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.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, August 2, 2010
On leaving comments
If you'd like to leave a comment, click on "Comments" (It will say 0, 1, etc in front of it) at the bottom of the post on which you want to comment. There is a box for you to type, and then a drop down menu to select an account, leave your name, make it anonymous, etc. If you don't want/don't have an account with the websites listed, all you have to do is select "Name\URL" from the options, and it will allow you to just type in your name. Hope that clears up any questions about commenting.
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