Howdy! Im on the hunt for schools to apply to Occupational Therapy. In all honesty I would love to stay in my current location. I know the area well, I have lots of friends here, and its basically become my home. (my family home still doesn't feel like home but that's a different story...) But i am taking steps to go see other Grad school options. Competition in OT is tough so its best to apply to a good number of grad schools.
Background: I visited UNC when choosing an undergraduate location. I did not particularly like UNC. It felt HUGE to me. It feel too much like a city and not very personal and welcoming. At that time I did not know where I was how I got here and where I was going when I was touring campus... and half way through the tour i kinda just shut my mind off and relied on my dad to get us back to the car after the tour.
Now: I was still holding though same feelings and unmotivated attitude as the days to the open house were approaching. I knew I was going to have to work hard to be or at least to act open to the idea of applying to UNC. I printed off all sorts of info about their OT program and read and highlighted points I like, points of interest, and points of confusion. There was one sentence that stood out to me above all the rest: I need to find the paper but it ended with you career goals...Not education goals, not personal desire goals, not find the place that fits you to the tee. I know that's kinda commonsense but that sentence opened up my mind and heart just enough to realize what I have been doing. I have been selfish in how I look at schools. I looked at schools thinking about how I would like it there, not on the reason why im pursuing an OT degree. God spoke to me and said to stop being selfish, and get use to the idea that where ever He places me is where Im suppose to be. I think God is showing me what my comfort zones are and how to push it. Looking back at this week and my change of feelings, im actually excited about going off to new schools.
STORY! oky so here I am driving into UNC and i look at the clock. Oky 2:30...I would have liked to be in UNC closer to 2ish but with traffic on the highway and dropping a friend off, I had good reasons to be slightly off schedule. The building should be easy to find right and its Friday so the traffic is mostly leaving UNC too. I was calm and ready to go meet new professors! Meeting is at 3. So here I am entering UNC. I find Franklin St. its a long street... then I finally enter downtown-ish area... I have never seen so many people in one downtown area except for when there was a fair going on or ECU on a Friday/Saturday night and at that point the roads are blocked off!! Not only that but the signs were sooo small (and I have great eye sight!) I saw signs for the visitor center (straight ahead) and then no more signs! I looked around as much as I could with out hitting people...I found the street to the school of medicine, Sweet! So i turn right... which was wrong. Oh well I turn down a street and make a U-turn right there in the middle of the road. (I love my Melvin the Camry) And I go the right way down the street. The street is stop and go traffic for 15 mins. Now its about 2:50ish...uh-oh now Im really pushing it! Its oky, b/c normally they wait about 5-10 mins for people who are running late. :) Well all of a sudden this street I am on become a one way street and I have to turn left or right! AHHH idk where to go! G-maps said to stay on this street but that will equal the death of me! So i go left, which would have been fine because I wanted to start over and head to Franklin street, BUT i was behind a bus and i was driving down the middle of campus on a small two-lane road! Not only that the bus wasnt the slowest car. There was a LINE of cars...Come to find out it was parent's weekend...oh hurray. So I finally get on Franklin St. around 3:10ish, now im starting to worry. I find a visitor parking lot and pull in. I ask the lady where to find the school of medicine and lucky for me she gave me a "what building?" reply and face...She handed me a map and said this lots full but feel free to pull in and figure out where you need to go.
I found it! and I was off to try again! The map was awesome because it also showed visitor parking lots right by my specific building! So I'm heading the right way doing great, using the map and making all the right turns! I even drive right by the front of the building, turn into the lot with metered visitor parking lots and Ta-da! there are no visitor spots period! Its 3:20 now... The meeting is only suppose to last an hour. I start to panic... I go the very end of the lot/alley and turn around and headed out. I had to go in the direction opposite of my building and I was back to making another circle...I started to cry (im such a girl) I was so frustrated and upset! So i found a parking lot for construction workers (it was empty) and I called my mom and told her everything and how upset I was because I was finally interested in the UNC OT program and I get here and I fail at finding the building and getting there on time and I skipped classes for this and I hate this traffic and i dont know where I am and I give up and I wish the my car had it's illegal tinted windows so I could cry and no-one could see me (you can laugh at any of this if you want). So mom talks to dad. He looks up future open house dates and finds one that does not require me to skip any more classes and tells me to just find a parking spot where they wont tow and walk around campus. (dad knows me too well) So I take another look at the map. There is a hospital near-byish and since Im walking why not park far away and know Im safe. Mom calls me again on the way to lot and I tell her what I am doing. There is a guy directing traffic and I ask him where to go, placing the phone down in under my parking brake. He points me into the parking garage and i go in. Parking garages remind me of Duke hospital so I like them and I start to sing about pulling into a parking garage and the people and cars all around me. I even start trying to sound like an italian man when I find an open spot in a corner! I all of sudden hear something from my car...it was my phone...oops... mom was still on the phone and was laughing at me... "Are you better?" she asked. hahaha I felt slightly bi-polar because in the span of 5 mins im crying to my mom to singing...
To end this I met up with an old friend and she showed me around campus and we had dinner together and a GREAT time. I actually love UNC campus, very beautiful and I could picture myself living here!
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