Home, Sweet Home!

Before I left for Nebraska, practically all my family and friends told me to keep them updated throughout the next year. I am here solely for the purpose of completing my bachelors of nursing in 11 months. All things considered, I will not have enough time to personally update everyone I love in a timely manner. So...despite my aversion to journaling, I decided to start a blog, which I will try to update as much as possible.

One week ago today, after a tearful departure, my dad and I began our 1,236 journey from Missoula, Montana to Omaha, Nebraska. For the most part, our journey was fairly uneventful, which was a blessing, considering the frightful weather forecast. In Montana we passed about 15 cars in the ditch. Fortunately my dad is the best driver in the world, so we stayed on the road.

On the second day of driving, one hour from Omaha, my new roommate, Anna, called me and said she had a confession to make. This scared me a bit. What on earth could she be confessing to me one hour before I was supposed to move in with her for a year!? She informed me that a mouse or some other critter must have died in the duct work above my bathroom and that as a result, the room smelled like death. Welcome home. =) Unfortunately the smell is just as bad today as it was one week ago. It's especially delightful when I'm in the shower and the room is all hot and steamy...

Over the next couple of days, my dad and I explored the town, and he bought me a bunch of things to get me started. He fixed up everything he possible could in my apartment, and then he ran out of things to fix, so he decided to fly home a couple days early. I dropped him off at the airport at 5am on new years day. Suddenly Omaha was a much lonelier place.

Anna invited me to her parent's house to watch the Huskers game that day. Her parents are farmers, and I decided it was time for me to learn a thing or two about farming. Anna taught me all the basics of farming corn and soy beans on the two hour car ride to her folk's place. After stepping into her family's home, I became an instant Huskers fan and pretended like I knew what a first down was. (Don't worry, they won!) Anna decided to give me a tour of the farm. She even let me sit in a tractor! After the tour we went to the town of Lushton (population: ~30) to meet my sort-of relatives Ella and Elton Berg. Ella was my grandpa/great uncle Wilmer's youngest sister. Elton is the pastor of the church that Anna grew up in (church attendance: ~50 hmmm....). They were extremely pleasant people and I felt ten times more at home after visiting with them. Besides saying goodbye to my dad, the day was really enjoyable.

The next day, Anna's older sister, Leah came to stay with us for the night. She introduced to me to the series Knight Rider. David Hasslehoff at his finest! If you haven't seen this show...you are seriously missing out. I was addicted after the first episode! Knight Rider is definitely the highlight of my new life so far.

I have one more week of peace before I start classes on the 14th. I am so excited to be a student again! I think my brain has atrophied over the last 8 months. I begin with a two-week class, then I start the rest of my classes and clinicals on January 29th! Please keep me in your prayers! Believe it or not, I'm not very good at transitioning, and I need all the prayer I can get. =)

So after a week of living here...

My Favorite Things about Nebraska
* The night sky! You can actually see a lot of stars!
* Sunsets...they don't make them like this at home.
* It always smells a little bit like a stockyard here. MmmMmm cows!
* It only takes me 15 minutes to get anywhere!

My Least Favorite Things about Nebraska
* Drivers- I don't think they actually had to pass a test to get a license here
* The sky is ALWAYS blue!! It's so depressing.
* 4 degrees?? Come on!
* Everything is brown. I'm not sure green even exists here.