We're Moving....No, really....

So, as most of you know, there have been plans in the works for Scientist and I to move since Christmas. And finally finally finally we have a decision. We are moving to Morgantown, West Virginia...in less than two weeks!

Scientist had originally applied for a job in St. Louis (which, as luck would have it, he was offered almost immediately), where he would've been working for Saint Louis University as a post-doctoral fellow. Now, this job wouldn't have been so bad: I really like STL ( no matter what anybody says about it), Scientist's entire family is there, it isn't that far from my Mom and the School of Public Health at SLU (Saint Louis University) is very good. It's in a really shady area in which I was forbidden to walk through alone at night, when most of my classes would've been, but whatever.

Scientist's job in Morgantown, however, is SWEET. He'll be working for a branch of the CDC there, studying cool stuff like "black mold". When we went to Morgantown about a month ago Scientist met with a lot of people in the department, who all seemed cool, and gave a seminar about his work.

The School of Public Health at WVU isn't as old or well established as the one at SLU, but I was impressed by how unbelievably nice and welcoming everyone was towards me. The faculty member I met with was super super cool and very nice, and once I told her about my background etc., there seemed to be no doubt I would get in. Another bonus is she laid out an academic plan for me that allowed me to graduate in summer 2008, which is nice. That means I can plan and have my wedding in peace, without worrying about going to school, plus we can go our honeymoon, which will be overseas and awesome in September after all the tourists have left (more about the honeymoon in a different post).

When we got back from Morgantown we really agonized about what to do. We didn't want to base our entire decision on money, but the job in Morgantown paid $16,000 per year more and the cost of living would be considerably less than in STL. Still, the idea of moving to STL was very alluring; Morgantown is nice, but it doesn't have a lot going on. It actually reminded me of IC before the hospital began building facilities like crazy: the downtown was small, had mostly inexpensive stores and restaurants and a little on the boring side. That and it is a little isolated.

So, we deliberated and deliberated. Then, I got my financial aid notification from SLU. It was $9000 short of the estimated cost of attendance. That meant we would be living in a much more expensive city (rents aren't cheap unless you want to live in the 'hood), with a lot less money and barely enough dough to cover my tuition. So, we decided to move to West Virginia.

I'm very excited. Very. It will be nice to finally, once and for all, get out of Iowa City and see a totally new, not to mention absolutely beautiful, part of the country. We will be three and a half hours from two of my favorite people (Ellen and Brian), not to mention 5 hours from a good friend of our going to grad school in Charlottesville, VA.

I've got a good feeling about this!

Atlanta?

I know its been something like 4 or 5 weeks since I've posted anything. However, since no one has e-mailed me bitching, I figure y'all understand I'm a very busy graduate student and after acquiring my cool new job I've had very little time to do stuff like blog.

So, as some of you may have guessed from the title of this blog I WAS ACCEPTED TO EMORY! I think I'm still in a little bit of shock--this is one of the best public health programs in the country, and I got in.

Unfortunately, since nothing is ever easy anymore, I'm not sure if Atlanta is in the future for us despite my acceptance into such a phenomenal program. Scientist has to get a post doc or some other job, and then we'll very seriously consider moving.

See, Emory would cost me $40,000 plus per year, so before we pack our shit up and head down there I need to be absolutely certain that the advantages of transferring there will out weigh staying in Iowa, which may, in fact, be the case. The Center for Disease Control is in Atlanta (its even physically located next to the Emory campus), so, in theory I'll have more opportunities for both internships, which would help out financially, and jobs post graduation. That, and the curriculum, not to mention the tremendous number of resources, at EU make Iowa pale in comparison. Here I can't really specialize in anything--all I do is take one fucking required course after another-- and at EU they have course after course dedicated to STIs, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, immigrant health....IT'S AWESOME.

So, there will be some major decision making being done in the next few weeks. I'll keep you all updated. Promise.