Still going strong!

Hey everybody!

Big news!!!! I have successfully passed my written and oral competency examinations and will be able to graduate once I pass all of my classes and internships! This is a HUGE accomplishment!!!!! I am so happy to be done with such major hurdles of my graduate degree!!!! Thank you for all who support me and keep me sane as I continue on in my journey of graduating with my masters!

As I noted in my last post, I am interning at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School ( http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/Kendall.html ) which is located on Gallaudet's campus. I am mainly working with 2nd-8th graders with language difficulties (with a few speech goals for some kids too). I am pulling children out for one-on-one therapy and also integrating in the classroom by working with teachers. I have even taught a few classes! This may seem a bit daunting, but also add that I'm teaching in American Sign Language (ASL)! What a frightening thing for someone who just began learning ASL last year! Ahhhh! Luckily, most of the kids seem to like me and haven't given me too hard a time for being new and not an expert signer. It's a wild environment where I am using ASL the entire day. My eyes hurt after finishing internship there. I intern there every Monday through Thursday and even many Fridays. I am there from 8-4 on Mondays and Wednesdays and 8-2 on Tuesdays and Thursday. I have to leave early on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I also have a client in Gallaudet's Hearing and Speech Clinic. Yikes! Too much to do!

My classes are held at night (Monday through Thursday). I really like three of them...just not one of them. They are more related to deafness and working with deaf and hard of hearing people, so they are much more suited to my interests.

In other Gallaudet news, our Board of Trustees elected a new President yesterday. I went to the big announcement (in case of any protests, I wanted to be in the middle of it all!). T. Alan Hurwitz was elected our 10th Gallaudet President! Everyone seems excited and satisfied, so there will be no protests this time around. (For more information on him: http://news.gallaudet.edu/x34183.xml )

More Gallaudet news! Today on the TV game show, The Price is Right, a Gallaudet alum was selected to be on the show!! I did not get to watch the show live because of internship today, but someone has videotaped the important clips and put them on youtube. You can click here ( http://www.youtube.com/user/stevethevlogger#p/a/u/0/jmPMAQTN7go ) or watch the videos below. She does a great job! I apologize for the lack of TV sound and the noise of the man filming it, but welcome to the deaf world and how they watch television!

The first part where Kristine Hall gets selected and bids on the first prize:


The second part where Kristine Hall spins the big wheel:


The last part where Kristine Hall spins a second time:


Pretty cool to watch since it is one of my family's favorite television shows!

I have been very busy with internship and classes and have not had much time to get out and enjoy myself lately. Grad school is a busy busy adventure but hopefully it will end this coming May (2010). Just need to pass all my classes and internships. SOOOO GLAD that Competency Exams are over!!!

A few weeks ago I dragged one of my good friends from NC, Stephanie, to a Major League Baseball game here in DC. It was the Washington Nationals vs the Atlanta Braves. My family is a huge Braves family, so it was exciting to see them play. I also felt like I needed to support my home team. I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the whole game. It went into extra innings!

A view of the Nationals stadium from our seats

Stephanie and I got rained on slightly, but refused to leave the baseball game!

I did find time this past weekend to carve pumpkins and eat delicious fall-themed foods with several friends. Here are a few pictures of the night:

A shot of the table...full of pumpkins and pumpkin innards! (We toasted the pumpkin seeds and ate them later! Yum!)

My friend and classmate, Jackie, with her carved pumpkin!

Me with my pumpkin! I look like an overexcited 5 year old!

All of our pumpkins lit up! Mine is the vampire in the middle! Oooo spooky!

I'm counting down the days until Thanksgiving. I get that Wednesday off from internship and class so I will be taking the Amtrak train home Wednesday and heading back to school on Sunday. I am very excited to see my family because I haven't seen them (except on Skype) since August!! I miss them terribly! If you haven't checked out my mom's blog (please do!! http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mwperryman ) you may not know that her CA125 (ovarian cancer maker) is down to 39 with 35 and below being the normal range!!! We are so happy because in July her CA125 was reported at 127! What a big leap!

