Recovery Plan

Things have been surprisingly busy post-MIT. Moving to Corvallis, figuring out OSU stuff, and helping out with FFA contests has taken up a lot of time, and otherwise I'm hanging out with friends, appreciating my time at home without classes.

Oregon State took their sweet time getting back to me, and I finally deduced that I was accepted only a week and a half before the start of spring term. Fortunately I have connections and was able to register for classes before I received the official letter (which showed up at my house last night). And I could not be more excited about classes. They're not anything special, but they're such a departure from what I was taking at MIT. I'm excited for a change of pace and a chance to recover and feel intelligent again. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy Ornithology, Wine in the Western World, and Tree and Shrub Identification. I'm going to try to take a math class, and maybe an English comp class, but a ton of classes are full so I need to find something I can get into. Regardless, with just those three classes I'm going to have a fun term.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything back on the job front. I've applied, so now I just get to wait... Some friends have given me some good suggestions, though, so I'm going to explore a few different options. Classes start in a mere five days, so I guess I'll see just how busy I get and go from there!

Oregon FFA's state convention was this past weekend at Oregon State. I helped judge Marketing Plans, and helped out a couple of teams. I was definitely reminded of just how much I love FFA, and how important agriculture is to me. It was very strange to be there, though, without the stress of competing, or a million things to do. Also, I wasn't in the blue corduroy jacket. Needless to say, I felt a little out of place. My advisor always hinted to me in high school that she thought I should be an ag teacher, and after this weekend, I'm definitely considering a little bit more seriously. Just another reason it's a good thing that I'm taking time off, I suppose, so I figure that out.

At the end of the day, I still miss MIT (and everyone there) a lot, and I'm not sure how long I'll be back here in Oregon. But being back in Oregon is definitely fun, relaxing, and the perfect way to recover from the stresses of MIT.

Time for the countdown...

Okay, so it's December 31st and 2007 is winding to a close.

And three of my college applications are due TOMORROW.

So, of course, in typical Kelsey fashion, I'm stressing out, putting it off and then complaining. The usual.

I think I'll be okay though. I have so many essays finished already, it's just Stanford's bajillion "300 character limit" essays. Okay, so maybe there's only ten of them, but honestly! Character limits??? It's been kind of difficult to cram two summers worth of activities into 300 characters [Camps, showing at State Fair, 4-H Forestry]. Or what I feel is a significant challenege that society faces today [Lack of adequate science education in rural areas]. I guess I shouldn't complain that much, I do only have two left after all. But the two left are the hardest ones for me to answer. "What five words best describe you?" and "What historical moment or event do you wish you could have participated in?" I DON'T KNOW. This is all rather frustrating.

Stanford's supplement to the Common App is really what I'm stressed over. Cornell's is nice because [Oh man, hold on. CNN is repeating what they said 15 minutes ago. Must. Change. Channel.] [Back. Whew. Changed it to music. And they are definitely playing Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Amazing!] they only want one essay based on the college you're applying to. The Ag and Life Sciences department's essay is pretty much begging me to talk about FFA. *Happy dance!* And MIT's application is actually finished! It's a beautiful thing. And I'm suprisingly happy about my responses to the questions. I even have two different essays for the one about what I like to do for fun. That was definitely the most difficult essay topic for me, but after sitting down and evaluating what I actually do for fun, it was suddenly very easy - hike and bake. So, I wrote two essays, and I'm making my dad pick the one I'm submitting this afternoon when I head down to the coffee shop with my laptop to submit everything.

Once those three applications are submitted, I'll only have Oregon State's, Purdue's, and Willamette's applications left. My Willamette one is due the 15th, and the other two are due on February 1st. I really cannot wait for February 2nd. So much less stress! And I'll be flying to Boston a couple of days after that to visit MIT, so it will be a wonderful world once I get all of my applications finished!

Now all I need is for CalPoly to send me something! They only have a few days left within their "30 Working Days" limit to send me something letting me know if they hate me or if I need to send them more materials.

*breathe*