As per usual, Jordan and I ran the gauntlet this Christmas. We spend Christmas Eve with the Patton side of the family in Covington. This year, it was Vicky, Henry, Meghan, Tom, Jordan and I. Following dinner we drove to my parent’s house in Norcross. We woke up there on Christmas morning and opened presents. We then drove back to Covington to open gifts and eat brunch, then headed back to Norcross for dinner. It is always a crazy time, but we really enjoy getting to do the most important parts with both families (Christmas morning and the main meal of the day). We were, per usual, totally spoiled and received far more than we deserve. We got to spend some good quality time with our families (except Kristen and James, who had to stay in St. Louis). After dinner at my parent’s house, Rachel’s boyfriend (Tyler) and his sister (Marissa) came over and joined us for some board games. So an exhausting, but worth it, 24 hours! The fun was not over, as I headed to Aberdeen with my family the next day!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
December Adventure
So for those of you who followed me so that I could enter a competition: thank you! I didn’t reach the threshold of 12 followers, so I could not enter, but I appreciate your support regardless.
I have been intending to update for a while, but did not realize how sloppy I had been until I received an email from Kristen: “I think it is time for your quarterly update.” Hmmm. I’m getting a reputation. So much for keeping family and friends up to date on our life in Pittsburgh! Rather than update all at once, I am going to try and post about different things over the next couple of posts. That said, here is our December adventure.
Things since November 22 have been busy (surprise? I think not!) We did go to Atlanta for Thanksgiving and do all of the intended events, though not in the order listed. The weekend was over before we knew it and we flew straight back to Pittsburgh for an intense three weeks (two for Jordan) to complete our first semester here.
We left Pittsburgh on December 18 to head home for the holidays. By time we got to Charleston, WV, it had begun snowing. The weather got worse and worse until, about three and a half hours in, we had to stop altogether. We had been warned of several wrecks on the road when we went through a tollbooth after Charleston, so we assumed that the stop was related to a wreck. Boy, were we wrong! Four hours later, we were still sitting at the exact same spot. . You see, our car could handle the weather (having four-wheel drive), but many of the cars around us could not. Eventually, the truck in front of us decided to make a break for it and Jordan decided to follow him. Thank goodness we did! We got to the front of the line of traffic and the DOT representative told us to wait for the snow plough (about 10 minutes away) and to follow it down to exit 44 (Beckley, WV) where there were several motels. The roads were closed for the night, so we would get no further than exit 44. I used my iPhone to track down a couple of motels off of exit 44 and managed to find one with a room available. When we pulled off of the exit, we grabbed some food at the McDonalds (the first time I have eaten at McDonalds in years… literally, years) and then we saw it – a Courtyard by Marriott. From his short time as a consultant, Jordan learned to love Courtyards. According to him, they are the best mid-level hotel. So we checked to see if there was a room available (there was) and canceled our reservation at the other place. Good call Jordan – this hotel has a Starbucks , wireless internet and a gym!
The next day (December 19) we decided to make a break for it – there was a big Patton family event that evening that we really wanted to make it to. Every year, Jordan’s family does a Patton-Park-Little (PPL) Christmas dinner, which is always a really special evening. Jordan’s dad, who is a Doctor, has been in practice with two guys forever. They all have children virtually the same age. Jonathan, Jordan’s older brother, is the exception – he is the oldest and the others do not have children his age. Kristen, Jordan’s older sister, is ages with Will and Jessica, Jordan is ages with Henry and Seth, and Meghan is ages with Esther and Claire. These guys all grew up like siblings or really close cousins. As they have all gotten older, it has become more and more difficult for all of the “kids” to get together. Eight of the ten kids are married and only two (I think) of the ten still live in Covington. For Jordan, specifically, Seth and Henry are not only his oldest friends, but were also his best friends growing up. Henry and his wife, Dana, live in Covington and we got to see them occasionally when we lived in Atlanta. Seth and his wife, Rachel, however, have been living in Turkey and we have not seen them since they came to our wedding (June 2007). This year, Seth and Rachel would also be at PPL. All that to say, this annual tradition was something that we would not miss. Weather be damned.
But we did. Three hours later, we had driven (and sometimes slid) around but only got about three miles away. We called the Courtyard to make sure we could still get another room and retreated back to our comfortable hotel. We took a loooong nap, I went to the gym, and then we had dinner at IHOP (another place I had not eaten at in years!) The next morning (December 20) we finally got on the road and escaped southwards before another band of snow could ruin our plans!
We spent the next couple of days in Norcross with my family and the following couple of days in Covington with Jordan’s family. In the end, the snow cut our stay at home short, but it was honestly nice to be forced to do nothing for a couple of days. If we were in Pittsburgh, I would have been doing stuff around the house. If we were in Georgia, we would have been doing things with our families. Inconvenient? Yes. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes.
Our car the morning of December 19.
Jordan trying to free us from Beckley, WV.
Given up and heading to IHOP for diner!
I have been intending to update for a while, but did not realize how sloppy I had been until I received an email from Kristen: “I think it is time for your quarterly update.” Hmmm. I’m getting a reputation. So much for keeping family and friends up to date on our life in Pittsburgh! Rather than update all at once, I am going to try and post about different things over the next couple of posts. That said, here is our December adventure.
Things since November 22 have been busy (surprise? I think not!) We did go to Atlanta for Thanksgiving and do all of the intended events, though not in the order listed. The weekend was over before we knew it and we flew straight back to Pittsburgh for an intense three weeks (two for Jordan) to complete our first semester here.
