Morgantown

We are back in Morgantown! Thanks to the Mizener Family for graciously letting us stay at their house. It is very interesting to be back in the town we first moved to when Derek started medical school over three years ago. This is where we first experienced a real fall, winter, and spring! The leaves are just beginning to change and it is absolutely gorgeous. A big change from last week laying out at my parents house by the pool in El Cajon soaking in the 110 degree sun! It has barely made it to 70 degrees for the warmest day since I've been here. Most mornings when I have driven Derek to work at Ruby Hospital (part of WVU) it has been about 50 degrees. I didn't realize it was going to be so cold and only brought sandals and tank tops to wear! I brought 2 light jackets and nothing else! Thankfully Old Navy was having a huge sale and I got 2 warm jackets for only $20 and a few long sleeve shirts for only $10! I am now nice and cozy.

We had quite an eventful first two days of me being here. On the way to pick me up from the airport at 11 at night Derek came upon 3 deer in the middle of the road. He had time to stop and two of the deer ran away. One, however, stood in the middle of the road staring at him. A true "deer in headlights!" He kept inching closer to it but it wouldn't move. So finally he slowly inched all the way up to it and had to actually nudge it with the car! Then it finally ran away. It was pretty funny when he picked me up (with roses I might add!) and told me that he hit a deer...which was actually more of a nudge! Then the following morning on the way to drop Derek off at work (Derek was driving while I was trying to wake up being that I was still on West Coast time and it was 4am to me) it was raining. We'd been on the road about 2 minutes when we hydroplaned across the road, across the opposite lane, and ran smack into the opposite dirt bank. I was sure awake then! The car just slide right across out of control. We were fine and other than the front and side of the car being caked with mud, the car was fine too.

It has been exciting to be near a Starbucks again. In Charleston the only Starbucks was inside the mall where you had to pay for parking to get inside. It's been fun to see all my old co-workers...as well as be on the other side of the counter! I am also loving their new instant coffee - Via. If you haven't tried it, you should. It's delicious and SO convenient!


Last Thursday was the first WVU Mountaineer football game here in Morgantown. I forgot how crazy this town gets over their football. Schools, businesses, and even the hospital all close down early the day of a game. (Random sidenote: We also found out that besides football games and snowdays, schools are also shut down out here the entire week of Thanksgiving for the first week of hunting season!! Crazy!) There are motor homes parked all over town and the parking lot of the stadium becomes a sea of yellow and blue. It's complete insanity. Thankfully Derek got to leave early (since they shut down the hospital early - yes seriously) and we got to leave the area before it got too crazy. We instead watched it on the Mizener's HUGE projection screen with surround sound which made it feel like you were at the game minus the cold and traffic!

Derek has been getting lots of interviews for residency which has been exciting and stressful. We've had to juggle his schedule and reply to emails almost immediately to try and get his first pick for dates to interview. So far all has worked out. We are still waiting to hear from a few schools but feel very blessed that already he has over 10 interview invitations so far. He had his interview here at WVU last week. Next week is his first real interview (here at WVU they just tried to convince him to stay here and didn't even ask him any questions) at Ohio State. We are going to drive down to Columbus the day before and then leave our car in Charleston. Thanks to the McCallister's for offering to keep our car for us until we come back in March. Thanks also to Sarah Walsh for offering to drive us back up to Morgantown and to the airport afterwards. So many great and thoughtful friends we have out here.

More updates to come soon!!