Woohoo?

The culture of this department is exceptionally weird. Weird, dysfunctional, non-supportive, competitive, and just strange. Since this is a public blog, I'm not going to say much more, except to say that while I enjoy Indiana a great deal (which is a shocker) this particular department is not one in which I feel I have a place. To that end, in January I somewhat randomly and somewhat inspiredly decided to apply to transfer to the University of Utah. I figured if I was going to be going through hell I might as well be doing it closer to friends and family. Also, there are some professors at the U that are closer to what I want to study.

Long story short, I got in, got funded, and will be starting at the U this fall. It's a little random, I admit, but things fell into place so easily for me with this whole process (I called them to ask about applying 10 days after the deadline but they told me if I could get it in within the next 5 days they would consider me, then shockingly I got everything in, including letters of recommendation) that I feel really good about it.

So, here are some of thing things I will miss about Indiana:

1. My friends
2. Volleyball at my church every Tuesday night
3. ....

Yep, that's it. Indiana has no particular cuisine that I have discovered and it's reasonably pretty, but it's not gorgeous, and really, how many cornfields do you need to see in your lifetime? And where are the mountains? Purdue has a nice campus, but it's not spectacularly outstanding or anything.

Oh wait, I will also miss my adviser, Ann. As I said to her when I was telling her about transferring, the fact that she is not at the U was definitely a point against it. She has been kindness itself, and very encouraging. Also, within half an hour of my telling her I had an email waiting from her husband Jay (who is a professor in the department who I worked with last semester) telling me that I would be missed. I have to admit I was flattered at how fast she ran to tell him.