I am IN

For those of you who have been listening to me fret since April 1st when I applied for a summer fellowship working with top flight professors at George Washington University doing research sponsored by the National Science Foundation, I am IN. We start with a workshop week May 21, then for 9 weeks I'm in the lab. In a word, I am THRILLED, if a little scared. I feel like when I went off to YCC camp at 15. Who knew I would have such a knack for woodchipping trails? I expect this to be the same kind of unimaginable vista-opening opportunity, except with fewer mosquitoes.

The projects are here, if you want to look.

How does this apply to knitting, you ask? I've already got a new project mapped out for my commute: a pink alpaca lace scarf as a "thank you" for the professor who put me onto this project and wrote the Letter of Recommendation to End All Letters of Recommendation [I am confident it is why I got in]. She looks great in pink and I feel safe in blabbing about it because I'm guessing she's not a heavy reader of knitting blogs. And after next Monday's meeting, my beloved Prince William Purlers won't see me until August.

I was planning to start dying my hair again (just when the gray has grown out!) to fit the undergraduate student stereotype a wee bit better when Cassie said, "Don't. Your life is like a river. You were flowing along toward college and you took a different path with work and family. Now you're swimming back upstream to go back and get your degree. It's cool." (or something to that effect. She left me feeling like I'm being a good example.)

The only down side? I sure would love to tell Dad. He would think it's cool, too.