We left Pittsburgh on December 18 to head home for the holidays. By time we got to Charleston, WV, it had begun snowing. The weather got worse and worse until, about three and a half hours in, we had to stop altogether. We had been warned of several wrecks on the road when we went through a tollbooth after Charleston, so we assumed that the stop was related to a wreck. Boy, were we wrong! Four hours later, we were still sitting at the exact same spot. . You see, our car could handle the weather (having four-wheel drive), but many of the cars around us could not. Eventually, the truck in front of us decided to make a break for it and Jordan decided to follow him. Thank goodness we did! We got to the front of the line of traffic and the DOT representative told us to wait for the snow plough (about 10 minutes away) and to follow it down to exit 44 (Beckley, WV) where there were several motels. The roads were closed for the night, so we would get no further than exit 44. I used my iPhone to track down a couple of motels off of exit 44 and managed to find one with a room available. When we pulled off of the exit, we grabbed some food at the McDonalds (the first time I have eaten at McDonalds in years… literally, years) and then we saw it – a Courtyard by Marriott. From his short time as a consultant, Jordan learned to love Courtyards. According to him, they are the best mid-level hotel. So we checked to see if there was a room available (there was) and canceled our reservation at the other place. Good call Jordan – this hotel has a Starbucks , wireless internet and a gym!
The next day (December 19) we decided to make a break for it – there was a big Patton family event that evening that we really wanted to make it to. Every year, Jordan’s family does a Patton-Park-Little (PPL) Christmas dinner, which is always a really special evening. Jordan’s dad, who is a Doctor, has been in practice with two guys forever. They all have children virtually the same age. Jonathan, Jordan’s older brother, is the exception – he is the oldest and the others do not have children his age. Kristen, Jordan’s older sister, is ages with Will and Jessica, Jordan is ages with Henry and Seth, and Meghan is ages with Esther and Claire. These guys all grew up like siblings or really close cousins. As they have all gotten older, it has become more and more difficult for all of the “kids” to get together. Eight of the ten kids are married and only two (I think) of the ten still live in Covington. For Jordan, specifically, Seth and Henry are not only his oldest friends, but were also his best friends growing up. Henry and his wife, Dana, live in Covington and we got to see them occasionally when we lived in Atlanta. Seth and his wife, Rachel, however, have been living in Turkey and we have not seen them since they came to our wedding (June 2007). This year, Seth and Rachel would also be at PPL. All that to say, this annual tradition was something that we would not miss. Weather be damned.
But we did. Three hours later, we had driven (and sometimes slid) around but only got about three miles away. We called the Courtyard to make sure we could still get another room and retreated back to our comfortable hotel. We took a loooong nap, I went to the gym, and then we had dinner at IHOP (another place I had not eaten at in years!) The next morning (December 20) we finally got on the road and escaped southwards before another band of snow could ruin our plans!
We spent the next couple of days in Norcross with my family and the following couple of days in Covington with Jordan’s family. In the end, the snow cut our stay at home short, but it was honestly nice to be forced to do nothing for a couple of days. If we were in Pittsburgh, I would have been doing stuff around the house. If we were in Georgia, we would have been doing things with our families. Inconvenient? Yes. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes.
Our car the morning of December 19.
Jordan trying to free us from Beckley, WV.
Given up and heading to IHOP for diner!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thanksgiving Break!
Its almost Thanksgiving, and I am dying to go home. Dying! Thankfully, we will be headed to Atlanta in two days time! This year is extra special, as my Gran will be here. Super Gran is awesome… she will be 80 in February, and still makes the Trans-Atlantic trip a couple of times a year! She has always asked us about our Christmas trees, etc. but is a creature of habit and does not like to be away from home during the holidays. This is understandable, as only one of her children (two if you count dad) and three of her grandchildren (well, now five if you count Jordan and Pam) live in the US. A couple of years ago, I started bugging her about coming out in November. She could come for Thanksgiving (clearly not something we celebrate in the UK), spend mum and Craig’s birthdays with them (November 21 and 28, respectively), and we would even put up our trees early for her to see them. Well last year, it worked! It was particularly nice that last year was a “Cormack Thanksgiving Year” for us; we got to celebrate Gran’s first Thanksgiving with her! This year is a “Patton Thanksgiving Year.” BUT my sweet dad (and mum, of course) decided to fly us down for the break!
We are going to have such a busy time and will be spending lots of time with both families. We will leave Pittsburgh Tuesday evening (we do not have classes on Wednesday) and mum (and probably Gran, who arrives in Atlanta tomorrow) will pick us up from the airport. We will spend Tuesday evening and Wednesday with my family. I missed mum’s birthday (yesterday), but I hope we can go to dinner to celebrate her birthday with her. Wednesday, we will probably go shopping for bridesmaid’s dresses. Pam, Craig’s (my brother) sweet fiancé, has decided that she would pick a colour swatch from David’s Bridal and let each of her bridesmaids select their own dress (stipulations being colour and length). So, we thought it would be fun if we could all go dress shopping together while Gran is here! Hopefully, Pam and Bronda will be able to come with us… I want Pam to have “right of refusal” on each dress.
Later on Wednesday, we will head out to Covington to see Jordan’s family. I am not sure what time, as Jordan and I are pretty impatient when it comes to traffic, and you KNOW what Thanksgiving eve traffic is like. My assumption is that we will wait until about 8pm to make the drive to Covington in order to avoid the traffic. We will spend Thanksgiving Day at the Patton’s and I think everyone will be there (at least at some point – Kristen and James arrive at lunchtime). We will stay in Covington until Jordan wakes up on Friday (or early afternoon, if Jordan wakes up early).
