Nick’s Blog

Surprise, surprise!  In a recent turn of events Ashley and I will be flying to Socal for a few days two weeks from today.  I was not expecting to come home anytime soon (seems this happens every semester) but the stars aligned (cough cough = parents) and so we will be back in warm weather soon.
 

It all started late last week when I tried to convince my mom to come out to Chicago for a weekend during the first part of our Spring Break.  I knew there was little to no chance of Ashley and me coming home since I had to close the residence hall here on March 12^th whichonly left a few days before Ashley and I head out to Indianapolis for a job-search/conference on March 17^th. 
 

I will admit, I tried, and I whined, I begged and I pleaded to try to convince my mom she needed to get away and come spend some time with Ashley and I in Chicago (only a four hour drive for us).  Needless to say it would extremely difficult for her to come by herself.  Basically this meant my dad wanted to come too which left the kids home by themselves.  I mean who could blame him, I‘d want to go have some fun in Chicago too!  Next thing you know my mom called back with the heartbreaking news that she would not be able to fly out…but she said, “How about we fly you and Ashley out to Socal instead?”  So as Ashley and I sat in 20 degree weather we thought, “Hmmm, stay here and work or go to the land of In-&-Out, Balboa Island, and warm sun?”  That made our decision process a lot easier and we both proceeded to get out of work to make the trip.  We arrive on Friday, March 10^th at noon and leave on Thursday, March 16^th really early in the morning.  I cannot wait for the sun to hit me in the face as I step off the plane.  We put in an order for clear skies, warm weather, with a slight breeze, so be ready!

Things here are pretty much the same.  There are only 77 more days and 11 more weeks until graduation.  A week from today I will be in Oshkosh Wisconsin at my first job- search/conference.  I have mixed emotions of excitement and nerves.  I will be sure to give more details as they come.

I would love to get together with everyone for a night…maybe some Hero’s or a BBQ???  Let me know if are interested. 

I hope all is well and cannot wait to hear back from you.

See you all soon!
-Nick

We just finished the third week of school here and for any of you who are counting out there we only have 14 more weeks or 97 more days until graduation.  It is scary to think in a very short time I am going to have a “grown-up” job (again).  

I think I am actually going to miss being a graduate student…well I won’t miss the pay.  But seriously, doing this job search thing lately has really made me reflect on the past 20 months…and what I have concluded is I really have had a great time here at Western Illinois and there is a huge part of me that is going to be sad to leave.  I never would have thought I would come to enjoy life in the Midwest, or enjoy waking up and smiling to see snow on the ground and the temperature below thirty, or enjoying living in a town with less people than all the students that I went to my undergraduate school with.  In about six months I won’t have the safety net of a graduate student title attached to my name.  Instead I will have two new letters signifying that I accomplished some form of higher education and that I might actually know a thing or two about what it takes to work with college students on a daily basis. 

Some of our classmates threw Ashley and I a little engagement party last week at a really cool restaurant here in Macomb.  This was quite a surprise and very much unexpected.  It was a great time had by all.  Next weekend Ashley’s family and I are heading up to Chicago to go to a bridal show to begin researching for the wedding.  In case you were wondering where we are having the wedding…you’re going to have to wait a little longer because we don’t know yet either!  It really all depends on where we get jobs.  I really wish we could focus just on wedding planning and not job searching but I unless somehow we win the lottery, job searching is going to have to come first. 

Speaking of job searching…here is a little update on how everything is going.  I am going to attempt give a quick overview of how everything works.  The first step is for Ashley and I to research schools in areas we would like to work in.  Next we will set up interviews with these schools at the conferences we will be attending.  At the conferences we will interview with several schools at least once and maybe even two or three times.  After the conferences are over we will get invitations to visit schools to conduct on-campus interviews.  From there we will get offers to accept or decline jobs from these schools.  In each step we will narrow down our choices of schools until we find the right fit for us.  

I will be attending two conferences, both coming up really soon.  The first is Oshkosh Placement Exchange (OPE) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin from March 2nd to 6th.  This conference is primarily for entry level housing professionals in the Midwest though some schools for the coasts interview here as well.  The second conference is the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) in Indianapolis, Indiana from March 17th to 22nd.  This is a national conference and I will be interviewing along side professionals, who like me, are just starting out in the field to professionals who have many years of experience and with all types of functional areas. 

Ashley will be attending ACPA as well and we are both looking forward to finding out where we will be next year.  As we get closer to the conferences I will update again with where I might be going.  The trick for Ashley and I is to find a location that will allow the both of us to find jobs.  This means we will probably be in a metropolitan area with lots of schools.  The chances of us both finding jobs at the same school in a small town are slim, so basically we won’t be looking there.  I know we would both prefer to be in warmer weather and near a large body of water but right now I will settle for being in a location where we can be together.  I know Ashley and I are very excited about being closer to places like malls, targets, best buys, ikea’s, and olive gardens.  

I really do miss everyone from back home.  I feel really fortunate to have Ashley (and her family) here to help keep me sane.  I cannot express how much she means to me!!!  I wake up everyday knowing how lucky I am to have her in my life.  I cannot wait until we have a place to call our own. 

Well that is it for now.  I do not know when I’ll be coming home since one of the conferences is at the back end of our spring break.  I know Ash and I would love to come home sometime soon though.  I hope everyone is doing well.  Write me if you get a chance.