If you've ever wondered what academic burnout looks like...

look no further.

And yes, we were watching Hey Arnold.

More things I see with the GSGs

More photos from grad school adventures around the Green Mountain State:

Scaling rooftops and dodging pigeons in Brattleboro

Fancy doorknobs in downtown BTV

Sugared "Morning Rolls" at Vergennes Laundry -- they actually have a really cool business model. They funded the rehabilitation of their historic building by selling shares of their business to locals.  The "partners" paid in, and got a free loaf of bread each week for a year!  A great way to give HP projects some quick cash and build local support.

Gobble...Gobble...Lonely Gobble

I decided to stay in VT over Thanksgiving break this year.  Although it is nice that the University gives us a whole week, a plane ticker to MN is not cheap and I can actually make some moolah working retail on Black Friday.  I am missing my 5 year high school reunion, though which I'm a little bummed about because my hair looks really good today.

To avoid sitting in my apartment by myself for 9 days, I decided to take the bus to Middlebury today to do some exploring.  Middlebury College has a GORGEOUS campus and the entire town looks like a postcard.  Here's a snap shot of what I did.

What I wouldn't give for a pair of custom made leather boots.  And how cool would it be to have your own foot form?!

Frost on the walking bridge rivets

House #1 that I want to own

House #2 

The front door I want to have

Middlebury college -- the dorms are made of VT marble

I also did quite a bit of sitting in coffee shops reading my $1 copy of The Sun Also Rises -- the binding broke when I turned the first page. 

The rest of the week will be filled with work, a haircut, baking my first ever pie, and even doing some homework.  

Halloween

This year Halloween had the unfortunate fate of landing on a Wednesday.  This left us college kids in a conundrum -- dress up the weekend before? the weekend after? the day of? Such tough lives we have.  My buddy and I decided to dress up as Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World and I'd say our costumes came out pretty good.

Of course there were more than a fair number of girls wearing too little clothes, but after many a snowy Halloween, I don't think I'll ever be able to plan a costume without thinking about how many layers I can get or if a winter coat would work with it :) There were quite a few people with really impressive costumes too including the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters!

In related news, the sequels to Halloween the movie are hilarious, especially Halloween H2O which has a great collection of 90s stars including LL Cool J

FREEEDOMMM!

The test is over! Woo! Now I'm looking forward to hours of not studying and eating lots of Chinese food :)

Oh, the things I see with the GSGs

My program cohort has taken to calling ourselves the GSGs for Grad School Girls.  Our lone male, Andrew, is an honorary GSG.  Here's a snap shot of some of our adventures around the Green Mountain State.

At the Calvin Coolidge Historic Site.

Trying to take photos in a moving vehicle is difficult.  

GSGs go bowling. 

A snake!  He slithered right up to my shoe while in the UVM Research Forest in Jericho, VT.

Shiny deer with bow ties in a historic factory turned office space. 

Out for fish tacos at The Spot after class.

Class photo in the forest!

At Shelburne Farms

Fireplace moldings at the Chaffee Art Center in Rutland, VT

The Chaffee

Taking photos out of a moving vehicle is easier with a really nice camera.

Shelburne Farms

For our Architectural Conservation class, we spent two days out at the museum at Shelburne Farms learning all about how they care for their 60-odd buildings and the artifacts in them.  Mrs. Webb, who owned the property, was a collector of buildings and would buy them and move them to Shelburne to put her "collections" in -- she had hundreds of really creepy dolls.  The kinds you would expect to pivot and stare at you.  There are also a couple dozen carriages, a great selection of paintings, and an exhibit of time travel and steampunk related artifacts :)

Some of the grounds.

The time machine from The Time Machine -- better know in the Peterson household as the time machine from that Big Bang Theory episode.

The Ticonderoga -- a National Historic Landmark.

We even got to ride the carousel!!

Elephants made of reclaimed materials. 

GMNF

Our big field trip this semester was going to the Green Mountain National Forest.  It rained nearly the entire day, but it was still fun.  Apparently I wasn't doing so well masking my displeasure with the weather because when Bob, our professor, asked if we were ready for lunch, he swung around and looked directly at me. After a snack, I was good to go! :) 

I'm a pro at taking pictures by signs.

A 19th century barn used an entire tree limb!

At Robert Frost's summer home.  

Rosette on a re-purposed historic bridge, now bike path guard rail.

Slacker...

It was brought to my attention that I have been neglecting my bog (thanks, Mom!), so here's a quick update with more exciting posts and photos to come.

Life in Burlington is leaps and bounds more fun than life in South Dakota :) It was really nice just to be able to jump back into my life here without having all the worry I did last year about finding friends and adjusting to grad school.

I lucked out with my class schedule this year and only have classes three days a week!  In general, classes haven't been very grueling...I just have one big semester project for each of them, so there isn't the same level of daily homework and busy-work that I had last year.  And since I have all this open time this semester, I decided to get a job at the mall downtown -- woo, retail! -- and now spend about 15 hours a week at Coldwater Creek.  I get a 40% discount, so don't be surprised if suddenly all my Christmas gifts are arriving in CWC boxes :)

I've also done my fair share of bopping around already this semester -- trips to NY State, the Green Mountain National Forrest, and all around VT.  I'll be sure to put some stories and photos from those adventures up here soon.

Now I'm gearing up for my comprehensive exams aka the test that determines if I get my degree.  It's on November 10th, so send all your good vibes my way that day!  Now back to studying!

GM

Lots of cairns on the beach.

Grand Marais from the Pincushion Mtn. overlook

Grand Portage National Monument

The chipmunk that climbed on my shoe.

Cairns at Artist's Point