I have several things to look forward to in the coming weeks to keep my mind off how long it seems until Thanksgiving. I'm hoping to visit a college friend who is a speech path grad student at the University of Virginia (UVA) this coming weekend (but will be thinking about my old friend from home who is getting married in Southern Pines! I wish I could go, but grad school won't allow me to drive any more than 2 hours anywhere!) One of the girls in my program is getting married on Halloween, plus Halloween is a fun holiday in itself! I also have a few friends lined up to come visit me in November (namely, my old boss from my job on campus at UNC-CH and his wife!). The girls in my program and I are all planning a big Thanksgiving dinner for the week or two before Thanksgiving like we did last year also. We all bring food or drinks and just enjoy each other and enjoy a minute to relax and eat delicious home-cooked food!

I will certainly post pictures of my visit to UVA, my friend's wedding, Halloween, friend visits, and the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) Thanksgiving dinner on my next blog. Sorry there is so much time between each blog but I am sooo busy!

Hope everyone is having a safe and healthy fall. I love this time of year when the leaves change!

Beginning of the 2nd Year

Hello everyone!

I arrived back in Washington, DC on August 25 to begin my 2nd year of graduate school. This year I am living in the dorms but with 3 good friends of mine. We all met last year and have remained great friends. I have the best suitemates ever! They are Nicole (my roommate from last year), Heidi (a Deaf Education major from New Mexico), and Krystin (an interpreting major from New York). I think I can speak for them when I say that our suite is the best! We have gone shopping and bought decorations and other necessities for our suite. The picture below is us with all our purchases from a long day of shopping!

My suitemates & I! (Me, Krystin, Heidi, & Nicole)

School started last week on Aug 31 and I have already been so busy! I have only night classes (most beginning at 5:30 or 6pm and lasting about 3 hours each). I have a different one each night, so that I only have each class once a week. I will have internship during the day and classes each night. The classes that I am taking this semester are Aural Rehabilitation 2, Organic and Swallowing Disorders, Informational Counseling and Interviewing, and Cochlear Implants. So far I really enjoy the classes and find them fascinating! I hope I stay as excited as I have been this past week!

Me & Allie hanging out

I begin my internship at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School tomorrow morning and I'm very nervous and excited. It will be a new experience to work in a school for Deaf and Hard-of-hearing children where I must sign most of the day!! I hope to improve my American Sign Language (ASL) skills this semester.

This past week has been fun meeting the new kids ("First Years") and getting back in touch with all my friends. We played kickball this past Friday with the First Year Speech-Language Pathology students. It was First Year vs Second Year...we got stomped! The First Years are really good at kickball apparently!

These are the First Year SLP students after winning the kickball game!

I am also proud to inform you that I have passed all of my Written Candidacy "COMP" exams!!!!! I studied so hard over the summer and knocked them all out! This is a huge accomplishment for me because you must pass these in order to continue in the program! I found out right before the kickball game but apparently it didnt help me win the game! Hahaha

I also had the joy of hosting 2 of my friends here this weekend. Maggie (one of my best friends from UNC) and her boyfriend, Blake, visited me in DC this weekend!!!! I had a total blast and enjoyed every second of seeing them. We toured around many museums and the zoo and they got to meet a few of my Gallaudet friends. I really had a fantastic weekend and was so happy they came to see me! Here are a few pictures of our weekend together:

Me, Maggie, & Blake in front of the Washington Monument

Maggie & Blake showing some love

Maggie holding a red panda stuffed animal at the zoo!

Erin, Me & Maggie petting a cow at the Zoo!

This semester will be a difficult one because of the amount of work and classes that I have all together. Many of my days, I fear, will be 13 hour days. I do already feel more calm than last year just because I have friends here, I know Gallaudet and how the system works, and I can communicate much better than last year at this time.

It was really interesting to compare my first day on campus last year with my first day back on campus this year. Last year I showed up and had no idea where anything was; this year I know exactly where everything is and can get there easily. Last year I could not communicate with anyone and even got asked if I was at the right school; this year I carried on conversations with strangers and checked into my dorm room with ease (even having a conversation about UNC vs Duke with the Residential Advisor-RA- in the office). Last year I was really really scared and worried about what I was embarking on; this year I'm still nervous, but I feel much more at ease. Last year I knew absolutely no one on campus; this year I called my friends on the way to school and got so many hugs when I arrived that I felt very loved!!! There are many more instances of the differences that a year can make, but those are the most significant to me.

If anyone has any questions for me, please send them to me by posting a comment on my blog here or by sending an email to melissa.perryman@gallaudet.edu . I still have few unanswered from last year so I will try to answer them as quickly as I can when I find time! Let me know if you want to receive an email from me when I update my blog and I will add you!

