Many changes

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Wow, the last post I wrote was from February. It was when I got my acceptance at Lancaster. I was so excited. I eventually received acceptances from Stirling and St. Andrews, too. St. Andrews was quite exciting. It's well respected here and my advisor would be the head of the environmental history center there. So lots of excitement and feelings of accomplishment. Unfortunately, none of the acceptance letters came with funding. The economy in Britain is a lot worse than here, and what funding it does have is left for UK and EU students. It makes sense, but it's a big disappointment for international students, like me. After much soul searching, I let go of my dream. It hurt, but it was the right decision. I have moved on, and I know that I will get to spend time doing research in England down the road. So I just consider it a postponement, rather than a cancellation.

In the mean time, I have to sort out my future. I have decided to go on for a PhD here in the US. I still fret about my age upon graduation, but it's something I want and Steve doesn't want me giving up entirely on my dream. I've got three universities within my sight. It's too late for fall admissions for any of them, but one does have spring admissions. Thanks to one of my current professors, Dr. Closmann, I've been able to talk with Dr. Martin Melosi at University of Houston. The history program there matches all of my interests - English, environmental, and public history. So the school is the perfect fit. If Dr. Melosi can rustle up some spring funding for me, I will go to Houston in January. If he can't, I will apply there, plus at Kansas and Wisconsin-Madison, for Fall 2011. Dr. Melosi said he'll let me know by next week at the latest about what he can arrange, so fingers crossed.

In the meantime, the spring semester is done! I had to take an incomplete in one class, because I needed more time to make changes to my thesis. I will finish the paper for that class by the end of this month. Meanwhile, I defend my thesis tomorrow! I'm excited about it. A lot of my friends say they're going to be there for the defense. Then we're all going out tomorrow night to celebrate everyone's accomplishments.

Right now, I'm enjoying a few much-needed down days. And I'm now going to get back to that down time.

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