Back to the Island

In his song, "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" Jimmy Buffett sings:

Reading departure signs in some big airport
Reminds me of the places I've been
Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure
Makes me want to go back again

Of all the places I've been in my life, there is no place I want to go back to again more than Key West. I was first there with Brian for our honeymoon in 2008. I'm not actually sure how we picked Key West, but I do know that we had decided on it long before we were engaged, so when the time rolled around, planning the honeymoon was the easiest part! We were there for a week, and we absolutely loved it. As soon as we left, we were talking about going back someday. And I must be honest, part of the appeal in moving to Miami was that it was only 3 hours from Key West. We knew that it would afford us opportunities to return that we may not have had otherwise.

And it didn't take long for that opportunity to arise. We were back for only a short time in July 2010, the week after we moved to Miami. Brian's parents stayed to visit, and we ended up driving down for a day. And that one day confirmed that we were still in fact in love with Key West and wanted to return again. And a few months later, we were back, this time with my dad, his wife Ruth and her daughter Sadie for a week at the end of December.

I could go on and on about Key West. The food, the weather, the people, the atmosphere... there is so much to take in there. But I will just post some photo highlights so you can see for yourself.




This is the view from our condo. It was lovely to wake up to the sun and the sparkling ocean every day.





This is St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the oldest non-Catholic church in Florida.




The interior of St. Paul's. They had a program called "Music in Paradise," while we were there. The organist was playing and anyone could stop in and listen. We stayed for a little while, and the music was very pretty.




This is the van for Kermit's Key Lime Shop. They sell just about anything you can imagine that is key lime flavored. The best items are the frozen key lime pie, dipped in chocolate and served on a stick. They have traditional key lime and also a strawberry key lime dipped in white chocolate, which is my favorite.




The Key West Cemetery is very unique. The graves are all above the ground as the water table is high and hurricanes have a tendency to unearth coffins. And the monuments are very elaborate and ornate.




I took this shot on the beach. I just liked the colors.




This was the sunset out first night there. It was gorgeous.





The sunset again.




One day, we rented these scooters and rode all over the island. It was a little scary at first, but ended up being a lot of fun!




We visited the Butterfly Garden. It was very pretty inside, but I spent most of the time making sure nothing landed on me. Brian took these pictures.





Some of the butterflies eating.




The cocoon hatchery.




The Key West Lighthouse.




Every night at Mallory Square there is a sunset festival. There are food vendors, street performers, and lots of people. This dog went around and collected tips while his owner played guitar and sang. It was adorable.





This guy at the sunset festival was impressive. He balanced the torch on his nose and flipped it up to his forehead.




Rick and Rocket, they flying Basset Hound. Rick did some juggling tricks, and Rocket jumped through some (very low!) hoops. They were fun.




The Key West Museum of Art and Culture, located inside the old customs house.




The first exhibit at the museum consists of life sized sculptures for you to pose with. This is me with the first sculpture.




And Brian. As you can see, we had fun with it.





Brian got this shot (and got soaked in the process) on the Higgs Beach Pier.




This pelican landed right on the corner of the pier.




This is J, the leader of the Ghost Tour we took. As you can see, he is pretty into it and it's a lot of fun.




The C.G.C. Ingham, which we toured.





A shot of the Ingham belowdecks.




The Mohawk, which was closed the day we visited.




Some of the famous Key West chickens.




Harry Truman's Little White House. He liked to visit Key West and conducted some official business here.




Ft. Zachary Taylor.




The canons at Ft. Taylor.




The view of the Atlantic from Ft. Taylor.





The fort.




The beach at Ft. Taylor is so pretty, and the water is crystal clear and bright blue.

So, it's been awhile

Well, it has certainly been awhile since I have updated this blog. First it was the rainy season and we were spending a lot of time indoors, and then we got busy with school and work, took a break to travel a little over Christmas, and then it was back to school and work again. So I will try and catch up on the last several months since either of us has written anything

