Intro

It's my day off and I'm about a month into the program. These concepts of time make you think, or really, just give you time to think. How did I get here?

Flashback to Spring 2009. I'm still a music major. After spending a Winter term dreading going to Magic Flute rehearsal and being insanely stressed out by working and taking a class at the same time...I basically fell apart, and decided to take a semester away from music for all aspects of my health. So, I enrolled in some sociology classes as "fun" classes. By the end of that semester, I was registered as a sociology major.

Fast forward through lots of nerdiness and loving my classes and you arrive at my 2nd senior year, where as part of my program, I had to do an internship. After dragging my feet for a few weeks, I found an internship at a nonprofit foster family and adoption agency.

I knew the second I walked into their office, I was in love. All of the staff was amazing and cared so very deeply for their "kids" and even though these kids were supposedly the "hardest" of the bunch, hugs, smiles, and laughs were never in short supply.

The year I spent there changed my entire life. It was as if the fog had finally lifted, I could see clearly and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

I applied to two graduate schools, one that was about an hour away, and one that is part of the school I did my undergrad at.

I waited four very very very long months for a letter, thinking that the school that was an hour away was the dream. The dream didn't have space for me in their program, which left me crushed.

I allowed myself to be crushed for all of about 15 hours before turning in my acceptance of admission to the school I was already attending and vowed to make it the best it could possibly be.

As the saying goes "it was a blessing in disguise"...it truly was. When all was said and done I was glad to be staying here, surrounded by friends, sorority sisters, and family. And, I was offered a full scholarship for my program. How could you say no to that?!

So, here I am, a month into my program. I remember being absolutely terrified to start it because I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know anyone in the program, and even though I had already been attending this school for five years, it felt like I was the new kid all over again.

As I left my first day of classes feeling empowered, intelligent, and grinning, I knew this had to be one of the best decisions I've ever made.

For the past month I've been doing my field practicum (or internship) at another nonprofit foster family agency. I am officially an MSW Intern but unofficially, an acting social worker. I have a caseload, have to perform home visits, and get to do lots and lots of lovely paperwork.

In this blog, I want to try to document my thoughts, feelings, and just anything else that happens while I'm in the program. Wow..that sounds like I'm trying to do a study on myself. I just thought it would be cool to see how I change as a person, as a social worker, and as a student throughout this program.

So, if you've made it down to this point, congrats! Thank you for reading, sorry for rambling, and I hope you come back to read.