a great fall camp and lots of build-up for the season, the team has started out with three very tough losses both home and away. The first, against Edinboro, was somewhat to be expected, and the team went back to work determined to get back on track for the following game against Southern Connecticut. At the first home game, the final seconds ticked off the clock as Brandon Davis tossed up a lateral pass in an attempt to score a touchdown on the final play. This was a rough game for LD, with six interceptions and the continued onslaught of opposing defenses breaking through our offensive line. Even after this, the team showed focus and perseverance in preparing for the conference opener against the WV Wesleyan Bobcats. No words can really describe the frustration that players and fans alike then felt in watching the 43-8 defeat of the Hilltoppers.

But even after all this, the show must go on. There is still a long season ahead and I'm sure the coaches and team will be working hard to gain an offensive identity to face conference opponents in weeks to come. LD was sacked too many times to count in this last one and is working on getting a strained hamstring back to 100% in time for a week of practice and competition. He is trying his best to enjoy the sport that he loves and have fun playing with all of his new teammates despite the conditions of these first few weeks.

We would both like to thank all of our family and friends who have loyally watched each week and offered up their support. It means the world to us and helps more than anyone could know. We are both working very hard towards our respective careers and the stress of the unknown is always tempered by the love and support of you, our family and friends. New week, new game. LD will prepare for a home game against Fairmont State this weekend as I prepare for medical school interview #1 at University of Arizona-Phoenix next Monday. Best of luck and health to all the other teams out there! Gotta love this crazy game.

wild & wonderful

Hey there,

As most of you reading this will already know, LD, Bentley and I have set up camp this fall in Wheeling, West Virginia, a small town about an hour south of Pittsburgh. In an effort to stay connected to all of our friends and family members who are scattered (literally) across the country and world, I thought that it would be a fun new challenge to start this blog where we can update anyone interested in our lives and hopefully receive comments and messages in return. So, here we go...

After a whirlwind summer of college graduations, travel, and altogether too much fun, my mom and I arrived in West Virginia with a car full of clothes and no idea where LD and I would be living. We headed to the airport to pick up a puppy and football player off a flight from Tampa, where LD left his family to come up here and start a new season at West Liberty University. The set-up at the school was great, and we had enjoyed getting to know the head coach, Roger Waialae, and his family on previous visits. The housing situation, however, was less than ideal. This area of the country was deserted ghost town-style after the steel mills shut down and nothing new has been built here in what seems like decades. Finding a rental of any sort or an apartment was an added challenge. We finally found this little house that had been sub-divided into 3 apartments. We would occupy the first floor and have a backyard for Bentley. We signed the lease with our somewhat unorthodox landlord and moved in.

One month into living here, we feel like we are beginning to know the area a little better. I commute in  an hour and 15 min drive three times a week to work as a research coordinator for Zitelli & Brodland P.C. in Pittsburgh. LD is a student at the school and playing football obviously. We quickly discovered that a place called "Quaker Steak and Lube" is the place to see and be seen and have watched more Netflix episodes of Friday Night Lights than is healthy. So far, the so-called wild and wonderful state has been quite a wild ride and we are hoping that, on and off the field, it will live up to its name as well.