On the Actual Road

When last I wrote, I was just beginning my grad school research, search and application saga.  Well that has all been resolved. 

In the Fall I will be attending the Monterey Institute of International Studies for a MA in Nonproliferation and Terrorism studies plus additional Russian language classes.   I was given a very generous scholarship and a job in their think tank as an inducement to get me to come.  Well it worked!  Plus it’s MONTEREY after all!

This weekend they are holding their yearly open house, and I decided it would be a good idea to check out my future campus again, meet some of my peers, begin my housing search, and visit my Monterey Based aunt and uncle.  So in what is now becoming a pattern, my mother and I set out.  For those of you keeping score at home, that is now 4 trips for the two of us since our last trip as an entire family.  This time the adventures would not just be confined to my mother and I, as my father and brother also set off on an adventure of their own to Colorado (this is where I would place a clever link to a blog of that adventure, but alas no such blog exists).

Unique to our other adventures, this trip would be accomplished entirely on the California Highway system without the assistance of trains or planes.  We set off after I finished class on Thursday for what should have been a 6-7 hour easy drive north up the CA coast.  Well apparently we forgot to appease the proper weather gods before our departure…  The dive ended up taking 9.5 hours, 6 of them crawling through a torrential downpour on the unlit 101 and we did not check into our hotel until midnight.  Needleless to say it was a nerve-racking and exhausting drive, but we did it.

Friday morning began like most in Monterey, chilly but not cold, threatening to but not actually raining.  We set out on foot to look at neighborhoods around my school (at is quite small and in a residential/civic building area).  Having never had to apartment hunt before, and considering I will have to arrange for one over the phone or via email, I was a bit uneasy about this.  However, we soon discovered that nearly all the buildings around the school are apartments or have been subdivided to convert homes into them.  Reassured that the search would be simple, and that the school’s neighborhood was a good one located next to anything I could want for, we set off to have a little fun.

We went down to Fisherman’s Wharf, and strolled down Cannery Row.  These are places I have been many times throughout the years, but never shall tire of.

    

   

We spent the rest of the day checking out other neighborhoods and exploring the city on foot for the first time.  Since we normally stay in Seaside and drive into town, it was remarkable how close and easily walk able everything truly is.  I will reaffirm my commitment to walking through cities as much as possible.  No other method beats it to truly get a feeling for a city.

That evening we had present dinner with my Aunt and Uncle (mom’s younger brother).  We always have fun with them, and they were quite happy that I am coming to live near them for a bit.  Or as Uncle David put it: “let them have a turn with me!”

Friday was relaxing, reassuring and fun, but Saturday would be all business (and the real purpose of the trip). the open house!

Now I don't have much to say about the open house, well except that it was perfect!  Everything they said, did and showed seemed to fit me, what I want to do and what I appreciate.  I don't have too many pictures  or stories to share, since it was mostly information sessions, but needless to say I will be happy there.

My Future Employer

My kind of sign!

Coming home was much nicer in the daylight and not rain.  It was sad to leave Monterey so soon, but the real world still was waiting down in SoCal.  It was a short trip to be sure, but a good one.

I have another trip coming up, very soon!

But until then,

Matt (once again relatively of the North)