I'm now a 3rd year student.

Hallelujah! I'm over halfway there!

Recap: I went to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels this past weekend with some of my best friends. I had an ah-mazing time! We did the water park thing on Friday and floated the Comal River on Saturday. I got sunburnt Saturday, but I'd do it all over again this weekend if I could.  It was a great trip and we had a blast.

I also wanted to say that we started a high-five train while waiting in line for one of the rides. The high-five started on my behalf ("that's what she said" joke) and it went back and forth at least 4 times while we were in line. It seems silly, but we got everyone in our line to be a part of something huge! Keep 5 alive!

So, school. I start school on Monday. And you know me, I'm a nerd. So I'm excited.  We have two weeks of orientation (or re-orientation for those of us who have done this before) and then we start clinic. My clinic site this semester is Houston Ear Research Foundation, aka HERC. I don't know where the "C" comes from. I will call it HERF. They do cochlear implants. I'm beyond stoked. I'll get to see a lot of cool stuff. Maybe I can watch a surgery?
So I will be in clinic 3 days a week this year, Tuesday-Thursday. My site is a good 2 hours from home. No need to fear, I will be spending the night at my classmate's apartment so I don't have to drive back and forth. That's a waste of gas. I can only imagine the dance parties that will go on. Oh, Deya...

I finally broke down and got sucked into the Harry Potter cult world. I used to think to myself, "self, why would anyone want to read stories about witches and magic? That's stupid." And then, I watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. And I enjoyed it. I'm not obsessed. But I did watch all of the movies. Including the last one. Totally was not expecting that little Snape part to happen in there.  Maybe if I would have read the books first, I'd have expected it. So now I'm spending my week off reading the books. I'm on #4.  I hope to be done before school starts on Monday, but there's a good possibility I will be reading throughout the next week as well. Either way, I love it. The wizardry and stuff is cute, but I'm more interested in her writing. She sucks you into this world and you're right there with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, living it up at Hogwarts. I love the adventure. To be honest, I was kind of embarrassed to admit that I'd finally watched the movies. But I really enjoyed them. I'm not going to go all Voldemort on everyone and become an evil person. I still love Jesus. However, I do enjoy the fact that I now understand the little jokes people throw in regarding all things Harry Potter. They used to go over my head. I get them now. Props.
I just wonder...after I read all the books, then what? Harry Potter's over. I guess I will have to find another series of books to bury my nose in. Hello my name is Rae, and I'm a nerd. And I'm proud of it.

Off to spend some quality time with the husband. He's the best.

'Til later,
Rae

Rocky Mountain High

I've had the pleasure of spending the past week with 4 of my classmates and about 80 other students in Colorado.

Keystone, Colorado - around 11,640 ft.

We went for an Audiology Summer Camp put on by a hearing aid company called Oticon. During the week, we had plenty of free time to explore and take part in activities on our own. 

Sunday, I hiked up a ski slope with David and Joe. 

My view once I climbed the ski slope. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I almost quit twice. David, however, talked on the phone most of the way up and showed no signs of exhaustion.

That evening, we went to a restaurant called The Mint. You order your food, and they bring your steak to you raw and you go cook it. We had a great time cooking our food and spending time getting to know other students in our program. 

Monday, we went white water rafting. I didn't bring my camera to take pictures because I didn't want it to get wet. We got soaked. The water was freezing and the sun wasn't out, so leaving my camera on the bus was a good idea.  

Tuesday, we had a day packed with sessions and workshops. That night, we had free time to go enjoy dinner wherever we wanted. A group of us went to the village and enjoyed a nice dinner at Wolf Rock. I had the best filet mignon. Ever. It was perfect. Then, it rained. According to the locals, this is the most it's rained. So, you're welcome, Colorado. We took the rain with us from Texas.  

Wednesday, I rode a ski lift up to the top of the mountains. 

Another scary thing. Going up was much scarier. 

But once we got up there, the scenery was amazing. 

Just one of the views from the top. Breathtaking.

We stayed up there a while and enjoyed the view, taking plenty of pictures. I've always wanted to go to Colorado, but I'd imagined myself there during the peak season. When it snows. To see it like this was a real treat. 

That evening, we went to the Country Boy Mine in Breckenridge.  It's an old gold mine. 

You can't see our tour guide in this picture. He looked like Shaun White. He also looked like he was about 16. He referred to the miners as "we" so it was hard to take him seriously, because we all know good and well that he was not around back in the day when this mine was still in business. He took us about 1100 feet into the mine, 200 feet before the gold vail. He claims there is 50 million dollars worth of gold still in there, but it would cost about 70 million to get it out. I don't think I believe that, but it keeps people from trying to get in there to steal the gold. 

We also encountered this beautiful creature: 

Meet Blizzard. He's a purebred Newfoundland. I thought he was a bear.  I want one. 

This is 100% the best trip I've been on thus far. The Oticon staff were amazing and they never once distinguished themselves above us. They spent the whole week hanging out with us, starting trouble (Henning!), and having a good time.  It definitely gives you positive thoughts about how the company is run. The people who work for Oticon love their job, and they look forward to the summer camp every year. 

I am so glad I was able to go on this trip, and I had one of the greatest experiences of my life. I will definitely go back to Colorado. But I'm making sure Sam comes with me to enjoy everything Colorado has to offer. It was so refreshing.

But I'm definitely glad to be back home. 

Houston, Texas. View from the plane!

I decided to do this blog as a picture/diary one. I figured it would give you a good insight on my trip and invite you to enjoy some of it with me. I have many more pictures that will be up on Facebook towards the end of August (took a Facebook hiatus for a couple of weeks). 

Rae :)