My well-traveled suitcase and what's next

Last week I headed to Washington DC for the American Psychological Association's Annual Convention. My research group and I presented four of our research posters.

Upon arriving to DC just after noon, I was notified that we could not check into our hotel until 3:00 and that everyone was at the Washington Monument. So I hopped into a cab and was dropped off just in front of the monument, luggage in tow.

We traipsed around sight seeing for a little while and my suitcase eventually made it up to see Mr. Lincoln himself.

It was really nice to see the city but after walking around so much in the humid weather, while dragging my suitcase along for the ride, I was ready to move on.

Early on Saturday morning, I boarded a bus from DC to New York City for a quick visit to my good friend Lindsay. I have already chronicled the disastrous bus ride in the previous post, my leg does not belong to you.

It seems that upon my arrival in both cities, I immediately saw something new and exciting. In DC, it was the Washington Monument and in NYC, it was a mariachi band on the subway. Fantastic!

I was able to spend a really fun couple of days with Lindsay and had a really great first view of New York. We went to a food fair-ish thing in Brooklyn, saw the very beginning of the Verizon strikers at midnight, saw ground zero, had fantastic burgers, sprinted through central park, saw a broadway show (Sister Act), and went to Top of the Rock. I might have forgotten a few things, it all went so fast.

I think I have been on just about every type of public transportation in the past few days. My first taxi ride in DC, the bus in DC, the DC Metro, planes, bus to NYC, subway, ferry boat, and walking. Did I get it all?

I am this tired:

Both unfortunately and fortunately, I have practicum orientation tomorrow. As I left OLOP for my practicum 2 year, I am now moving on to practicum 3. This year I will be placed at the Indiana University-Southeast Counseling Center. I expect this to be a big change for me from this past year but I am excited for the change and challenges I'm sure I'll be faced with. I'm excited to get through orientation and have a little better grasp on what to expect.

Quick recap on my last day at OLOP. It was every bit as sad as I thought it would be. I had two patients who had not yet been discharged and they were both my longest term clients. It was tough to get through those final sessions but also rewarding. That is the sad thing about what I do, I can't truly share the challenges and rewards of specific instances because I have to protect and maintain privacy and confidentiality. I wish I could really express so many things about how moving, rewarding, and challenging at times this job can be.

This was a very long post, thanks for sticking with it for those of you who did.