Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Denver and Grad School

So its been a while since there was an update. This is mainly due to the fact that I've been a little more stationary than usual. A few months after my return from the South America trip I moved to Denver to start a Graduate program in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD). I've been here about a year and a half and have finished 3 of the 4 semesters needed and It looking like I'll be finished in the middle of May of this year. I moved out in the old landcruiser with my brother Pete along for the ride. I was pretty attached to the car its actually still the same one that Brendan, Darren and I started with but after living on government loans and credit cards for the last year and a half and without any serious income of my own to speak of for the last two and a half years, I recently had to sell it to stave off true poverty. But Denver has treated me well, it doesn't sit in hte mountains like I originally thought but I have had some chances to get out and less than an hour east and you can get right into the eastern side of the Rockies. Grad School has been good as well, I've learned a lot even though I am also learning that I'm not really cut out for being a student anymore, two many years removed from the lifestyle. Planning itself is an interesting topic, and it definitely builds upon my background of civil engineering. As for what I'll be doing after May I am more than a little foggy, Urban Planning is not exactly for me but it is great in that it loans itself to so many other things. Much of the the next semester will be spent studying, finding part-time work and figuring out what it is that I want to be doing in the long run. I have done a good job fulfilling my goals and by remaining light have been relatively free to pick up and do things as they come along. Ideally I can find something that interests me, pays decently well and is flexible enough to maintain some of that same lifestyle.