Friday, I am trying to get time with my sweet friend Kristin. One of my best friends from college, she is now working for the Department of State in DC! It seems like we only manage to get together when we are both in Atlanta, but that is okay… we do try and pretty frequently get to talk. What is nice about our friendship is that despite the fact that we are both so busy, and often go weeks (or even months last time!) without getting to talk, we always pick up right where we left off. I am hoping that she will be bringing her puppy (Gus) home with her and we can go for a “play date” with Gus and Bailey at the dog park! Kristin was also one of my few friends to make it to Aberdeen for my wedding. My Gran LOVES here (as well as all my other friends that she met at the wedding)… it would be such a treat if Gran could see Kristin too! If this doesn’t work out, we will at least both be in town for part of Christmas Break.
The rest of Friday will be more family time; Craig’s birthday is on Saturday, so my assumption is that we will celebrate Craig’s birthday on Friday, given Saturday’s happenings. Which brings me to Saturday: Georgia Tech vs. UGA football! This is always fun (yes, even when our team blew chunks); this time will be even more special, as all nine – yes nine—of us will be at the game! Mum and Dad, Jordan and I, Craig and Pam, Rachel and Tyler, and Super Gran! It is an evening game (8pm), so we will actually have a lot of time during the day to hang out (perhaps do some more Christmas shopping). We return to Pittsburgh Sunday evening.
I am ignoring the elephant in the room. Schoolwork. Groan. It is that dreaded time of the year when everything is due. In top of my typical work-load (of reading and discussing), I have the following requirements: Democratic Theory Paper and Oral Exam, EU Paper, Comparative Politics exam, and Methods Paper, Presentation and Exam. Without giving too much away, lets just say that I am far from prepared. Rather than blogging, I should be preparing for the week. I am going to have to bring some work home with me over the break, although it is not clear when I will have time to do this! Oh well, c’est la vie.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Documenting the Last Three Months
Here are the pictures I promised in my last post.
During mum's visit, we worked like crazy to finish the house. Here are some of the things we did:
Bought and assembled this chair. I am planning to get the matching ottoman soon! We also bought and hung the curtain. This curtain covers a closet, which has no door.
Bought and assembled the butchers block, bought and hung the curtains, and bought the basket under the butchers block so that I can hide my tupperware!
We bought and hung this curtain for the dining room.
Another view of the dining room.
And another!
And here is my office/gym.
Finally, we finished the guest bedroom. Come and visit us!
Of course, we found time to eat too! This is us at Pangea, just off of Walnut Street.
On thing that I missed in my last post is that I went to see dad during the first couple of weeks of being here. He was on a business trip to Cleveland, so I drove up there (only about 2.5 hours) and had dinner with him.
Andrea, Yasemin, and I at Will's place for a "Welcome Party" for first years.
With new friends at Hemmingways.
Allison's visit and our yummy cupcakes!
Jordan's birthday and his rocky road cupcakes.
Visiting Bailey in Atlanta.
My crazy family after Craig and Pam's engagement dinner.
With Craig and Rachel at the GT-UNC game.
With classmates at the GPSA happy hour.
With Vicky and Henry during their visit.
With Andrea and Yasemin at a talk by an ECJ Justice.
Cassie, Andrea, Yasemin and I at a Halloween party and Brandon and Hethba's.
With mum and Rachel in Auburn.
Happy hour on Yasemin's birthday!
During mum's visit, we worked like crazy to finish the house. Here are some of the things we did:
Bought and assembled this chair. I am planning to get the matching ottoman soon! We also bought and hung the curtain. This curtain covers a closet, which has no door.
Bought and assembled the butchers block, bought and hung the curtains, and bought the basket under the butchers block so that I can hide my tupperware!
We bought and hung this curtain for the dining room.
Another view of the dining room.
And another!
And here is my office/gym.
Finally, we finished the guest bedroom. Come and visit us!
Of course, we found time to eat too! This is us at Pangea, just off of Walnut Street.
On thing that I missed in my last post is that I went to see dad during the first couple of weeks of being here. He was on a business trip to Cleveland, so I drove up there (only about 2.5 hours) and had dinner with him.
Andrea, Yasemin, and I at Will's place for a "Welcome Party" for first years.
With new friends at Hemmingways.
Allison's visit and our yummy cupcakes!
Jordan's birthday and his rocky road cupcakes.
Visiting Bailey in Atlanta.
My crazy family after Craig and Pam's engagement dinner.
With Craig and Rachel at the GT-UNC game.
With classmates at the GPSA happy hour.
With Vicky and Henry during their visit.
With Andrea and Yasemin at a talk by an ECJ Justice.
Cassie, Andrea, Yasemin and I at a Halloween party and Brandon and Hethba's.
With mum and Rachel in Auburn.
Happy hour on Yasemin's birthday!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Its been a while...
Okay, so Kristen has been getting on my case about updating this thing…. so here goes nothing! Since my last post a ton has happened (hence the lack of updates). Fasten your seat belts, this is a synopsis of our lives since August 7 (3 months)!
In the middle of August, mum came to visit us. Jordan was in orientation by this point, so mum and I had a few days together. Poor mum; she was such a trooper and helped me finish the house before my academic obligations began! With multiple trips to Ikea and Target, we finally got (and assembled) all the extra furniture we needed and finished buying and hanging curtains. Thankfully, her visit was not all work! We spent time walking around Bloomfield and Oakland, so that mum could see where we would be spending most of our time, we tried a bunch of new restaurants, and we found an outlet mall. I have since found one that I like better, but more on that later! We were so exhausted that we crashed every night, but it was so nice to have mum here!
