University of Minnesota Graduate Student Recruitment Weekend

Kelly and I just got back from our weekend at the U of M. The high for the weekend was -1 degrees. I thought I was going to freeze to death.

The campus was beautiful and the buildings were rather new with state of the art equipment. The greenhouses were just amazing. The faculty was very happy to have us there and I got along with all the professor's I'll likely have anything to do with, and with some that I'll probably never see more than once or twice. Minneapolis was a little too crowded and dirty for my taste, but St. Paul was gorgeous. The part of campus where I'll be the majority of the time is in St. Paul and that's where we'll be living most likely.

There were about a dozen prospective grad students applying for the Applied Plant Sciences program with me and another dozen or so there for Plant Pathology and Plant Biology respectively. There was only one other applying for the same position as me. There were 2 places open, and he's getting his PhD and I'm getting my Master's, so Dr. Eric Watkins was happy to have us both. The other guy's name was Eric, but he looked just like Chuck from the series that was playing this past fall, so I'll probably just refer to him as Chuck to avoid confusing him with my professor. Chuck was a nice guy, but thought it was pretty funny when smells would make me sick. I like Dr. Watkins and look forward to working with him. He seems very laid back. Kelly and I met his wife and baby at lunch on Saturday. She's such a sweetheart and his baby is a cutie.

Kelly walked around on Friday while I was in interviews and just fell in love with the city. I'm nervous to be going somewhere so busy, but excited to have so much available to us. The school systems are excellent, the university offers a fantastic daycare, the insurance is quite good, and there's plenty of jobs available for Kelly.

We toured the cities with Dr. Watkins and took down numbers for apartment complexs on Saturday. We stopped at the Pond Hockey Championships with Chuck for about 10 minutes before I couldn't feel my face and went inside. I also discovered my new personal Hell: outdoor porta-potties in -10 degree weather with a -15 degree wind chill. Frozen urine, no sinks or sanitizer, and a tiny pregnant bladder. At least they didn't stink.

Anyway, the weekend has left us with some new knowledge and news to share. First: never buy a sleep number bed. It was like sleeping on an overinflated or half deflated air mattress. Second: we are moving to Minnesota. Third: they want us there on April 1st. It's a bit sooner than we had anticipated, but I'll have a chance to get a lot more done before the baby comes. Fourth: Kelly and I are magnets for crappy waiter/waitresses. Fifth: Minnesota is incredibly flat. There are no hills, let alone anything resembling a mountain. Sixth: if you take a camera with you, remember to take it out of the suitcase. And last, but not least: the smell of chicken marsala makes me violently ill.