Placed

It's official...I've chosen a grad school.

Now I'm freaking out that it's really happening!

Massachusetts General Hospital

Institute of Health Professions

*an academic affiliate of

Massachusetts General Hospital*

Ranking third on the U.S. News and World Report's

Honor Roll for best hospital and hospital affiliate's

for 2010-2011...it's an impressive facility.

For the next two years I'll be walking through these doors towards my future. Well, maybe more like walking towards the clinic and classrooms, but it's finally the first step towards becoming "what I want to be when I grow up."

I mean please...doesn't this just scream, "When I grow up I want to be a speech pathologist?!"

(Some people might think I was a little more on point with the BS in Psychology since this outfit is a little psychotic haha.)

But this just felt like home, and I'm so happy.

The institute is located right in Boston's Old Navy Yard of Charlestown and all the water and seagulls just made it feel like San Francisco...so familiar.

(Emerson College)

Mama and I kept plenty busy visiting other schools too, like George Washington University in D.C., Emerson College in Boston, and Boston University.

(Boston University)

While we were out there, I got accepted to Columbia University, too. I tried to 'joke-call' daddy and tell him we were just ganna add another week to our trip and go to New York too. Ironically it was April fools day so he didn't believe me. Didn't matter...after being in Boston, I didn't even want to go look anywhere else. It's a beautiful city.

Mama and I were actually quite impressed with how our timeline of "To-Do's" and "Want-To-Do's" blended so perfectly. We were very efficient and busy with the important open houses, housing hunts, and decision making.

But hello! It's Boston! You can't come all that way and not play.

(Mike's Pastry is famous for their Cannoli's)

Way too many choices. And there were people literally pushing against us from behind vying for a position to see all the pastries in the case. Super busy. Mama and I were like, "Too much pressure! Let's just pick one and get out of here." haha. And like the words in "The Sound of Music," they have string coming down from the ceiling they use to tie up the packages of treats.

Brown paper packages

tied up in strings...

The simple joys of room service.

Night life. Woo hoo!

Brumsy and Abbala

Prom 2011

Missed it while we were gone, so they kept us posted with photos.

(Harvard Yard)

They have a gorgeous library. The ladder was so 'Beauty and the Beast'.

Hello Michael Kors.

As soon as we saw this we knew I was ganna be just fine here. This store owns half of all the Singer sewing machines ever made and they display them in the window (in each of their establishments around the world) as an enticement to get people to come it. Let's just say it worked for me.

Who wouldn't fall in love with a place where you can find Vera Wang on one street (ahem...by appointment only as we were so informed when we tried to go look), hundreds of sewing machines on the next, then wrap it all up by eating lunch IN a window. Yes, we are sitting in the window booth where they put displays. Quaint~

(Boston Museum of Fine Art)

Beautiful glass work and impressionist paintings. When I asked if I could get a student discount, they asked if I was in high school. Awesome.

All glass. So cool.

This has been a magnet on our fridge forever, so mama and I just love this one.

There is something so cool to me about actually 'seeing' the signature of the artist. So real. Monet actually touched that canvas; he stood as close to it as I was!

Then, lunch with Michelle, my cousin who lives there. Her husband is graduating from Harvard this year and they are moving away. Such bummer timing.

Her little babe.

So, I may not have known since I was this little guy's age just what I wanted to be when I grew up. But I can't deny that I have truly been led to finding and deciding on studying speech pathology. I wanted, and actually quite expected, to walk onto the the different school campuses mama and I were going to visit and almost get an instant 'read' or feel for the place; like a strong "yes" or "no" that would tell me which one I should choose.

That didn't happen.

What did happen was something much more thought out and I'm sure better for me and my peace of mind. I really had to 'study it out for myself' and look over the small but potentially important differences between the programs of the various schools. It was scary for me to not have this overwhelming "yes!" of an answer. But I do have an answer, and I do feel peace.

The morning after mama and I visited the schools was Sunday; General Conference morning. I turned on some quiet music to at least let a tone of calm in, since unfortunately we weren't sure how much of conference we could catch with our other obligations of the trip for that day. The words of one of the songs struck me as I sat looking out our window view of the city in the morning. It was mercifully quite perfect for reassuring me that my leaning towards MGH was a good and correct decision; giving me not an overwhelming loud answer, but a peaceful calm.

With life up in the air

my faith has learned to fly.

I know who's hand

is covering my eyes.

Wherever I land

will be hallowed ground to me.

I will know that He has placed me

where I should be.

I am still nervous about this big change in my life. Logically, I know it's all very exciting and new. It's the right time in my life to move in this direction and there is so much I'm going to learn and experience. Emotionally, I am still a little bit shy of everything. Sometimes the heart is a little bit behind the knowledge of the mind. The blessing is, emotionally I also know that my Father in Heaven knows my concerns and will continue to guide me to find the emotional wisdom, strength and excitement for this next step in life that I could never come by logically~

Boston...here I come!