Dear Westminster... I Love Grad School.

The only way to predict the future is to create it.

Decisions Determine Destiny...

I have made some recent decisions that are shaping my future...

This past week I finally had the opportunity to start my Graduate Program at Westminster! I have to be honest, I was beyond excited... I mean, I was counting down the hours on Monday until orientation! Haha... I have been out of school for over three years now, and I was ready to get back. Plus, I am excited to have my teaching license and to have another student experience. I can already tell how different this time around is going to be, and I'm all the more stoked because of these differences.

This time around, I am older and more focused on schooling. I have a strong desire to be there for the educational side of things, and I get to focused even more intently on my area of interest - no more GEs! Haha... I have to say that already I am really enjoying my classes, teachers, and individuals in my cohort. The first day of classes our starting teacher took an hour and a half (we have three hour classes mostly) to get us acquainted with one another, and by the end of the day I could name every person in the class and a fact about them. By day two (the third class together), I felt like I have literal friends in the class and was completely comfortable voicing my opinion and interacting with everyone. It's fantastic!

I am loving it so much that I must admit, I stayed home for most of Friday night to do the reading I had for this next week. Haha! I know - lame! However, the subjects genuinely interest me and I like the homework - haha! Plus, I really want to do well in my Grad Program.

On a final note, I have a rather large goal in the back of mind for these next three semesters... I am hesitant to admit it, because it may not happen. Nevertheless, I am going to state my goal NOW. My mother was the valedictorian for her Graduate Program's graduating class. I want to be the valedictorian for my class. I might not give a speech or anything, but I want to carry on the tradition... and to start it off right, I turned in my first paper the first day of class and was terrified to get my grade back. I got it back on Friday, and I got a 100% my first paper!!! A lot of people were telling me they were turning a re-write in next week and I was excited I didn't have to, and could just get started on my next paper.

Westminster, get ready... Linze's here and she's ready to tackle and destroy (in a positive way) your MAT program!

*muah* 

Song of the Day: I discovered Ben Rector because a free CD sampler from NoiseTrade, and fell in love with the entire CD!  He has a unique tone to his voice and his songs are great.  He reminds me of Jon McLaughlin, whom I adore.  He's fabulous and so is his song "When A Heart Breaks."  I don't necessarily think his lyrics, "...you don't need Jesus till you're here," are accurate, but I relate to the feeling and thus, love it.  Also, check out his song, "Moving Backwards," and download his album for FREE here: http://noisetrade.com/benrector - DO IT.  Enjoy!