Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #4

They hate pets. Or, at least, the majority of apartment complexes do not allow pets unless they are service animals.

I don't know why they hate pets so much. Usually you just pay a pet deposit (which you never get back) and a cleaning deposit (which you also never get back) and things are good. But at some point, Grand Forks landlords decided to put their feet down and just say no.

This will be the first time we've lived apart.

Sorry, Mercury, it looks like this is an adventure on which you are not invited.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #3

There was a huge, devastating flood there-- the Red River Flood of 1997. It was the worst flood of that river since 1826. Floodwaters reached over 3 miles inland and caused an estimated $3.5 billion in damage. The people of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks banded together to build a 47 foot tall sandbag wall, but, unfortunately, the water rose over 54 feet and 50,000 people had to be evacuated. At the time, it was the largest evacuation in the United States since the Civil War. 

photo courtesy of this website

Apparently the Red River is prone to flooding due to its northward flow. Seriously, the river flows south to north because of so much melting snow. I'll make sure to get an apartment on the top floor.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #2

Their alumni are a little racist. Maybe not super racist, but, still, racist.

How can I say this? Well, there has been a controversy for the past few (unknown amount of) years regarding the UND mascot-- the Fighting Sioux. The school had been asked to change it, but at the time an alumnus, Ralph Engelstad, was funding the building of a new (amazingly awesome) arena, cleverly titled the Ralph Engelstad Arena. According to some online accounts, Ralph Engelstad was the kind of man to host Third Reich parties on Hitler's birthday, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that he vehemently opposed the changing of UND's mascot to something more politically correct. In fact, he threatened to halt construction on the arena at the time this was an burgeoning issue.

But now it's a decade later, the arena is built, and Mr. Engelstad is dead. One would think the school would just go ahead and change the mascot, and they're currently in the process of it. However, Mr. Engelstad was so against changing the mascot that he made sure the Fighting Sioux logo was worked into the decor of the arena so often that it would basically be cost prohibitive to change it.

People in the know just call it "The Ralph"

I find the whole thing very fascinating, and I can think of a dozen or so stories from UO's history that are just as or more racist, but, still, it's pretty racist.

I know that at least one or two of you will think "That's not racist! It's just school pride!" and, yeah, you might be right. You could also call the KKK a social club, but it doesn't change the overall message.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #1

To prepare for internship, I have been doing some research about the city in which I am going to live.

Turns out Grand Forks proper spans two states: North Dakota and Minnesota. Technically the Minnesota side is called East Grand Forks, but, still, I could live in Minnesota and work in North Dakota. Inexplicably, this blows my mind.

The Match is In!

Come this time next year, Josh and I will be living in......

Grand Forks, North Dakota!

We are extremely excited! It's a small town, but it's only for a year. We'll move there mid-July, but Josh plans to stay in Oregon for ski and football season and we're not planning to sell our house. I loved it there so much more than I had anticipated when we went for the interview and I think it's a really good fit for me. They have an excellent substance abuse treatment focus and I'll be able to work with the Native American population again.

But the absolute best part about matching is that I no longer have to worry that I won't match! Also, Josh has already planned out all the new temples we'll be able to visit by living in that part of the country. (That was seriously the first thing he did when I told him the news).

The Bronx is up, but the Battery's down

After my interview at Lehigh University, we took the bus into NYC for the weekend. We have been wanting to go back to NYC for awhile because there were some things we missed before (like the Rockefeller Plaza tour). During our last visit, we spent a lot of time sightseeing, but Josh knew I would be worn out from a week of travelling, so this time we focused more on shopping and shows.

Josh has been dying to see Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark basically since it was announced.

He even made up words to one of the songs, some sample lyrics include:

I am not a wolf

I am not a shark

I'm just Spiderman

Here to turn off the dark

There's no need to fear

It'll turn out alright

Because to "turn off the dark"

Means I'll turn on the lights

We also saw:

A play about a writing seminar, starring:

He really does

And also went to:

A play about racial tension and family relationships, starring:

Apparently I just barely missed Psych night. Sad face.