Please also visit my mom's website at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mwperryman for more information, pictures, and updates on my family's life.

I am very excited to begin this 2nd year!

Busy Busy Summer

Hi ya'll! I apologize for the longggg delay between the last post and this post, but a lot has been going on! I took 2 summer courses at Gallaudet, took 4 Candidacy Examinations, my brother got married, I moved back to NC for the summer, a family reunion, and I'm currently interning at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, NC! WHEW! Big summer!

The summer courses and candidacy exams were incredibly stressful and I rarely even saw my friends or spoke to my family during those 5 weeks. I had a lot to do at all times and the intensity of the classes and the exams was a bit overwhelming, but I made it! I was so relieved to be finished with all of that but then had to move myself home to NC. It has been very nice to be home and spend time with my family. We enjoy watching Jeopardy together every night and some nights a few other important shows (So You Think You Can Dance and Atlanta Braves baseball games, just to name a few).

Many of my fellow SLPs after finishing with our candidacy exams! We are so happy!

My brother also got married while I was still in summer classes in DC. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding!!!!! I cried entirely too much for my own good because everything was so perfect. I don't think we could have asked for a better wedding and reception. To see many, many, many photos from the wedding go to THIS WEBSITE and enjoy!

Vickie & David getting married!

Dad & I dancing at the reception

We also had a Matthews Family Reunion in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this summer over the 4th of July weekend. There were 36 of us total, which makes for a lot of chatting and catching up with everyone! I think I can speak for my family when I say that we all really enjoyed ourselves and loved being together in such a large group. We got a lot of time to talk and see the city over the weekend. I love going to family reunions to see how my cousins have grown up and visit with my grandmother and her 4 siblings! I feel so fortunate that we can all meet up like this about every 2 years. It is such a blessing!

Dad & Mom in front of the Pittsburgh skyline

I'm currently interning in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Center and Outpatient Rehabilitation Center at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst. I will be there for about 8 weeks working with patients after strokes, traumatic brain injuries, articulation difficulties, language delays, autism, deafness, and voice disorders. It has been very interesting to work "in the field" and see how speech-language pathologists really work! I get to do therapy sessions with the patients along with many other things. I will not say that this summer has ruled out my potentially working in a hospital, because it has been so interesting!

As many of you know, my mother has also begun chemotherapy again. This has been a bit of a struggle this summer, but we are taking it day by day, hour by hour, and hoping that we can knock out some more of the cancer! You can follow her updates by going to her website at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mwperryman . You can also get an email reminder of when my parents update that website by checking the box under Journal where it says "I want to receive journal update notification emails." Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers as the chemo kicks in and makes her feel very sick. We can all feel the prayers and appreciate the notes, cards, emails, and guestbook entries. Thank you for all that you've done for us!

I have taken some time to visit with my NC friends this summer and reconnect with all of them. I have been to Chapel Hill several times to see some old college friends and got to relax in the mountains of NC with some of my best friends for one weekend in July. I have been so blessed to have time to visit with friends despite my busy and hectic schedule.

Maggie, Julie, Carrie, Me, & Jenny getting ready to go whitewater rafting down the Nantahala River in the mountains of NC!

As I'm sure some of you know, my brother and Vickie already have a child...a dog! His name is Fu Manchu (or as we call him, Fu) and they loved him dearly. I think they would like to show him off so I'll do the honors and put up a picture of him for everyone to see!

Isn't Fu the cutest?

Next up? I move back to Washington, DC around August 25 and begin classes and internship the following week. I will be interning at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, conveniently located on Gallaudet's campus. I will be working with a variety of children, all of whom are deaf or hard of hearing. I am very nervous and excited about this and know it will be challenging!

Please pass along my blog website to anyone you feel would like to read it. Unfortunately, I do not have a box to check where you can receive email notifications when I update, but I will work on figuring out how to do that.

The End of the First

The second half of this semester has been full of anticipation as we all looked forward to finishing our first year of graduate school!! We have tried out best to enjoy more and spend more time together outside of school. Here are some pictures of the SLP ladies...

Cheryl and her fiancé, Michael, anticipate the arrival of their baby!

Some of the 1st year SLP ladies enjoying brunch out in DC

But most importantly.............I finished my first year of graduate school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally! I never thought the day would come where I could say that I was finished! I just checked my grades and I passed all my classes and clinic as well! Sooooooooo excited and relieved to have that behind me.