Once mum left, the real work began! And by real work, I mean Jordan’s classes and my math boot camp (yes, math boot camp for political scientists). It sounds crazy, but I am actually thankful for math boot camp. Hear me out. Orientations are awkward: put a bunch of people (nine, in our case) in a room together, tell them a bunch of stuff that they are expected to (but largely will not) remember, and expect the people to meet each other in an artificial manner. Gross. With math boot camp, however, we (the first year cohort) were thrown into a situation where we had to get down to work and were in the situation with all of the second years, who already knew each other. Nothing unites like a common enemy. And math camp was our common enemy. Indeed, when we were thrown into the potentially awkward “meet each other” situations, we already knew each other (to some degree or another) and had at least something to talk about.
I am pleased to say that I have not met a person in the program that I dislike. There are people that I have more and less in common with, but I can more than merely “put up” with everyone I have met so far. As far as my cohort goes, there are three women who study the EU (myself, Yasemin and Andrea); the three of us clicked almost immediately. I suppose this is a good thing, since we will be spending the majority of our program together (between classes and talks). The fourth girl in our cohort, Cassie, has also become dear to us. We had a girl’s night about a month ago for the four of us, and what fun we had just sitting and chatting with wine, cookies and cupcakes! We decided that we should make an effort to do this more often, but that has proven impossible thus far given November work schedules! I digress.
Following boot camp, my real classes began. This semester, I am taking democratic Theory and Democratization, Comparative Politics, EU Politics, and Empirical Methods of Research. I have taken three of these classes before, and have been exposed to the material from all four, but it is so interesting to see how differently these courses are taught at Pittsburgh as opposed to Georgia Tech. Frankly, what I am taking away from my classes, as much as the material itself, is an idea of how I would (will) teach these classes when my turn arrives. This, to me, has been the value added of taking graduate coursework at two different schools: when I teach these classes, I hope to pull the strengths of each way of presenting the material. The challenge, however, will be avoiding a course that is ideologically, epistemologically, and methodologically incoherent; there has to be a way to do justice to these different perspectives without being incoherent… but this is a difficult balance to achieve. Perhaps the best example of this divergence is my Comparative Politics course. I have now had two such courses (at the graduate level, and one at the undergraduate level). Both (all three if we include undergraduate) of these courses were excellent courses. The core remained the same: the effects of institutions and history on domestic polities. However, where one started with the sociological bases of Comparative (Marx, Weber, and Durkheim), the other has given comparative methodology prime of place. All three components are important and, in my opinion, necessary… it simply escapes me (currently) as to how all three components can be given sufficient attention in one semester.
I got an excellent surprise that first week of class. A dear friend, Allison, with whom I worked as the European Union Center of Excellence at Georgia Tech, is a flight attendant. I got a random call Wednesday evening (September 2) asking: “What are you doing on Friday?” Sweet Allison took the first flight out of Atlanta on Friday morning and came to spend the day with me on her way to Hawaii! Actually, not really on the way to Hawaii, she flew from Atlanta to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh to Atlanta, Atlanta to Los Angeles (where she spent the day with another friend), Los Angeles to Honolulu, and (I think) Honolulu to Kauai(?). What a fun day we had! It was a beautiful early fall day, so she got a great view of the city when we came over the bridge. We walked over to Walnut Street for lunch and a little shopping. We found a cute cupcake book, which Allison wanted to buy for me as a housewarming gift. We later made cupcakes (from the book), walked around Oakland, and went to Happy Hour with the department. We finished off the evening with dinner at an Italian in Bloomfield. Allison’s flight out was super early (like, 6 am). This less-than-24-hour-long-visit was such a sweet surprise!
Fast forward to late September (and fill in the space with “I read non-stop and took occasional breaks to watch Yellow Jacket football and go to happy hour with my friends”). For Jordan’s birthday I made rocky road cupcakes, we ordered in, and watched X-Men. For anyone who knows me, this is a BFD… I can hardly sit through a movie… never mind an action movie!
Jordan and I flew home to Atlanta (thanks to dad!) to attend an engagement dinner for Craig (my brother) and Pam. What an excellent night! Both families were in full attendance. Mum and dad, Jordan and I, Craig and Pam, and Rachel (my sister) and Tyler (her boyfriend) on Craig’s side. On Pam’s side Bronda (her mum) and Mike (here dad) and Daniel (her brother) and Carmen (his then girlfriend, now fiancé). We had an awesome (as always) dinner at Grace, gave them gifts, and just hung out. Backing up a couple of days, we flew to Atlanta Thursday night, I had a hair appointment with Julie Friday morning, mum and I went to the outlets Friday afternoon, and dinner for Craig and Pam was Friday night. Saturday, we drove down town to watch the Yellow Jackets manhandle UNC. It was so nice to be back at Bobby Dodd Stadium and Historic Grant Field! After dinner, Jordan and I drove out to Covington and spent the evening with Jordan’s parents. We stayed in Covington that night and celebrated Jordan’s birthday with his mum and dad the next day.
October was mental. Primarily, Yasemin and I decided to take a short course (half the credits of a standard course) offered by the EUCE. I am so glad that I took this course, it was on the EU’s emerging global authority and we were exposed to Asian perceptions of the EU, ESDP missions, and sample research of US perceptions on the EU. Frankly, I did not have time to do the work for an extra course, but it was totally worth it. The course was taught by a visiting professor, Dr. Martin Holland, who is an EU scholar and Monnet Chair from Canterbury, New Zealand.
