Just as I thought.....

Classes have begun and I'm officially under way in my venture to obtain a graduate degree in Sports Administration. On Saturday, June 19th I attended my first day of my graduate program, which was a simple meet-and-greet with my new cohort. We all met in Husky Stadium about 2 hours before last year's cohort was set to graduate. We went through about 2 hours of introductions and name memorization, then attended the graduation ceremony and "hooding" of the IAL (intercollegiate athletics leadership) class of 2010.
The next day we did some true orientation and introduction to the coursework and continued introducing ourselves to our classmates. My immediate impression is that everyone realizes that we are destined to become close friends, many of use probably lifelong ones, so we might as well just get to it. People began opening up and revealing themselves and their true personalities very early on. It was quite a refreshing feeling actually, and one I haven't felt in what seems like a long time.
Monday morning was full-force and we hit the ground running. The week went forward and was packed with assignments, readings, critical review papers,group projects, conversation starters, internship possibilities and a lot of button-down shirts and slacks. It was one of those weeks where you are so busy, you don't even notice that life just went by you. Nine hours a day in classrooms and another 2-3 hours of work at night, off to bed, and let's do it again. This is certainly a "summer intensive" and it's great!
This weekend, although we spent no less than 50 hour together this week, the cohort gathered in town for drinks, kickball, and socializing. It is a highly motivated group, both in the academic world, but also in the social world. There is a very high awareness into the fact that we are not only each others present, but much of each others future as well. Networking together could ultimately afford many of us job opportunities, if not another great friendship.
Deep breath.... and now going back to the week prior to my perfect storm of academic overload, I continued on my training regimen with the goal in mind to do some exploring. I ran through several more parks, but only managed photos of one, which was Discovery Park on the Northwest side of downtown Seattle.







Linus and I shared run through the woods, along the beach, and ultimately ended with him leaping head first into a pond that he was positive wasn't actually water. In his defense, it did looks like very dark pavement with some light green dust on it, but it was about 4 feet of pitch black water and he went for it. Luckily he was on a leash with a harness and was easily rescue-able, but he was one shocked pup!
Jumping forward now: I am closing in on my internship possibilities and I have one lined up for sure at UC-Berkeley, and am trying to figure out if I have a chance in a little higher position here in town. This should all come together in the next week so I will be sure to keep everyone in the loop. It is moving forward in a very positive way and I look forward to sharing it with you very soon.
Thank you for reading, and I will do my absolute best to update as much as I can over the next 7 weeks, but please understand if I'm a little behind based on what you've just read.