Wow… definitely a whirlwind trip over the last few days.  While I had a great time in Philadelphia, I also seem to have had a 24-hour stomach bug while I was there, and since my trip was only about 36 hours, that didn’t leave much time for really enjoying myself. After having dinner on Monday night with Jon and Sarah at Kite and Key, a new restaurant (with great food, by the way!) near Philadelphia Community College, I woke up early the next morning feeling a bit queasy. Adding to that a very hot and very bumpy ride on the regional rail train to center city, I realized that getting on another train to head back out of the city in another direction just wasn’t a good plan.

So… I spent about an hour at the train station trying to settle my stomach, during which time I decided that while sitting in the station restroom was practical in terms of proximity to the stalls, it wasn’t really the place to sit if I wanted my surroundings to help with the feeling better, in terms of air quality. Quite a dilemma.

Finally got to Jason’s in Olney by about 10:00am and ended up taking a nap on his couch for an hour. On our way to Glenside for brunch, I had to have him pull over… and I’m reminded once again about how much I sincerely hate being sick, particularly the sour stomach kind of sick. Ugh.

It was fabulous to see so many beloved faces of friends at Heather’s and Sean’s later Tuesday night, but by 8:30pm I could hardly see straight to stand up, I was so tired and dizzy, so I headed off to sleep before the party had hardly gotten started. Sad.

And then… Waco….

So, I remember back in April/May when I shared with a co-worker about how I was hoping to end up in a job that I wanted as much I had wanted the RD job when I first interviewed with Santa Clara. I honestly thought it wouldn’t happen (particularly after having gone on 6 on-site interviews this spring only to leave feeling like things weren’t quite right for me at each place), but after spending 2 days on this campus, I think I’ve found it. Now granted, no one’s offered me a job yet, and who knows if they even will, but I feel a lot of peace after my time there and about the way I was able to present myself, my experience, and my passion for the position and the mission of the university. So now it’s out of my hands, but I am thankful for the knowledge that there’s nothing more I can do (well, except write thank you notes).

To be honest, I didn’t even think Waco was a bad place. I found three or four interesting coffeeshops, some intriguing restaurants, a beautiful park along the river, and started scoping out some neighborhoods with some character that would be close enough to campus to walk or bike to work. (I don’t think I could completely avoid getting a car, unless I wanted to eat at fast food restaurants 3 meals a day, since it seems all the grocery stores are outside the downtown area, but I could probably keep from having to commute in a car to work).

Of course, there’s still that small matter of the town being in Texas… oh, and there’s no Trader Joe’s… or Costco… or yarn shops…. Hmm.

In any case, I’m back to Columbus and looking forward to a quiet weekend to reflect and spend time with my temporary family/housemates. And then hopefully next week, I’ll go out and spend time with Toby, Tammy, Ellie, Hayley and Maddie.