On top of the short course, Vicky and Henry (Jordan’s parents) planned a trip to see us to coincide with Vicky’s birthday and Jordan’s fall break (let’s be clear, by fall break I mean nothing was different… he still had his usual meetings, etc.) We had a brilliant time with Vicky and Henry. We had dinner in Bloomfield on Friday night. Saturday, we got a late start (slept in a little, had coffee, etc.). Vicky and I headed to the other outlet mall (told you I would get there!) in Washington, which was awesome, to get some Christmas shopping done – a very successful trip! Jordan and Henry stayed at home, had lunch, went to the bakery to get breakfast for the next day, and watch the Georgia game. When Vicky and I arrived home, we watched the Tech game and then headed to McCormick and Schmick’s (Vicky and Henry’s favorite restaurant) for dinner. Sunday, we tried a new church, showed Vicky and Henry around Oakland (primarily CMU) and had lunch on Walnut Street before whisking them off to the airport. A full-but-fun weekend!
And now here we are, November. The first weekend in November marked Auburn’s homecoming. My dad had bought club-seating tickets and rented a suite for himself and my mum, only to realize that he had business obligations in Arizona. Score one for me… in his place, dad flew me down to Atlanta, where mum picked me up, and we drove to Auburn with Bailey to see Rachel. The first night, we had dinner with Jan and Ailsa. This is a strange-but-true story. When Rachel was going through rush, we were all happy to hear that she liked (and kept getting invited back to) Pi Beta Phi. You see, several of Craig’s friends from high school are/were Pi Phi’s at Auburn, Craig had attended a couple of events with Pi Phi… basically, we felt that they were a “known quantity.” Bid day (families are invited to share this day with their daughter/sister), we were all told about this other Scottish girl in Pi Phi. This was exciting to us, but we didn’t get to meet this mystery girl that day. Fast forward to Pi Phi family weekend (March 2009) and we (mum, dad, and I) had the opportunity to meet this girl and her parents. Turns out they are from Inch (not too far from Aberdeen!) And there you have it, two Scottish girls the same age, with similar pasts (moved to the US about the same time for their dads’ businesses), end up in the same sorority in BFE (Auburn), Alabama. Needless to say, we got along well with Ailsa’s parents (two Scottish families and alcohol… go figure). Fast forward to this November, and you have five Scottish women having dinner together in Auburn.
Friday, mum and I went shopping in Auburn. Rachel was planning to come with us, but she was not feeling well and decided to sleep so that she could feel better for the game on Saturday. Craig and Pam drove down from Atlanta, came to dinner with us that evening, and stayed in the suite with us. They got up and left early Saturday morning so that Craig could attend the Georgia Tech-Wake Forrest game (which was too close for my liking). Mum and I started getting ready for the game and Rachel ultimately decided not to go. We felt so bad, but, after a visit to the Dr. on Monday, we found that she had bronchitis. Good call on not going to the game. Thankfully, but not surprisingly, Auburn won (and virtually doubled Furman’s score). Mum and I grabbed Bailey and ventured to Toomer’s Corner. I will post pictures later, but Google it: Auburn students, alumni, and fans toilet paper the trees on this corner after a win! What a cool experience! We then snuck Bailey up to the suite where Rachel and I watched the Tech game and took a nap.
So there you have it. Three months boiled down to a not-so-short blog post! All my pictures from these events are on Facebook, but my next plan is to post a handful here.
No promises, but I at least intend to be better about updating this thing!!
Love,
Sarah
In the middle of August, mum came to visit us. Jordan was in orientation by this point, so mum and I had a few days together. Poor mum; she was such a trooper and helped me finish the house before my academic obligations began! With multiple trips to Ikea and Target, we finally got (and assembled) all the extra furniture we needed and finished buying and hanging curtains. Thankfully, her visit was not all work! We spent time walking around Bloomfield and Oakland, so that mum could see where we would be spending most of our time, we tried a bunch of new restaurants, and we found an outlet mall. I have since found one that I like better, but more on that later! We were so exhausted that we crashed every night, but it was so nice to have mum here!
Once mum left, the real work began! And by real work, I mean Jordan’s classes and my math boot camp (yes, math boot camp for political scientists). It sounds crazy, but I am actually thankful for math boot camp. Hear me out. Orientations are awkward: put a bunch of people (nine, in our case) in a room together, tell them a bunch of stuff that they are expected to (but largely will not) remember, and expect the people to meet each other in an artificial manner. Gross. With math boot camp, however, we (the first year cohort) were thrown into a situation where we had to get down to work and were in the situation with all of the second years, who already knew each other. Nothing unites like a common enemy. And math camp was our common enemy. Indeed, when we were thrown into the potentially awkward “meet each other” situations, we already knew each other (to some degree or another) and had at least something to talk about.
I am pleased to say that I have not met a person in the program that I dislike. There are people that I have more and less in common with, but I can more than merely “put up” with everyone I have met so far. As far as my cohort goes, there are three women who study the EU (myself, Yasemin and Andrea); the three of us clicked almost immediately. I suppose this is a good thing, since we will be spending the majority of our program together (between classes and talks). The fourth girl in our cohort, Cassie, has also become dear to us. We had a girl’s night about a month ago for the four of us, and what fun we had just sitting and chatting with wine, cookies and cupcakes! We decided that we should make an effort to do this more often, but that has proven impossible thus far given November work schedules! I digress.
Following boot camp, my real classes began. This semester, I am taking democratic Theory and Democratization, Comparative Politics, EU Politics, and Empirical Methods of Research. I have taken three of these classes before, and have been exposed to the material from all four, but it is so interesting to see how differently these courses are taught at Pittsburgh as opposed to Georgia Tech. Frankly, what I am taking away from my classes, as much as the material itself, is an idea of how I would (will) teach these classes when my turn arrives. This, to me, has been the value added of taking graduate coursework at two different schools: when I teach these classes, I hope to pull the strengths of each way of presenting the material. The challenge, however, will be avoiding a course that is ideologically, epistemologically, and methodologically incoherent; there has to be a way to do justice to these different perspectives without being incoherent… but this is a difficult balance to achieve. Perhaps the best example of this divergence is my Comparative Politics course. I have now had two such courses (at the graduate level, and one at the undergraduate level). Both (all three if we include undergraduate) of these courses were excellent courses. The core remained the same: the effects of institutions and history on domestic polities. However, where one started with the sociological bases of Comparative (Marx, Weber, and Durkheim), the other has given comparative methodology prime of place. All three components are important and, in my opinion, necessary… it simply escapes me (currently) as to how all three components can be given sufficient attention in one semester.
