Virginia Bound?

Here I am, sitting in a coffee house in Virginia, waiting for Matt to return from his UNC interview. So I thought I would kill some time and reflect upon our marvelous trip across the Eastern half of the USA. We journeyed to Champaign, IL to spend Monday evening with Matt's sister, Beth and her husband, Jordan. We went to a delightful Mexican restaurant and gorged ourselves on chips and salsa, taco salads, enchiladas and margaritas. It was splendid. We hit the road early on Tuesday and made the long haul over to the Baltimore area. Traffic wasn't too bad (considering the inauguration) and we made good time, rolling into Columbia, MD around 10:00 p.m. to stay at the home of Ginny's sister. We actually listened to the inaugural address on the radio, an AM station no less. The crackling integrity of the signal combined with the historic nature of the event gave the whole situation a sense of nostalgia. It will be fun to some day tell my children or grandchildren that I witness Obama's speech not on CNN or Facebook, but on a crummy AM radio station that cut out when we went under highway overpasses.

Wednesday was our leisure day. We took our time driving from Maryland down to Norfolk, stopping at Williamsburg and Jamestown to see the sights. (I think it's the off-season right now, though. Not much was going on...) We had an interesting time navigating the streets of Norfolk and encountered a ridiculous amount of construction. This area will be gorgeous when everything is said and done. Our hotel was right by the water and looked out over the city. We didn't spend much time sightseeing, though. We had dinner plans with residents from the program Matt is applying to. Dinner went pretty late, so we called it a night as soon as we got back.

The next day (Thursday), I dropped Matt off for his interview and proceeded to get completely and totally lost in Norfolk for a good 30 minutes. I'm slowly but surely acquainting myself with the unique layout of the town. It's mostly a grid, but streets seem to suddenly change names and directions without much indication. It's confusing for sure. I did manage to find the Chrysler Art Museum, named for the auto heir who donated his art collection to the institution back in the early 1900s. Luckily they are featuring a Norman Rockwell exhibit and I was in illustrator heaven for a good three hours. I was mildly obsessed with NR back in high school and to see his paintings in person was an unexpected treat. After Matt's interview, we relocated to the hotel room I had reserved and took some down time. Matt headed for North Carolina last night and I spent the evening watching HBO and eating fast food on my hotel bed. It was fantastic!

Today, I cabbed it to EVMS for my interview. I spent most of the morning talking to the program director and getting a feel for how this particular art therapy program is set up. I also met the other faculty and ate lunch with three of the four faculty members. I gave a short slide presentation my art work and answered a few somewhat interesting questions. I really liked everyone I met and am very interested in coming here. In general this whole city has been so warm and welcoming. I have no doubts that I would soon adjust and feel right at home. Near the school is a lovely little area of shops and homes known as Ghent. I've wandered around a bit and looked in some of the stores. It reminds me a little of Iowa City.

So apparently I'm an ideal candidate for art therapy. That's encouraging. I have a few interviews yet to complete, but I'm feeling more confident by the minute about this career choice. I just hope that it all works out for the best. Matt should be here in three hours or so. I guess I'll dig into one of my books until then...

Peace and love