I am currently home in NC for my one week-long summer break. I start classes again next Monday (May 18) and continue in DC until June 20 or so. I will be back home in NC after that interning at the hospital here in town in the speech-language pathology unit.

Several of the girls in my program and I celebrated the end of our first year by going out to eat and heading to the DC zoo! Here are a few pictures of us smiling for the first time in a long time...



I want to thank everyone for being so supportive of me during this past year! You all mean so much to me! Thank yooooooou!!

GO HEELS!

Hello everyone!!!

It's been a crazy month since I last posted. Most importantly, THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS are NATIONAL CHAMPIONS again!! It was an exciting month for Tar Heel fans! I love March Madness!! I got many text messages and phone calls that night which made me feel not quite so far away from Chapel Hill, NC!


I made it to Chapel Hill this past Friday night and Saturday morning and made sure to shop around and find myself a good NCAA Championship T-shirt. It was fun to be on Franklin Street surrounded by so many fans buying T-shirts in support of UNC. I love it!

School is difficult these days. We are all really busy trying to cram in all our assignments, reports, papers, presentations, and final exams before May 8th. What a crazy time in school!!!

It is so nice to see spring finally arrive. The weather has turned all the trees into beautiful blossoming creatures! I loved seeing the cherry blossoms on campus!

For housing at Gallaudet you have to apply early in order to get a good room with people that you like. I have 3 good friends that I've decided to live with next year!! The 4 of us went out to dinner and a movie together to celebrate our future as roommates!! We will live in a suite together with Nicole and Heidi in the double room and Krystin and I getting the single rooms! We are so excited!

Me, Nicole, Krystin, & Heidi = future roommates!

I got to go home for Easter break and loved seeing my family. David & Vickie got to come home too (and they brought their dog, Fu). It was very nice to get away from campus and enjoy some down time before the big rush of assignments due in the next few weeks.

I hope everyone is doing well. I expect to see many family members at David & Vickie's wedding this summer. Unfortunately, this falls during my summer classes here at Gallaudet but I will be there for everything because I'm missing one day of class. I can't believe my brother will be a married man in less than 2 months! YIKES!

As an aside: Ben and I are no longer dating.

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush."

Happy Spring everyone!

I haven't written in a while, but realized that I need to update because a lot has happened over the last month.

First of all, MARCH MADNESS! My UNC Tar Heels are still going and play tonight around 10pm. It is the Sweet Sixteen and the Heels play Gonzaga tonight. I'm worried that I'm going to miss the game because it is my friend's birthday and we are all going out to celebrate tonight. I will have my blackberry updating as often as possible (or I may even sneak out to another place with a television just to catch parts of the game?). Anyways, CHEER on your beloved team (or if you don't have one, just choose the Tar Heels!)


The picture above is posted on SportsIllustrated.com (check out the top right portion of the picture...that's me!)

Secondly, SPRING BREAK!! Spring Break fell at a time where the weather wasn't terrible cold or warm. The first part of my spring break was spent at Vickie's Bachelorette Party in New York City (Vickie is my sister-in-law-to-be!). There were 7 of us girls enjoying NYC from the perspective of the television show Sex & the City. We all arrived Friday evening and enjoyed dinner and hanging out that night. We went on a Sex& The City bus tour on Saturday where we got to see several different sites they used on the show (several high-end fashion stores, Magnolia Bakery, the bar Scout, and several restaurants). We went out on the town shopping the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed dinner at a restaurant named Tao (by far the best sushi I have ever had!!!) We went out to a club that evening and enjoyed ourselves by dancin up a storm! Sadly, Sunday saw the end of the bachelorette weekend, but I think I can safely say that we all had a blast (especially the bride-to-be!) Here are a few pictures from that weekend...








Sunday also saw the beginning of my tourist week in NYC with Ben. He showed up Sunday afternoon to spend a few days with me seeing the sites in NYC. He has never been and it was only my 2nd time there. We saw as much as we could: Times Square (in the daytime and nighttime), Rockefeller Plaza, Top of the Rock (view from the top of the Rockefeller Plaza), Magnolia Bakery (again, yes, because I have become addicted to their delicious cupcakes!!!), Grand Central Terminal, St. Patrick's Day Parade, Central Park, Staten Island Ferry, and Ground Zero. We had a lot of fun but both agree that we could never live there. We are not big city people! Thank you to Zach Adorno (a friend from high school) for opening his apartment to us for a few days so we didn't have to pay several hundred dollars on a hotel! THANK YOU ZACH! Here are a few pictures of our time in NYC...













