Grad School: The Journey (literally)

The drive was really long. My foot was not so helpful. I was only able to drive 3 hours the first day and then my foot was killing me the rest of the day. It was really hard for mom as she kept getting sleepy and I couldn’t help her really. I was tired myself as my foot was hurting to bad that I just wanted to sleep it off. It was a rough trip. We stayed with my aunt in Littleton, Colorado. I got a blessing that night from my cousins because I really needed to help mom drive. It was an incredible blessing. I was promised that I would be able to not feel the pain as I pray and listen to my body to know when I can go and when I need to stop. It was amazing.

Hooray for the Priesthood! Yesterday was a really good day. I drove half the day (which was good because it was the longest trek, 11 hours, yuck!). It didn't really hurt! We stayed in Des Moines with friend and BYU co-worker, Pat Ware’s Auntie. It was lovely. She felt like family and apparently she felt the same about us. We had a lovely visit to wind-down from the day. I was able to drive a bit today, but not much, which was okay because mom was able to stay awake more. We had the extra adrenaline rush to get me here by 4:30 so I could get to my orientation. We got here at 4:40. Pretty good considering there was construction some of the way and we came from Iowa! It's doing a number on me tonight, though. I'm tired. It's tired. I hope I can keep going this week...and next...*sigh*

After my orientation, we went to get into the apartment (which wasn’t ready a week ago and the landlord said I could stay in the apartment above their house). Well, I called him today and told him we were here and he said that they were expecting me tomorrow (apparently that’s what my email said, which could very well be true…). He said they’d have it ready for us by about 11 tonight and asked that we find something to do for 4 hours. Ugh. So, tired and hungry, we went to eat and decide what to do. I took mom to Applebees and used my gift cards I got for Christmas, which was nice. We decided that we really needed a good rest tonight. So, we decided to just rent a motel for the night.

Apparently I’m not the only student who’s housing is not quite available yet. All hotels and motels are booked. There was one room left in the motel we went to, and it was the “suite” with the Jacuzzi and king-size bed. Sounds great doesn’t? NOT! I got in the Jacuzzi and after a while noticed little flakes in the water. Gross. I don’t know if it was hard water or someone else’s body flakes (bleh!), but I got out and took a shower. So much for relaxing there. Half the lights aren’t working, one of the wall fixtures isn’t working, the room smells musty and we can’t figure out if it’s stale smoke or stale/humid air, the bed isn’t super comfortable….so much for getting a good night’s sleep. Although, I do have to admit that it has been nice to relax for a few hours and unwind. Apparently we needed it from such a long trip.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I need to go to campus and get my books, my ID card, parking pass, etc. Then tomorrow afternoon the moving pod will be delivered and some boys from the Church will be here to help us unload it. *sigh* I pray we’ll be able to get it all done.