Check out my new blog!

Graduate school seemed to have gotten the best of me since this is my first post in several months. Now that I have earned my MSW, traveled Scandinavia with Kaela, and spent some wonderful time at home with family and friends, I am packing up and moving to Thailand for a year to teach English.

Please visit my new blog to stay updated on my future endeavors as a volunteer teacher: caitlynpisarski.wordpress.com

Please stay in touch!

"Don't Mess with Texas"

Did you know this phrase originated from a highway clean-up campaign in 1986? Check it out! Anyways, I bring this up because I am currently in Houston, TX attending the Career Development in Social Work Education conference. We arrived on Wednesday and are returning to Michigan on Saturday, just in time to see the Brewers beat the Tigers at Comerica Park! 

It's been an informative conference thus far but I am still trying to adjust to the heat. They are having an exceptionally hot June this year. For example, tomorrow's high is supposed to be 94 degrees (F) but it will "feel like" 101! My good friend/co-worker Amber and I might head to the coast to check out the Gulf of Mexico and catch some sun after the conference ends. Tonight I had some good Tex-Mex and fried ice cream at a tasty restaurant downtown. Now I'm recovering from a long day of panelists and depressing economy talk in our nice Hilton hotel room.

On another note, I am so excited for August. Highlights include graduating on the 1st, building a playground in Detroit on the 6th, and meeting Kaela in Copenhagen, Denmark on the 18th for a three-week backpacking trip in Scandinavia! Keep me updated on your summers too-I'd love to hear from you!

Traveling, and other ways to pass time

Believe it or not, I am one week into my third and final term of graduate school! It is strange to think that this could be my last few months of higher education-for the rest of my life. A lot has happened since my last post so I will do my best to summarize.

I finished last term in mid-April, during which I was scrambling to acquire materials for gardens in Detroit, finish papers, and say my goodbyes to Alyssa, my roommate who is now in South Africa for three months! She is conducting her final field placement hours for the Social Work program in Cape Town, and you can read more about what she is up to on her blog.

I was also lucky enough to spend a long, fabulous weekend with my college roommate Tricia, in South Carolina. Highlights from the trip included laying out at her pool in perfect, 85 degree weather, taking a mini-road trip to Charleston, eating delicious, fresh sea food, and of course catching up on the last several months of our lives. I was also happy to meet her graduate school friends and have an opportunity to read a book for fun, quite a luxury after a long semester of academic readings. The trip came at a perfect time and I was able to return to Michigan energized and excited for the summer. I will be posting pictures from the trip soon.

The day after I returned from South Carolina, my girlfriends and I spent the day in Detroit, where we toured the city, went to a Tigers game, and ate good food. The remainder of my time off before the summer term was spent making up hours in the Career Center, putting time in at Creekside, and catching up with friends. All in all, it was a great break.

I am now looking forward to lots of summer plans with friends and family. I’m also busy fundraising for my year-long volunteer program in Thailand and cooking as much as time allows. Tonight I made some homemade hashbrowns with red potatoes fried in olive oil-very good.

Well I hope my next entry does not take another month to post…but no promises J