Happy New Year!

Hello 2013! (Or as I most affectionately refer to it as "Graduation Year")

 To ring in the new year Evan and I had dinner at Park Heights in Tupelo. It was delicious!

 After dinner we went back to my parents' house and spent the night. I was curled up on the couch in my pajamas by 11:00 which was fine with me! We watched the ball drop in New York and had a champagne toast with my mom and dad.

Sweet Rigby!

I had this hat saved from NYE last year. No one else would wear it. :-(

 It was a fun and relaxing night in Pontotoc. I wouldn't have wanted to spend it anywhere else!

Today we had traditional New Year's lunch at my grandparents'! Hopppin' John! I made sure to eat as much as possible to ensure I would have the optimum amount of luck in 2013. I am certainly going to need it!

I start my last semester EVER tomorrow... and in just TWO WEEKS, I will never have to sit in another lecture again! (We have traditional lecture classes everyday (for 4 hours!) for 2 weeks, and then all of the rest of our course work is done online.) This allows us to have a 5 day externship. So starting in February I will be "working" full-time at North Mississippi Medical Center. M-F, 8-4.

However, in order to get to do my externship I have to first pass "comps". Comps is short for comprehensive exam. Basically, it's a HUGE HUGE HUGE test over EVERYTHING I have learned (or was supposed to have learned) in graduate school. The test is 10 questions long (one from each class I have taken) and takes two days (8 AM- 3 PM) to complete. I and my friends are already majorly stressed. We will have to study like we have never studied before. I started studying over winter break, but I still just get nauseous thinking about comps... Thankfully I still have a good bit of time to prepare.

AND

After comps I have to pass the Praxis II Exam in Speech-Language Pathology. (This is like the bar for lawyers.) It's a national certification test that every student must pass in order to practice as a speech pathologist. So if I don't pass... no job for Amy. Major stress.

So in 2013 before I can call myself "Amy Simmons Speech-Language Pathologist" I must:

1. Finish course work for my Masters Degree in Speech Language Pathology
2. Pass Comprehensive Examinations
3. Pass the Praxis II
4. Complete my 5-day externship

oh yeah and then there's the whole "look for a job, go on job interviews, figure out where in the world I want to live, actually *get* a job thing)... but I can't even think about that stuff yet until numbers 2 and 3 from the above list are completed. Oh 2013, you are sure to be stressful.

But here is my attitude about it all! (you can click on it to make it bigger).

It's up to ME. I have to work hard and do it. Make my dreams happen. And I will. I am determined. I have worked too hard and come too far to stop now. And I will be thankful. I will appreciate each step of the journey. And I will be grateful for the opportunity to make my dream become a reality.

So here's to 2013!