I got an excellent surprise that first week of class. A dear friend, Allison, with whom I worked as the European Union Center of Excellence at Georgia Tech, is a flight attendant. I got a random call Wednesday evening (September 2) asking: “What are you doing on Friday?” Sweet Allison took the first flight out of Atlanta on Friday morning and came to spend the day with me on her way to Hawaii! Actually, not really on the way to Hawaii, she flew from Atlanta to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh to Atlanta, Atlanta to Los Angeles (where she spent the day with another friend), Los Angeles to Honolulu, and (I think) Honolulu to Kauai(?). What a fun day we had! It was a beautiful early fall day, so she got a great view of the city when we came over the bridge. We walked over to Walnut Street for lunch and a little shopping. We found a cute cupcake book, which Allison wanted to buy for me as a housewarming gift. We later made cupcakes (from the book), walked around Oakland, and went to Happy Hour with the department. We finished off the evening with dinner at an Italian in Bloomfield. Allison’s flight out was super early (like, 6 am). This less-than-24-hour-long-visit was such a sweet surprise!
Fast forward to late September (and fill in the space with “I read non-stop and took occasional breaks to watch Yellow Jacket football and go to happy hour with my friends”). For Jordan’s birthday I made rocky road cupcakes, we ordered in, and watched X-Men. For anyone who knows me, this is a BFD… I can hardly sit through a movie… never mind an action movie!
Jordan and I flew home to Atlanta (thanks to dad!) to attend an engagement dinner for Craig (my brother) and Pam. What an excellent night! Both families were in full attendance. Mum and dad, Jordan and I, Craig and Pam, and Rachel (my sister) and Tyler (her boyfriend) on Craig’s side. On Pam’s side Bronda (her mum) and Mike (here dad) and Daniel (her brother) and Carmen (his then girlfriend, now fiancé). We had an awesome (as always) dinner at Grace, gave them gifts, and just hung out. Backing up a couple of days, we flew to Atlanta Thursday night, I had a hair appointment with Julie Friday morning, mum and I went to the outlets Friday afternoon, and dinner for Craig and Pam was Friday night. Saturday, we drove down town to watch the Yellow Jackets manhandle UNC. It was so nice to be back at Bobby Dodd Stadium and Historic Grant Field! After dinner, Jordan and I drove out to Covington and spent the evening with Jordan’s parents. We stayed in Covington that night and celebrated Jordan’s birthday with his mum and dad the next day.
October was mental. Primarily, Yasemin and I decided to take a short course (half the credits of a standard course) offered by the EUCE. I am so glad that I took this course, it was on the EU’s emerging global authority and we were exposed to Asian perceptions of the EU, ESDP missions, and sample research of US perceptions on the EU. Frankly, I did not have time to do the work for an extra course, but it was totally worth it. The course was taught by a visiting professor, Dr. Martin Holland, who is an EU scholar and Monnet Chair from Canterbury, New Zealand.
On top of the short course, Vicky and Henry (Jordan’s parents) planned a trip to see us to coincide with Vicky’s birthday and Jordan’s fall break (let’s be clear, by fall break I mean nothing was different… he still had his usual meetings, etc.) We had a brilliant time with Vicky and Henry. We had dinner in Bloomfield on Friday night. Saturday, we got a late start (slept in a little, had coffee, etc.). Vicky and I headed to the other outlet mall (told you I would get there!) in Washington, which was awesome, to get some Christmas shopping done – a very successful trip! Jordan and Henry stayed at home, had lunch, went to the bakery to get breakfast for the next day, and watch the Georgia game. When Vicky and I arrived home, we watched the Tech game and then headed to McCormick and Schmick’s (Vicky and Henry’s favorite restaurant) for dinner. Sunday, we tried a new church, showed Vicky and Henry around Oakland (primarily CMU) and had lunch on Walnut Street before whisking them off to the airport. A full-but-fun weekend!
And now here we are, November. The first weekend in November marked Auburn’s homecoming. My dad had bought club-seating tickets and rented a suite for himself and my mum, only to realize that he had business obligations in Arizona. Score one for me… in his place, dad flew me down to Atlanta, where mum picked me up, and we drove to Auburn with Bailey to see Rachel. The first night, we had dinner with Jan and Ailsa. This is a strange-but-true story. When Rachel was going through rush, we were all happy to hear that she liked (and kept getting invited back to) Pi Beta Phi. You see, several of Craig’s friends from high school are/were Pi Phi’s at Auburn, Craig had attended a couple of events with Pi Phi… basically, we felt that they were a “known quantity.” Bid day (families are invited to share this day with their daughter/sister), we were all told about this other Scottish girl in Pi Phi. This was exciting to us, but we didn’t get to meet this mystery girl that day. Fast forward to Pi Phi family weekend (March 2009) and we (mum, dad, and I) had the opportunity to meet this girl and her parents. Turns out they are from Inch (not too far from Aberdeen!) And there you have it, two Scottish girls the same age, with similar pasts (moved to the US about the same time for their dads’ businesses), end up in the same sorority in BFE (Auburn), Alabama. Needless to say, we got along well with Ailsa’s parents (two Scottish families and alcohol… go figure). Fast forward to this November, and you have five Scottish women having dinner together in Auburn.