Brian had a great first semester at FIU. I will let him write more about it, but he really enjoyed his classes and his first TA assignment. I, at the time, was working for Gamestop. I was really excited when I got called for an interview, because I thought it would be a fun job. I've shopped at many Gamestops over the years, and I thought I knew what to expect. And apparently, had I worked at just about any other Gamestop, I would have been correct. But I had the bad fortune to work for a store manager who believed that "sales" meant twisting people's arms until they agreed to buy your product. The job, which had been described as a "customer service" position, was really only about what you sold. And not the video games you sold, but the extras. There was the Edge card, which cost $15/year, replacement plans, which cost $2-3/game, and reserves for upcoming titles, which were a minimum of $5. That's right, in a period of economic recession, we were pushing $20+ dollars of merchandise on people. There was an immense amount of pressure, and our numbers were constantly monitored. I didn't enjoy it. And then, after 2 weeks, I got promoted from the basic part-time Game Advisor position, past Lead Game Advisor, to Senior Game Advisor. At the time, the store had no Assistant Manager, and the other SGA was on the verge of being fired, so I was dealing with the intense sales pressure and learning a whole new job before I'd completely learned the first one I had and was somehow suddenly second in command. It was a lot at once, but I think it would have been fine if it hadn't been for the intense pressure to sell, sell, sell. But I had a feeling I was in for more than I expected when, in my first week, 3 different people warned me about working for the store manager. One worked at a different store and actually said that working for him was not representative of working at Gamestop. And the way I dealt with customers was not representative of my shopping experiences at any other Gamestop, both before and after I worked there. Needless to say, I was miserable and stayed there until shortly before we left for Ohio. I knew I was starting school when we got back and there was no way I could have shouldered all the pressure of the job plus full time school.

We left for Ohio in mid-December. We planned on a 2 day trip. Day 1 we went from Miami to Macon, GA. We took the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades, which was a really amazing experience. About a half hour in, we saw our first gator. It just sunning itself not far from the road, and it was huge! I wasn't able to get a picture because we were traveling about 60 mph, but we got to see about 10-12 more as we went, both on the banks and swimming through the water. We also drove through a Florida panther habitat. We didn't see any panthers, but they are very endangered and are rarely seen. We stopped in Gainesville that evening to have dinner with our friend Scott, which was great. Then we continued on to Macon. The second day of the drive was, for the most part, uneventful. Somewhere in Tennessee, we saw snow for the first time. By the time we reached Ohio, the snow had picked up significantly. So much that it took us about 3 hours and 40 extra miles of driving through back routes to get from Cincinnati to Brian's parents' house in Dayton. The drive normally takes just a little over an hour. But first there was an accident on 75, and then we had to weave slowly through back roads and alternate routes until we finally made it.

We had a great time in Ohio. We had the opportunity to visit with Brian's family, Maria, and many of our friends. I could write about it, but I will just post some pictures so you can see for yourself.




Driving through the Everglades.



Not a sign you see every day.



The sunset, Northern Florida or Southern Georgia. I can't remember exactly where we were.



Stella and Tas in the hotel on the way to Ohio.



The Chick Fil A in Macon, GA was quite festive.


Day #2, driving through Atlanta.



Shortly after arriving in Ohio. Stella and Bailey were happy to see each other.



We visited Maria in Columbus, and she was showing us Gordon's sweatshirt. You can see how much he loves it.



Maria and I at Easton Town Center, Columbus.



And Brian and I at Easton.



I met my friend Emily and her son, Marley, at Starbucks in Dayton.



Stacey, Joanna, and myself at the Greene, Dayton.



Our trip to Ohio wouldn't have been complete without a visit to BW's and playing video games with Greg, Jon, and Jimmy.



On our last day in Ohio, Brian and I had lunch at The Hickory with his parents.


Took this at a rest stop in Northern Florida. Another sign that you don't see every day.



South Florida sunsets are beautiful.

In addition to the pictures above, Brian and I also visited the Air Force Museum. It was always one of our favorite places to spend an afternoon. We went to Cincinnati for a day and visited the University of Cincinnati, Newport on the Levee, and the zoo. I stopped in to visit my old co-workers and we went to the Festival of Lights. And I got to meet my old roommate Chrissy for lunch. It was busy, but a lot of fun, and we were glad we were able to make the trip.

We ended up staying in Ohio a little longer than planned due to the weather. After the trip up, we were erring on the side of caution so we didn't have to repeat that experience. So, we delayed for two days because the forecast called for snow, icy roads, and fog. And of course, both days the weather did not deliver. On the third day, when we finally left, the roads in Ohio were a bit icy. We hit construction in Kentucky and a minor accident in Tennessee that slowed us down, and after that, the drive home was smooth sailing.

I have plenty more to share, but I think that's enough for this entry. More updates soon!

Woohoo!

