Casey jetted to me on Saturday and, after getting lost because the map was super confusing (not because I’m just dumb), we went to Carytown to Nacho Mama’s for lunch…
A note: Richmond is divided up into neighborhoods, which makes it even more awesome. The Fan (so named for it’s shape) is the middle of the city, and where the VCU campus is located. It’s got beautiful old houses and apartments and churches and museums and schools right next to each other—every building looks different from the one next to eat, but just as beautiful. Such character.
Monument Avenue has 9 freaking monuments on it! Just right in the middle of the road! 
Then there’s Carytown, a line of cute shops and boutiques and coffeehouses (or coffee and wine shops) and, oddly enough, TONS of weird pet places. There’s a pet optometrist, a pet dermatologist, a place that looked like it only fixed pets, and several pet rescue centers. Richmond apparently has a pet problem. Weird. Anyway, then there’s downtown—Shockoe Bottom and Shockoe Slip—more upscale restaurants and bars and just generally what you’d think of as “downtown.” Ok, that was a freaking long note. Don’t act like you’re surprised. Anyway, so Casey and I spent ridiculous amounts of money, but came away with some awesome things: nativities, bff necklaces, new purses, solid colored t-shirts, psychotherapy flashcards, a weekly desk calendar, a weird tomato-fairy-Santa Claus… exactly what you’d expect. We wandered to Shockoe Bottom, found a perfect little bookstore (the clerk actually knew what she was talking about!) and then gloriously stumbled upon Buffalo Wild Wings. Bdubbs had the greatest soundtrack ever, an interesting assortment of people, too much food for us to eat, and Chris, our 30-40 yr old waiter. Oh, and a woman in the restroom who, although she loudly protested to her friend on the phone, definitely cared whether or not some guy had slept with some girl. “They went home together, and that’s what guys and girls do when they go home together.” Can’t argue with that logic. The stalls aren’t soundproof, lady.
The next day we had lunch, Casey left, and I spent an inordinate amount of time painting my fingernails and getting ready for dinner. Dinner was really cool. Current grad students, the other applicants, and I had dinner at a pizza place and we just spent a couple hours getting to know each other. The students at this school are SO COOL. I just want them to like me so that we can be friends and hang out. They were pretty, obviously intelligent, laid-back, and just cool. One of them made a psychology joke (she was refreshing her email repeatedly to see if she’d gotten an internship, and said she looked like “a pigeon pushing a lever”), and I nearly fainted. I think that they liked me, too. Gah, they were awesome.
I spent the night with a Counseling student (Nicole) and a Clinical student (Kelly). We had a glass of wine, watched the Oscars, talked about Hollywood pregnancies, and they gossiped about people in the program. So I loved them, too.
The next day, all the applicants met up and had breakfast. We had to do an ice-breaker, so that was kind of lame, but then we walked down to the CPSD—the clinic open to the community. I walked with the program assistant (a young combination of Dr. Dietrich and Deech, so of course I fell in love) and talked to him easily the whole way. Again, these people are just cool. The clinic was amazing—all second year students counsel there under supervision. Then we toured the University Counseling Services. The third year students counsel there under supervision. The guy who gave us that tour had the greatest laugh of all time; he laughed at his own jokes, and I laughed at them, too, simply because he was. Then we had lunch with the current students, and that was fun again. After that I had my group interview. That turned out to be two faculty members answering questions from the six or so students I was with. So relaxed. My first individual interview was with Dr. Mazzeo, who’d be my advisor if I get in. There were four of us there to interview with her, so we only got half hour slots. The girl before me took 10 of my minutes. Ugh. But it was great talking to her. She is really good at getting grants for her lab, so she can fund her students in the summer (VCU guarantees funding for the first 3 years, and basically the fourth, too, but not in the summer). Right now they are working on the Nourish Project, where they educate parents on childhood obesity. She told me that I was one of 5 girls she was considering, and that I was the only one still in undergrad. She told me that to say how impressive it was that I’m in the running, but it’s still sort of nerve-wracking to know how I measure up. But the point of the day was to determine fit, and I think her students (with whom I’d be working mostly) really liked me. Then I met with Dr. Worthington, who is one of the most impressive men I’ve ever met—he’s like, ridiculously published. He studies spirituality, forgiveness, and positive psychology. I’d love to work with him, too. In that interview, we just chatted. He told me his story, which was awesome, and we ran over time because we were having such a great conversation. I ran into the program assistant again and got to talk to him for a few minutes, and tell him how my interviews had gone. He was very encouraging. I think we’re best friends now.
I got home Tuesday afternoon, and I’m leaving for Denver tomorrow. I don’t think it can measure up in the slightest, but I’m trying very hard to keep an open mind.
I’m exhausted, but so excited!
