Philadelphia. You're closer to New Jersey than you think.

A map of downtown to put things into perspective. The circled places are where we went/walked to. The circle with no highlight near JFK plaza was where the massive conference center was. Rittenhouse square was near where we went out to eat for lunch on Saturday when we arrived. Washington Square is next to the Historical Section and has the big X over it.

Saturday, May 18th through Wednesday, May 22nd was a conference that is kind of a big deal at work. This meant that myself and the two other female students in the lab hoped on a plane in Cedar Rapids and spent this last week in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (for those of you who didn't know, that's where it is).

The whole trip was quite an experience. The conference was a good experience just knowing what to expect. I got to present a poster of the work that I've been doing for the last year which was exciting. We also walked everywhere. There were so many days that ended in extremely tired feet. In general, Philadelphia was a fairly exciting city. There were so many old buildings next to some new tall buildings. My favorite part was the walk from the JFK Plaza to the Franklin Institute. We did get a chance to walk all over the historical district and that was cool. All the old buildings with lots of grass. I also enjoyed Washington Square. It was strange to think that there were lots of bones of those who fought in the Revolutionary War under my feet. Weird.

We also had the chance to visit the Franklin Institute. It is similar to Discovery World in Milwaukee for those who have been there. Anyway, it presents science in a more interactive light. My favorite part had to have been the 50 most stunning photos put out there by National Geographic. Each one had a small synopsis of the story behind the photo and some of them were so gripping. All of the photos were stunning. That is my kind of art gallery.

The Archaeology department courtyard at the University of Pennsylvania

JFK Plaza

The famous LOVE sign at the JFK Plaza

The beginning of the Benjamin Franklin Pkwy ending in the Art Museum.
We didn't get a chance to go there.

City Hall

Us girls in front of the Franklin Institute

Independence Hall illustrating the old and new right next to each other.

National Treasure anyone?

The Second Bank of the US. They just don't build them like they used to.

One of the roses in the Rose Garden in the Historic District

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Washington Square

Going home!

Social life.

Sometimes I feel like I have no personal life, or no time for one since school has become such a focus. Well, believe it or not I do have one, not much, but it's something. 

The most exciting thing is that Tony and I paid off the car!!! We are officially down one loan! A couple Fridays ago, Tony and I drove down to the Veridian Credit Union in town to pay off the remaining $.56 we had due. It was quite a momentous moment. Now all of our student loans to go.

Let's see, what else? The last regular week of school, my graduate seminar had a potluck. We were supposed to bring in a food item that reflected our culture/heritage/life/etc. There was nothing that really stood out to me, but being mostly German, I figured I'd look up some recipes. Beyond beer (I was tempted to bring in a six pack) and brats and more meaty main dishes, I ran into something called Schneiderflecken. In German it means "tailor's scraps" and they are pretty much (or are supposed to be) thin crispy fried pieces of dough. Similar to doughnuts, but not as sweet and not fluffy. Tony and I embarked out to make them and for the most part they turned out. We mostly enjoyed them!

Qualifying

I open a new tab to view the blog and Monday, April 29th is staring me in the face. That was almost a month ago and as always so much in life has happened since then. In fact, I just got back from a trip to Philadelphia and should be writing a paper, but I figured some relaxing and catching up in my life would be excused for a bit.

Sidebar. I find I've become much more efficient at typing these last few weeks. It's awesome! End sidebar.

Since my last post, my level of stress has been on the roller coaster of its life. Registration has officially become the center of my life at work and school. So let me take a minute to mention how the doctoral program at Iowa is like. I have to take 42 hours of class credits and another like 30? or so of research credits. This comes out to about two years of classes and another two or so of research. On top of classes I'm expected to work in the lab another 20 hours a week since school is not free. Beyond that criteria, I have three major papers/presentations that make or break my ability to finish. These are (1) the PhD qualifier exam, (2) comprehensive exam and (3) thesis (or dissertation) defense.

Currently the qualifier exam is staring me in the face. About two and a half months ago I was presented a question from my thesis adviser. With that question I essentially have to write a research paper about the topics presented and come to my own conclusions about a specific subsection. It turns out that my question is on registration. For those of you who don't know, medical (or any type) registration is taking two images and transforming or altering one so that anatomical landmarks are aligned when they are placed on top of each other. I have truly enjoyed reading and learning about it, however, everything else it trying to get its own piece of Emily as well.

On a happier note I have officially completed one year of classes in graduate school. This last semester has been a trying one, especially the last three weeks, but its done. Finals were completed, grades are satisfactory (still getting used to this new curve grading thing here at Iowa), and my final projects all managed to work themselves out. Praise the Lord!

Now these next two weeks will be filled with writing and writing and preparing for my presentation which is in three weeks from yesterday. Wow! That's more than I thought I had. Either way, I still have a lot to do since writing papers is like pulling teeth. Here we go!