This is my first post from my new home in Minnesota!! I’ve only been here for about two weeks and I’m already checking things off my Day Zero Project list. My first day of work at my new gig was a week ago from this past Tuesday and it was by far the best first day of work I have ever had. You may be asking yourself, what made it so great?! Well, I flew to Washington DC with my fellow coworkers for a conference! We attended the ASACCUU Conference which is the Association for Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities.
Attending this conference with my coworkers was super exciting on so many levels. Mainly because I left for the trip not really knowing any of the wonderful ladies I work with, but I returned calling them my friends and feeling as though I had known them for years. Adding to the excitement was the fact that I had the opportunity to ‘visit a state I had never been to’ I had never been to Washington DC or the state of Virginia, which we were in briefly.
The conference was set up so that during the day we attended key-note speakers and sessions that talked about some of the unique challenges and opportunities that come with working at a Catholic institution. The evenings were free, though, so at night we were able to do some sight-seeing. This was an added bonus because the first night we were in DC (July 23) was the eve of my golden birthday! One of my new friends had a friend from highschool that lived in the area that met up with us and we rang in my 24th birthday while sitting on a patio along the river at an outdoor bar. What a way to kick off my golden birthday, right?!
On Wednesday, my actual birthday, I attended a lot of very informative sessions that really sparked my enthusiasm for the upcoming year. After the conference concluded for the day, a group of the representatives from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University that were at the conference went out for a fancy dinner. The dinner was absolutely scrumptious and even better was the eye candy the chef provided during the meal (schmokin hot chef! haha!) Since it was my birthday, I was given a free dessert! So yummy! After dinner, my friends and I went to the White House. Yes, I spent part of my golden birthday at the White House with my friends. We are kind of a big deal 🙂 After doing some sight-seeing, we went to a speakeasy (where my friend’s friend worked) and celebrated my birthday in style!! (shout out to Katie, Kyleen, Ann, and Tara for celebrating with me!!) What a fantastic way to celebrate my life! Here’s to the fantastic year that is in-store for me!!
Thursday, the last day of the conference, I attended the best session ever! haha shout out to my amazing coworkers on their phenomenal presentation on the programming model that they created the previous year. I can already tell that I am going to learn so much this year from my coworkers and that is super exciting! After the conclusion of the conference, we had the opportunity to go on a bus tour of the monuments. Super cool to see all of them! It was hard to get quality pictures at the monuments as it was at night, but below are some pictures from the trip!
101 Things to do in 1001 Days! 