I know we haven't updated this for awhile, but there hasn't been a whole lot going on here in Florida. We were in the middle of the rainy season and July and August are typically the wettest months of the year. And this past August did not disappoint. It rained a LOT. Therefore, the rain combined with the heat meant that our activities were mostly confined to the indoors. I have been meaning to get some pictures of our apartment and the area to post, so hopefully with the weather improving, I will do that soon and get them posted.

But for now, I have something better to post. I found out this afternoon that I was accepted to grad school! Starting in January, I will be working on my master's degree in public health with a focus in epidemiology.

The question that everyone asks is, what is epidemiology? The simplest explanation is that it is the study of the spread of disease. Epidemiologists look at factors that influence diseases- depending on what you want to study it can vary, but they can look at why a certain group is affected more than another, what behaviors are correlated with certain diseases, etc. It can also be applied to treatments as well, such as why a treatment is more effective in one situation/group than another.

I know that I am interested in infectious diseases (diseases that can be passed from person to person), not chronic diseases (like diabetes, cancer, etc). I would really like to work in a position where I can investigate outbreaks out disease, on some level. I am also very interested in international public health. My long terms goals are to get a job with an organization such as the Centers for Disease Control or the National Institute of Health and then eventually going back to school for my Ph.D.

I am very excited to get back to school, but I am a little nervous, too. It's been a few years, and I am not sure what exactly I am getting into with epidemiology. But I am ready for the challenge. And then tonight, I got a fortune cookie, and for once, it was actually a fortune and quite fitting at that.



"Don't be afraid to take that big step." Good advice. I hung onto that as a reminder for myself.

I think that's all I have for now, but there will be more to come soon!

It's official: I am a Master!

Well, I guess... At the very least it is official that I am going to be a graduate of the University of Cincinnati with my M.A. in Political Science! Yesterday I received an e-mail that the graduate secretary and my department chair were working on finalizing my paperwork for graduation! Although I will be technically done at UC in a few weeks at the end of the Summer Quarter my commencement ceremony (which I'm tentatively planning to attend) won't be until December 11th. Finals week for my first semester at FIU is the preceding week and if possible I will make the trip back to Cincinnati for my graduation ceremony and to visit with family and friends.

This is the end of a very exciting and challenging period of my life. In the past few years as I pursued my M.A. several life changing things occurred. I got married, I lost some loved ones, I made new friends and at the end of it all I made one of the most drastic changes in my life and moved out of Ohio, the Midwest and my comfort zone to pursue my Ph.D in Miami.

How did I find FIU? Well... that was the result of a late night of stress and frustration that led to my discovery of FIU's Ph.D. program. I was upset that several of the programs I was looking at for my doctorate (Miami University in Ohio, UC, and a few others) had cancelled their doctoral programs due to financial/economic issues. Thus I was panicking and struggling to find schools to apply to.

It was probably 2 AM when I stumbled upon FIU's program. It looked a perfect fit, they had a large number of faculty in my area of study, two student organizations for my specialty field, among a slew of other perks. I was thrilled, elated... I woke Andrea up from sleep to ask "How do you feel about moving to Miami?" I proceeded to keep her awake like a giddy kid to show her pictures of campus and tell her about the program... A few months later, I got my acceptance letter. Then I got funding. I was thrilled, and then I realized I was moving almost 20 hours away from everything I knew and all that was familiar to me. But this is an exciting opportunity and one that I couldn't pass up.

The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

My first impression of Miami was that it's very large and very crowded. This is probably because we were driving in on a major highway, with construction, approaching rush hour. However, I am under no illusion that it is any less crowded- the Miami metro area encompasses around 5.4 million people. That puts it around 7th in terms of the largest metropolitan areas in the US (and 44th in the world). I think the big difference is that I am much less overwhelmed than I was that first afternoon. And I really don't mind it. I am learning my way around, and I also rarely have to get on a highway to get somewhere. And I just allow for a little more time to reach my destination. I don't understand why people are always in such a hurry anyway.

