Total Life Update!

So I am not very good at updating this right now. Hopefully I get better at that as time goes on! A lot has happened since my last update…

OPE was absolutely amazing. I have seen pictures from OPE recently and it reminds me how much I miss it. Driving to OPE I was so incredibly nervous, but once I got there and got through my first interview I realized how much fun it was. OPE might be the only place where your "competition" claps and cheers for you as you get called back into your next interview. Everyone there interviewer and interviewee really wants you to succeed. It was a crazy couple of days and 29 interviews later, I am so glad that I went, that I did well and most of all that I wasn't nervous at all, just confident. Coming home from OPE was hard because I hated having to be patient to hear from schools. 
Going into OPE my top 3 schools were : 
1. Western Illinois
2. Ball State
3. Central Missouri
Coming out of OPE my top 3 schools were:
1. Texas A&M
2. Western Illinois
3. Nova Southeastern

On Friday evening, March 7th, I received a call from Texas A&M saying they would love to offer me an assistantship in the department of Residence Life as a Graduate Hall Director as well as a spot in their SAAHE program. I was absolutely stunned. I had not thought in my wildest dreams that they would accept me. The thing that still boggles my mind sometimes is that on average they get 400+ applications and they only accept 15 people a year, and they chose me. Once I was able to catch my breath while Kelli was telling me about their timeline for me to accept my offer and stopped the happy tears from flowing, I was overwhelmed. Not only had I gone to OPE and done well, I had been offered 2 on campuses (Western Illinois and Nova Southeastern), gained an acceptance to Florida International University, Missouri State and now to Texas A&M! My head was spinning at the outcome of OPE! I had my dream come true, to have my choice of where I wanted to go and what was best for me. 

After talking myself and my friends and family in circles over spring break about my decision, on Monday March 17th, I formally accepted my Texas A&M Offer. I couldn't be happier with my decision. I think it is exactly where I need to be in order to grow the most. 

Since then, I have completed all my 2013-2014 RA programs for the year, attended my very last staff meeting as an RA, and my final evaluation meeting is in 4 days. My year is basically over. I also received my senior spotlight letter written by a dear friend of mine on my staff. I swear I have been so lucky this year to have had the chance to work with some truly amazing individuals. I will miss them all, but I know we will all still be in each others lives! :)

Looking forward from here in the next couple weeks is the NRHH Banquet where I finally get my graduation cords, the RA Banquet and of course graduation with my very last RA duty night ever in their too. Thats all. This year is coming to a close incredibly quick but I'm trying to soak it all up before its too late. 

Some big life changes are coming in less than 105 days. I don't know if I'm ready for this cross country move, but I'm going whether I'm ready or not! Should be an exciting time for me coming up. I've worked so hard to get to this point and it is paying off big time. So thankful for my never wavering support system of friends and family! :)