Wordless Wednesday: Adventures with Nina

Crushing my Ithaca bucket list with the help of Nina. This week we jumped off a 45-foot rock, swam in a gorge and she made me my first banana split! Here's our fun in photos:

 

 

 

Where da Hood at?!

While I don’t think I’ve even realized it yet, I received my Master’s Degree Saturday. Holy. Cow. 

I am not even sure that I’m ready for this ‘real world’ everyone has been talking about. I feel like it was just yesterday that I spent days on end watching MTV’s version of the so-called real world and now I’m suddenly a part of it. I mean, last year at this time I was freaking out because I was done with my undergraduate degree and … boom! … now I’m done with my Masters. Here are a couple super awesome pictures of my friends and I pre-hooding ceremony:

 

 

And here with the family… I’m so impressed that we have a good-looking picture for once. Usually, one of us is guaranteed to be looking like a fool, but apparently Ithaca has a good effect on us.

 

I’m sure before I know it I’ll be writing about how I’m done with my PhD. It’s for sure a goal in the near future, but for now I’m taking a year off to recuperate from the 19 years of non-stop schooling. After all, Dr. Andrea has got a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

For now, I’ve got almost a month here to enjoy myself and my friends here in Ithaca. I can see a lot more of this in my immediate future …

And this ...

And definitely this ...

This too ...

Even though I don’t have to leave for a bit, I’ve already had to say my ‘see ya laters’ (as I like to call them) to a lot of people. It’s weird because I made such good friends and met so many awesome people in the short time I had here. I didn’t expect that at all. I intended to come to Ithaca, get my Master’s, learn a few things about college athletics and then get the heck out. I just didn’t see myself making a connection with anyone or anything in a year. Well, I was wrong again. But for good reason.

This all actually hit me today when my now great friend Andi told me that she felt like she’s known me for way longer than a year. Here we are NFL draft weekend …

It’s so true. I feel like I’ve lived in Ithaca for years and that the people with whom I’ve worked, hung out, sipped adult beverages, laughed, bro-ed, sang, ran through the commons, scored volleyball, hiked and so much more with have been there forever. 

I even realized my love for Ithaca earlier today when my friend and fellow-GA, Andy, went around the athletic facilities and delivered cards to so many staff members that helped make our year great. I did, however, love that I didn’t have to say ‘see ya later’ just yet since I’m not technically leaving until mid-June. Just for good measure, here are the four GAs that will go down in Ithaca history as some of the best (at least we think so) …

Ithaca gave me so much more than I could have asked for and I can’t wait to see what this last month brings. This post is sappy enough as is, so I’m ending it here with a glamorous photo of my friends and I:

 

Just as Sam and I heard that cliché student tour guide say about two months ago, ‘Where has the time gone?’