Friday, mum and I went shopping in Auburn. Rachel was planning to come with us, but she was not feeling well and decided to sleep so that she could feel better for the game on Saturday. Craig and Pam drove down from Atlanta, came to dinner with us that evening, and stayed in the suite with us. They got up and left early Saturday morning so that Craig could attend the Georgia Tech-Wake Forrest game (which was too close for my liking). Mum and I started getting ready for the game and Rachel ultimately decided not to go. We felt so bad, but, after a visit to the Dr. on Monday, we found that she had bronchitis. Good call on not going to the game. Thankfully, but not surprisingly, Auburn won (and virtually doubled Furman’s score). Mum and I grabbed Bailey and ventured to Toomer’s Corner. I will post pictures later, but Google it: Auburn students, alumni, and fans toilet paper the trees on this corner after a win! What a cool experience! We then snuck Bailey up to the suite where Rachel and I watched the Tech game and took a nap.
So there you have it. Three months boiled down to a not-so-short blog post! All my pictures from these events are on Facebook, but my next plan is to post a handful here.
No promises, but I at least intend to be better about updating this thing!!
Love,
Sarah
Friday, August 7, 2009
Almost Two Weeks In
Well, we have been in Pittsburgh almost two weeks. We have spent the majority of our time getting our belongings unpacked and getting the house comfortable. I have posted several pictures on Facebook and will post a couple below. At this point (going from room to room, starting from the entrance), my office/gym is almost complete (I just have to get a unit to put my weights on), the dining room is almost complete (we have ordered another unit and, once that arrives, we will be able to finish that room), our guest bathroom is complete and the kitchen it complete except for curtains. On the second floor, our bedroom is complete (except for that we want a new stand for the TV -- the current stand will go to my office/gym for my weights), our bathroom is complete, our living room is complete, our dressing room is complete and Jordan's office is almost complete (just a few more boxes to go). On the third floor, we have done nothing on the guest bedroom. We need to re-assemble the bed and purchase a new baseboard.
Jordan has really adapted to some of the "housekeeping" things that would have been done by maintenance at Tenth and Home. Primarily, he has installed two AC units on his own! It is strange not to have central air, but Jordan's configuration makes it feel like we still have it! He has really paid attention to where the units need to be installed and how the doors and fans in the main rooms need to be set in order to maximize the efficacy of the units.
We are settling in nicely. We certainly miss our friends and family. Craig and Pam got engaged last weekend in Las Vegas and I really hate that I have not been able to see and hug them since. However, my dad was in Cleveland, OH last week on business. I drove there (about 2.5 hours) to have dinner with him; this certainly helped the feeling of isolation. In addition, Jordan and I would really like to get a pet; we are not going to move forward with this yet as we do not receive Jordan's first stipend until the end of September (read: borrowing a LOT of money from my parents until we get paid!)
I am now registered for classes; I took a trip to campus last week to register. In addition, I have been assigned my first PGH Kaplan class! This assignment will begin in mid September. Jordan's orientations start next week, and my math "boot camp" begins in about 10 days. I just hope that we have the house ready before then!
Jordan has really adapted to some of the "housekeeping" things that would have been done by maintenance at Tenth and Home. Primarily, he has installed two AC units on his own! It is strange not to have central air, but Jordan's configuration makes it feel like we still have it! He has really paid attention to where the units need to be installed and how the doors and fans in the main rooms need to be set in order to maximize the efficacy of the units.
We are settling in nicely. We certainly miss our friends and family. Craig and Pam got engaged last weekend in Las Vegas and I really hate that I have not been able to see and hug them since. However, my dad was in Cleveland, OH last week on business. I drove there (about 2.5 hours) to have dinner with him; this certainly helped the feeling of isolation. In addition, Jordan and I would really like to get a pet; we are not going to move forward with this yet as we do not receive Jordan's first stipend until the end of September (read: borrowing a LOT of money from my parents until we get paid!)
I am now registered for classes; I took a trip to campus last week to register. In addition, I have been assigned my first PGH Kaplan class! This assignment will begin in mid September. Jordan's orientations start next week, and my math "boot camp" begins in about 10 days. I just hope that we have the house ready before then!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
We Have Arrived!
After a long and exhausting week, we have arrived in Pittsburgh! We have our keys, and are waiting for Pizza to arrive for us at the hotel. This optimism, however, is premature; it has been one heck of a week.
Thursday was my birthday and, as such, I was not planning to do any work that day. This was fine, as our move was set for Saturday (lie number 1). Mum, Jordan, Rachel, Tyler and I were going to go to the botanical gardens, and later I would have dinner with everyone (except for Pam) on my side of the family. At 12:30, however, I received a call to inform me that my movers would arrive on Friday between 10 and 12. I hung up happy because we could sleep in a little... then I freaked out ("did he say TOMORROW? I was told they would be here on Saturday!!!") I called Nationwide (our relocation company) who did nothing to help rectify the situation. *NOTE* NEVER MOVE WITH NATIONWIDE* Instead of spending the afternoon at the Henry Moore exhibit, mum came and helped up frantically pack the rest of our stuff. Once packed, we went to Gwinnett Place Honda to pick up our new car. However, dad decided to add some extra features, so we left the car overnight to get additional work. That evening, Jordan and I had dinner at Grace with mum, dad, Craig (sans Pam, who was studying for exams), Rachel and Tyler. It was so good (as always)! Before dinner, we opened gifts at my parent's house; I feel so blessed to have such a loving family, they really made this birthday special, even if I did have to pack!!!