After NYC, Ben & I headed to my home in North Carolina to relax a bit before heading back to school. We enjoyed hanging out with my parents and my brother, David, while watching basketball most of the time. March Madness hits the Perryman household full force! Ben & I also got a chance to see Chapel Hill and watch a UNC game with a few friends in Chapel Hill. I think Ben finally sees that I'm not the only person who is crazy for Tar Heel basketball!



Back to school again and I am overwhelmed again, of course. Catching up on the schoolwork that I neglected over spring break has been a big chore this past week. I am ready for the weekend and glad that it is finally here! I'm ready to cheer on the Heels and enjoy the beautiful weather! The cherry blossoms here in DC are expected to be in full bloom next week!

Back in the swing of things

Hello hello hello!!! I figured I would start this post out by answering some more questions that yall sent me last semester. I love answering them. They are all really good questions!

How do the football players communicate on the field?

I should have answered this question last semester during football season. Gallaudet football players communicate via ASL (American Sign Language) on the field. It is quite easy to sign across long distances without distracting other people. Gallaudet University actually is the supposed birthplace of the huddle: (taken from Wikipedia: “…the huddle was formed by Paul Hubbard, a deaf player who went to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. To avoid having the other team see his sign language between plays, he and his team huddled together to conceal the signs.”) Now every time you watch football, remember where the huddle may have come from!

Is there a full spectrum of sports teams there?

Gallaudet has a lot of sports (nothing like, UNC, but you must understand the size differences of the schools!). Gallaudet has the following sports: baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cheerleading, men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s track & field, volleyball, and wrestling. I actually have friends that are assistant coaches for many of these teams. I know a football assistant coach, men’s and women’s basketball assistant coaches, and a track and field assistant coach.

Are you playing any sports?

Good question. Currently I am not playing any organized sports. I almost tried out for the GU dance team but got cold feet because my signing skills weren’t up to par last semester and dancing skills are rusty. Looking back on it, I don’t think I would have time right now anyways. I enjoy going to sporting events here. I can watch football and baseball out my window!

What is the hardest part about learning ASL - memory work, vocabulary?

The hardest part about learning ASL is everything! Hahaha! I love learning ASL! I learn new things everyday. I learn vocabulary and grammar all the time and I’m constantly tweaking how I say things. I have grown up learning things by watching other people do them, and that has really helped me out here at Gallaudet. I think taking dance for 15 years has helped train my body to copy other’s movements.

Are deaf students patient with the learners of ASL?

It’s hard to generalize the entire study body here, but from my experience, yes, everyone is very patient with me and other new signers. They appreciate that we are learning their language instead of forcing them to use our language. They are always willing to teach new signs and explain things so that you’ll remember. It’s comforting knowing that people will slow down or clarify if you ask them.

When you 'sign' are your emotions as tied into your words as when you speak? With the spoken word we have inflection and pitch to accentuate our intent - are there equivalents in ASL?

This is an excellent question!! Yes, emotions are ALWAYS tied to your words when you speak (both English and ASL). Inflection and pitch definitely accentuate our intent in spoken English, whereas facial expression and intensity of the signing accentuate intent and emotions in ASL. When signing anything, your facial expressions tie directly to what you’re saying and what you’re feeling about that topic. When discussing this topic with some hearing friends the other day, we all said that we felt silly when we use our face to express how we feel. We’ve been told when giving lectures to not use our hands or extreme facial expressions, but we come here and we’re expected to use both at the same time…all the time! It’s a difficult transition, but we’re all learning and becoming more comfortable and confident everyday.

School is still in session. It has been nice taking different classes and having different clients. I still really love all the girls in my program. I feel fortunate that we all get along and like being around each other, even outside of class and clinic!