We wanted to spend some time here:

The Natural History Museum

Where we saw a lot of bones:

Dino bones in the entry

Elephant bones in the Asian exhibit

And Triceratops bones in the dino exhibit 

We also saw:

The tiny exhibit featuring things from the area in which Josh served his mission (Ecuador)

Animal pelts

And bison (I was trying to get a feel for what my internship would be like if I ended up in North Dakota)

Then we walked through Central Park, which is just across the street from the Natural History Museum, and saw:

Strawberry Fields

Beautiful skylines

The ice skating rink

And one very fat and very angry raccoon

Josh wanted to make an effort to eat only stereotypical NYC-style food, which included:

The Carnegie Deli

Where Josh ordered this monstrosity:

Pastrami on rye, which was more like a whole pig between two pieces of bread

And also:

Pizza folded in the traditional east coast way (having been born in Wisconsin, I had to opt out because, as well all know, pizza is meant to be sturdy and deep dish, not flimsy and folded)

And my personal favorite:

We did other things too, like:

Fulfill Josh's geek quotient

Wait for the subway

Breathe through our mouths in subway cars that smell like pee

Take our friend Pam out to dinner at Pam Real Thai Food

Drink an absurd amount of Sprite

And take pictures from The Top of the Rock

It was here that we took this picture, with the aid of the glare from the plastic wind screen:

We also went to the Charging Bull, where there was a ridiculous line to stand in if you wanted to take a close up picture. We stood in it, of course, but couldn't get a picture together. So instead we did the smarter thing and just took a picture from across the street:

Finally, we spent our last morning at the 9/11 Memorial:

The South Tower

The North Tower

The museum, still under construction

Josh also went on his own adventures, which included:

Running across the Brooklyn Bridge in the cold

Finding the firehouse from Ghostbusters

Finding the exterior of the "Friends" apartment

And visiting Washington Square Park

This will be our last trip for awhile. We had talked about doing a temple tour of the southern states, but it's looking unlikely that I will be able to get time off. Responsible face.

Internship Adventures: Pennsylvania

I realized today that I should probably finish up with pictures from our recent trip for my internship interviews because Match Day is in a week. I may or may not feel like talking about internship interviews on the 24th, depending on how it goes, so I should share this now!

My third and final in-person interview was at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. 

I have wanted to live in Pennsylvania since Josh and I took that trip to Hershey and Philadelphia in 2009, and Bethlehem is a super cute town. 

However, there is a big hill in town, and the founders of Lehigh University decided to build their campus right onto the side of it. Josh had booked us in a hotel that was close enough to campus so we wouldn't have to rent a car (we could just walk on over), which meant that I had to walk through campus to the counseling center, uphill, in heels and a dress. 

It doesn't look steep in this picture, but, trust me, it was unpleasant.

 By the time I got to the counseling center for my interview, I was pretty sweaty and gross. It was cold outside, which actually makes it worse because being outside wasn't so bad, but going inside with the heater going, I just got flushed and yucksy.

Here I am, looking unhappily sweaty, right before my interview:

The counseling center is in the attic of an older building, which makes it a bit dark and oddly spaced, but it also gives it tons of character. 

I loved Bethlehem, and I really liked the Lehigh counseling center. And even though I would have to not wear heels ever in order to get around campus, I think the Lehigh University campus is gorgeous. All of the buildings look like they were once cathedrals. 

The other thing that is nice about Bethlehem is that it is approximately 80 miles away from NYC. After my interview was over, Josh and I said goodbye to PA and took a bus to NYC for the weekend. More on that later!

I had such a hard time with my interviews because, with the exception of one that I will not name, each time I met with people or talked to them on the phone (which was the case with a few of my interviews-- they didn't do in-person interviewing), I became really excited about going there. So Josh had to endure an entire weekend of "When we live in Bethlehem, we can do blah blah blah." (Mostly the "blah"s = shopping). I would be thrilled to match at Lehigh, but mostly I would be thrilled just to match at all!