Friday, our movers arrived at 10 am and did not finish packing our possessions until about 10 pm. It was crazy how long they took; I must say, however, that they were meticulous in packing our furniture into the truck -- this I am thankful for. They are two Bosnian men who do not work for Nationwide; Nationwide contracted their company to move our things -- I am sure that Nationwide is screwing them as much as they are screwing us. One of the men said to me (in broken English) "your job order said this was supposed to be about 6500 lbs, this seems heavier than that." Great. I provided Nationwide with a list of my furniture and they estimated a weight. I was told this weight was based upon your furniture being Ashley or Havertys, and that there was no way my Target and Ikea furniture weighed that much... lie number 2. I get charged about four times the price for anything over the quoted weigh; something that was misconstrued to me when I was send the "not to exceed, binding quote" (lie number 3). Rachel and Tyler were awesome -- they spent the day sitting by the truck to make sure that nothing got stolen out of the back!!! All that aside, we were planning to have dinner with Vicky, Henry, Jonathan, Lisa, Meghan, and Tom, but we got to the Melting Pot so late that we only had about 30 minutes with the siblings and an hour with Vicky and Henry! We hate that we did not have longer with them. All this on top of no sleep for Jordan and two hours of sleep for me!
Saturday, Jordan and I slept in until around noon, after which we went downtown with mum to clean out our apartment and check out for good. We could not have finished on tie without mum's help!!! We checked out about 5pm, just in time to go back to Norcross to have dinner at J. Alexanders with mum, dad, Craig, Pam, Rachel and Tyler. After dinner, Jordan packed everything into our new Honda CRV (LOVE IT!!!). I must post some pictures of it soon!!!
Today, we got up early and left my parents house at 8:40 am. I took the first driving shift while Jordan slept. To follow our journey, look at my Twitter account (@sarahjcpatton):
9:55 AM: South Carolina
11:20 AM: North Carolina
2:00 PM: Virginia
3:40 PM: West Virginia
7:55 PM: Pennsylvania
Once in Pittsburgh, we picked up our keys and emptied our car. We then proceeded to our Hotel (Friendship Suites -- I HIGHLY recommend this place!!!) and ordered a Pizza -- which has just arrived!
Tomorrow, we receive our furniture, lets pray that unloading does not take as long as loading!!!
Thursday was my birthday and, as such, I was not planning to do any work that day. This was fine, as our move was set for Saturday (lie number 1). Mum, Jordan, Rachel, Tyler and I were going to go to the botanical gardens, and later I would have dinner with everyone (except for Pam) on my side of the family. At 12:30, however, I received a call to inform me that my movers would arrive on Friday between 10 and 12. I hung up happy because we could sleep in a little... then I freaked out ("did he say TOMORROW? I was told they would be here on Saturday!!!") I called Nationwide (our relocation company) who did nothing to help rectify the situation. *NOTE* NEVER MOVE WITH NATIONWIDE* Instead of spending the afternoon at the Henry Moore exhibit, mum came and helped up frantically pack the rest of our stuff. Once packed, we went to Gwinnett Place Honda to pick up our new car. However, dad decided to add some extra features, so we left the car overnight to get additional work. That evening, Jordan and I had dinner at Grace with mum, dad, Craig (sans Pam, who was studying for exams), Rachel and Tyler. It was so good (as always)! Before dinner, we opened gifts at my parent's house; I feel so blessed to have such a loving family, they really made this birthday special, even if I did have to pack!!!
Friday, our movers arrived at 10 am and did not finish packing our possessions until about 10 pm. It was crazy how long they took; I must say, however, that they were meticulous in packing our furniture into the truck -- this I am thankful for. They are two Bosnian men who do not work for Nationwide; Nationwide contracted their company to move our things -- I am sure that Nationwide is screwing them as much as they are screwing us. One of the men said to me (in broken English) "your job order said this was supposed to be about 6500 lbs, this seems heavier than that." Great. I provided Nationwide with a list of my furniture and they estimated a weight. I was told this weight was based upon your furniture being Ashley or Havertys, and that there was no way my Target and Ikea furniture weighed that much... lie number 2. I get charged about four times the price for anything over the quoted weigh; something that was misconstrued to me when I was send the "not to exceed, binding quote" (lie number 3). Rachel and Tyler were awesome -- they spent the day sitting by the truck to make sure that nothing got stolen out of the back!!! All that aside, we were planning to have dinner with Vicky, Henry, Jonathan, Lisa, Meghan, and Tom, but we got to the Melting Pot so late that we only had about 30 minutes with the siblings and an hour with Vicky and Henry! We hate that we did not have longer with them. All this on top of no sleep for Jordan and two hours of sleep for me!
Saturday, Jordan and I slept in until around noon, after which we went downtown with mum to clean out our apartment and check out for good. We could not have finished on tie without mum's help!!! We checked out about 5pm, just in time to go back to Norcross to have dinner at J. Alexanders with mum, dad, Craig, Pam, Rachel and Tyler. After dinner, Jordan packed everything into our new Honda CRV (LOVE IT!!!). I must post some pictures of it soon!!!
Today, we got up early and left my parents house at 8:40 am. I took the first driving shift while Jordan slept. To follow our journey, look at my Twitter account (@sarahjcpatton):
9:55 AM: South Carolina
11:20 AM: North Carolina
2:00 PM: Virginia
3:40 PM: West Virginia
7:55 PM: Pennsylvania
Once in Pittsburgh, we picked up our keys and emptied our car. We then proceeded to our Hotel (Friendship Suites -- I HIGHLY recommend this place!!!) and ordered a Pizza -- which has just arrived!
Tomorrow, we receive our furniture, lets pray that unloading does not take as long as loading!!!
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