After my job ended for The Nature Conservancy, I made the long drive (well, it was only 7 hours) from Milnor, ND to Lincoln, NE. I got here on Wednesday a couple weeks ago, did my move-in paperwork, and headed to my new home. It was about 5pm so I didn't have too much time to do anything, but I unloaded my car and managed to get to WalMart for the essentials (a pot, things to eat off of, things to eat with) and some other items. I ended up spending $300 at WalMart just on that first night here. It's amazing to me how expensive moving always is, especially when you're moving into a place that is unfurnished. I spent over $400 on a mattress and boxspring (about the same as what I spent in Canada on my bed). Over the next couple of days I did a bit of work for my first class, bought some more items, went to lots of garage sales on Saturday, and tried to get settled in. My neighbors across the hall are one grad student in ag economics, and her boyfriend who is supporting her. My downstairs neighbor is a lady with a 4-year old son. Unfortunately, she smokes, so I can't leave my windows opened unattended. But, she and her son are very friendly. My other downstairs neighbors just moved in last week, and I haven't really met them yet.
My parents came for a few days, it's hard to believe they left a week ago already. Time is going by very fast and very slow at the same time. When they came (along with Jenny) they brought a load of furniture and other house supplies (and some very yummy garden vegetables), which I am extremely thankful for. I very much enjoy sitting on the couch getting frustrated about stats homework (well, I enjoy the couch sitting part). Eventually I'll have people over too, and I hope they'll find my place enjoyable, not so messy like some places you don't know where to sit, and not too clean like some places you don't want to sit and wrinkle the cushions.
Classes are going really well, as I mentioned I'm taking (another) stats class, but in this class we're learning R instead of SAS, which is what I learned in my last stats class. So it's been tough to get into a different programming language, but I will surely get the hang of it. My other class is a law class, all about water law, where the biggest grade in the course is a term paper (70%!). I don't know how to write law papers, so I'm unsure of how that will go...
Lab meetings are going well, IGERT meetings are going well, and I'm meeting lots of people and friendly faces. Lincoln has been very welcoming and I think I'm transitioning well. I even got my first paycheck this morning, which was expected but still a delightful event.
My Dad called me today, which is a very rare occurrence so I knew I should pick up the phone. He called to tell me that my grandfather had passed away. Grandpa's been in a nursing home for too many years now, and I don't think he was very happy in the nursing home, and I'm pretty certain that it was very hard on my Dad to see his Dad like that for so long. In that sense, it's a relief. In another sense, I know that there is no chance, no opportunity for some scientific breakthrough, to make my Grandpa sane for a day so I can ask him all the things I wished I'd asked him. He grew up in the 20s, experienced the Great Depression, fought in WWII, experienced the Civil Rights Movement and the invention of the television. So many amazing things happened during my Grandpa's life that I wish I had taken the time to talk to him about. I was fortunate to get some of his stories, and I make his recipes very often (which is probably why I keep on an extra 5 lbs all the time). And I know that I learned a lot from my Grandpa and that he loved me. I'll miss my Grandpa, but then again, I've been missing him since he lost his marbles...but at least I've got lots of great memories. And now Grandpa is not suffering any longer.
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