My other first impression of Miami is that the weather is beautiful. Everyone was telling me how hot it was going to be, and I think I mentally prepared myself for it to be an absolute sauna. Then we got here, and I realized that yes, it's hot. But, it's not any hotter than a hot day in Ohio (especially recently, where it's been hotter in Cincinnati than it as been here with that heat wave), but it's just a little more prolonged here than it is in Ohio. Or maybe consistent is the word I am looking for. It's consistently warmer here, yes, but it's not that bad. The one thing that helps a LOT is that it isn't as humid as it is in Ohio. We've had some bouts of humidity, but they are few and far between. And the sunshine here is amazing! It is sunny, or at least partly/mostly sunny, almost every day. It rains often, but usually not for very long. We have had days where it rained 4-5 times for a total of maybe a half hour or 45 minutes. It's not that different than Ohio, just sort of the opposite: here you plan your indoor activities for when it's really hot instead of really cold.

One of the things that I noticed quickly and has since held up is that Miami is extremely clean. I have never been in such a clean big city. And when I say clean, I mean everything is clean- outdoors, indoors, wherever you go, it's clean. It sounds like a little thing, but I actually really appreciate it.

Before moving here, I knew that Miami had a very large Latin population, but until I looked at the numbers, I didn't realize just how large it was- 69.4% of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino. And in 2004, the United Nations Development Project named Miami as the number one city in terms of the percentage of residents from outside the country where it is located, at 59%. And it is certainly evident. There are whole shopping centers where not 1 sign is in English. When I go out, I hear Spanish spoken more in casual conversation than English. And often times, people will address employees of stores or restaurants in Spanish first (and to date, I haven't heard one employee that didn't answer back in Spanish). It is quite different than anywhere I lived in Ohio.

Another thing I have noticed here is that the style of dress is much different than Ohio. People dress up on a much larger scale here. When you go to a restaurant or a store, you see a lot more leggings, gladiator sandals and cute tops than girls in shorts and flip flops. And the guys too are all well groomed and dressed in polos or trendy t-shirts at the least. And after living in Cincinnati, the one thing that is really noticeable is the lack of the "thug" style. I haven't really seen guys in oversized white t-shirts, baggy pants sagged so low they might as well not be wearing any, big chains, and straight billed hats. I'm sure they exist here somewhere, but even when we drove through some of the more run down areas, they weren't any homies just chilling out in front of their houses or on the corner like they did in Cincinnati. And after being exposed to people's underwear on a daily basis, that is one thing I certainly do not miss.

So, after all of these observations the question is, what do I think of Miami? And the answer is, I love it! I have always been a big city girl. I love the upbeat, fast paced atmosphere. I love all the people and the diversity. I love that there is always something to do or places to go. And the opportunities to learn and work in large cities are always growing and changing. And pair that with sunshine, palm trees, and beaches, and you can't beat that, can you? At least, not in my opinion. I also happen to love Latin culture. The food is fabulous, magical realism is one of my favorite styles of literature, I have a growing appreciation for the music, and there is just something so fiery and passionate about the people. I am really enjoying being immersed in it.

So, I know this wasn't the most exciting post and it's a little disjointed, but I wanted to get my initial impressions of Miami down. I promise my next post will be more interesting (read: have more pictures). I hope everyone is enjoying the blog. I know that Brian and I are having a good time writing it, and we look forward to your comments.

Florida International University

Hey everyone, it's getting close to two weeks since we arrived in Miami. In just a few more weeks I will be starting classes and working at FIU and I'm very excited. We've visited campus a few times and so far I really enjoy what I've seen. It's a very pretty campus and the layout works in my favor as all of the buildings I will be using the most are close in proximity. I also thought I would share some of the pictures of the campus that we took from our visits.

This is simply a picture of campus, nothing specific in the picture but it gives you an idea of what it looks like. There are many open green areas as well as several ponds and lakes on campus.







This is my new and temporary home. It's the
Deuxième Maison, the current home of the Political Science and International Relations program. It's one of the older buildings on campus and thus is not that architecturally appealing. Although it does have an interesting feature.





It's an open air building. That's right, there are no doors to get "inside" but rather walkways and even on the upper levels it is still very open. This is the atrium in the middle.

















You can also see the skylight on the right. It does not appear to have any glass in it. I really like it.







Right across the pond from DM will be my new home in November of this year. It's FIU's soon-to-be complete $40 million School of International and Public Affairs building. With the launch of this new building, the SIPA program will seek to achieve accreditation by the prestigious Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, a feat achieved by only 34 institutions in the world including JFK School of Government at Harvard, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton and the London School of Economics.


This is the Green Library on FIU's campus. It's a massive building and right next to both the SIPA and DM buildings. I'm sure I will spend a good deal of time here as well.















The wildlife is right at home on campus as well, some turtles in the pond between DM and SIPA.