As many of you know, I really missed home last semester. Homesickness really struck me a lot harder than I thought it would. I have found more time this semester to go home (I'm trying for once every month or so instead of just breaks). I found time 2 weekends ago to head home on a Friday and head back to school on Sunday. It was soooooooooo nice to be home even if just for a short time. I brought a friend home with me, Ben, to meet my parents, see my hometown (he's never been to NC), and just get off campus for a while. Okay, to answer the obvious question that has just arisen in your mind: yes, Ben and I are dating now. (Zack and I ended things over Christmas break amiably and still hope to stay friends with no hard feelings). Anyways, we had a lot of fun being off campus and out of DC for the weekend just enjoying the peace and quiet of Southern Pines, NC. It was also really nice to have someone ride with me for 6 hours each way in the car. He's a 1st year student in the same department as me (Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences) and is in the Audiology program. I won't go into every detail of his life because I'd prefer not to completely embarrass him on my blog, but he's really nice and we have a lot of fun together!

Here are a few pictures from our weekend in Southern Pines, NC:

Me in Southern Pines petting a horse we found in horse country

Ben in front of "THE RESORT" in Pinehurst

Ben & I enjoying the pine trees of NC

I'm heading home next for Spring break in a few weeks and I'm excited to have a week-long break!

Yes We Did!

Yes We Did!

Happy February everyone!! Sorry it has taken me so long to update this blog. Getting back to school means lots of work and running around to stay on top of things.

Just to recap: December was a good month. I spent some time in Chapel Hill visiting friends and enjoying the time off. When I made it home, I loved being home with my family. There is nothing better than enjoying time with my parents. My brother even had 2 weeks off from work so we could play Rock Band 2, enjoy Christmas, and my birthday! I felt so fortunate to have so much family time!!

Here is David making the delicious almond bark cereal snack for Christmas!

I got back to DC just before Inauguration. I knew that I had to leave several days before the big event so that traffic wouldn't be such a huge issue. I LOVED being in DC for Obama's Inauguration. I will NEVER forget it. I went to the "We Are One" concert on that Sunday and enjoyed seeing musicians like U2, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Bruce Springsteen, Usher, Will.I.Am, John Mellencamp, Shakira, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow and Josh Groban. What a crazy concert! When am I ever going to see all those people in concert? It was so much fun to be there!! It definitely set the stage for an outstanding week of events celebrating Obama's Inauguration.

Here is a view of what I could see at the concert. The National Mall was so crowded!! Luckily they had plenty of Jumbotrons for us to watch!
Here is Barack Obama on the jumbotron! Go Obama!
Me, Stephanie (she's a friend from NC), & Jackie (Speech-Lang Pathology) at the We Are One concert!

I woke up Tuesday for the Inauguration by my roommate, Nicole, saying "LET'S GO TO THE INAUGURATION NOW!!" Okay! So we made our way, walking the entire way from Gallaudet around the back of the Capitol and down the National Mall all the way to the Washington Monument. We weren't technically on the Mall, but were on the street alongside it. We were close enough to be able to hear and were standing in a very large crowd. We had a ton of fun and really loved being a part of history!!!

Here is my metrocard from the day of the Inauguration...pretty neat!
This is how close to were to the Washington Monument during the actual Inauguration Ceremony!
Nicole (Deaf Education) & I during the Inauguration ceremony!!
There were people EVERYWHERE!!! People were standing on the Port-O-Pottys and climbing trees!!! Amazing!

I will never forget how amazing it was to be here and enjoy this moment of history. I will also never forget how COLD I was the entire day. I had so many layers on I thought I could safely live in the artic, but after many many many hours outside, the cold seeps through and gets you!! It was totally worth every shiver!

School has started back now too. We started classes the day after Inauguration Day. It was so nice to see all my friends from Gallaudet again! I have really enjoyed catching up with everyone. I got sick for several days and I think it must just be some awful bug going around, because everyone is slowly getting sick. Luckily, I'm pretty sure I'm over it and it didn't affect school work too much.

It snowed for a few days last week and actually stuck (unlike in NC where the ground never even turns white!) We still had classes though...bummer!
Just a silly picture of Nicole (Deaf Ed), Me, & Heidi (Deaf Ed) fake sleeping as we wait for the next Metro train! It takes sooooo long sometimes!
Another picture as we waited for the Metro train one day...here's Ben (Audiology) and Nicar (Deaf Ed) having fun despite the long wait!

Again, sorry to have taken so long between posts, but a lot has been going on lately! Things are still going well here and recently (since yesterday) the weather has been absolutely amazing (mild temps, cool breeze, beautiful sunshine!). That makes it sooo much harder to do work! I hope everyone had a fantastic winter break and hopefully enjoyed spending some quality time with those you love!