I made it to Omaha!! After a crazy three months, I am finally finding time to sit down and update you all with my life. School this semester was wonderful. Classes weren't too difficult, but I was more busy than I have ever been with Super Sisters, traveling for conferences, working as a newborn hearing screener, and Student Academy of Audiology.
My internship at Phoenix Children's hospital was an invaluable experience and I am so grateful that I was able to spend two days a week there this semester. I was also recently elected to serve on the Board of Directors for Student Academy of Audiology and am extremely excited to be heading up the collaboration between our organization and Special Olympics beginning in July. 
While I was very busy with school and activities this past semester, I did find time to have some fun as well. I traveled to Tucson for a wedding and Heber for a much-needed family weekend. Spring break was filled with Spring Training Baseball and quality time with friends and family. I was also able to celebrate the marriage of a couple of my good friends, AJ and Alicia Aljuwani. In May, I travel to Kansas for Ms. Lindsay Tippett's Senior Art & Design Show with a handful of close friends. It was just a little taster of my summer in Middle America and was such a great time. I came back directly from that trip to take finals and continue graduation celebrations, as most of my girl-friends are Speech-Language Pathology Master's students. 
Shortly after the celebrations were over, Sara and I set out to move me to Omaha. We stopped in Santa Fe, NM for some much-needed sleep and then made our way towards Denver, CO to meet up with my mom - who was already in Colorado after driving up with my brother. We stopped in Colorado Springs in hopes of seeing my brother (who moved there two days prior for his internship) but didn't have a chance to meet up with him on his first day of work. So we forged on and spent that next evening in Arvada at my aunt and uncle's house catching up with my family and meeting new-baby KinLeigh Johnson. 
From there, my mom and I dropped Sara off at DIA. Sara will be moving to Seattle next month, so this goodbye was a very emotional one between us. She has been such an influential person in my life for the past two years and saying goodbye to her was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Once the tears were gone, my mom and I headed out on the 8.5 hour drive across Nebraska. It was so great to spend the day catching up and we made it into Omaha around 5pm. That evening we had dinner at Pat Stelmachowicz & Michael Gorga's home. Pat is my mentor here and has been one of my idols since I discovered Audiology. Michael is equally as famous in the ear-world and it was so surreal to spend the evening with them and their family. I started my job for the summer bright and early the next day with the usual paperwork and a tour of Boys Town National Research Hospital. It is such a wonderful facility and so exciting to be working in place where so much progress in my field has been and is continuing to be made.
The project I will be in charge of for the summer is turning out to be a perfect fit for me. During our first meeting, I was able to contribute with my past research experiences. They are giving me so much freedom and responsibility with decisions and I think I am really going to love it. As of right now, less than three months seems like not enough time to develop, recruit and run subjects, analyze, and write up results - but I am sure everything will start to fall into place as I continue to work full-time. I have an office space that I share with someone who works in the clinic and my house is only a 2 minute walk from the Hospital. I can see the front of the hospital from my bedroom. The house is a duplex that is owned by the hospital and all four of us research interns will be staying here this summer. Everything in the house has its own personality, and most of the furniture looks like it might belong in your grandmother's home. My room is red and the carpet is the strangest pattern of red paisley, but it is charming and I already feel at home. The first of my three roommates arrived a couple days after me and she is wonderful. We've been getting to know each other and the city and have gotten along so well together thus far. The other two girls arrive on the 28th and we're very excited for them to join us. 
Much to my surprise, there is so much to do here in Omaha. Everyone that we have met so far has been extremely welcoming and tells us about so many different things that are going on. I have no doubt that this summer will not only be filled with research, but also with summer concerts, festivals, touristy trips to the Zoo (#2 in the world), the hands-on children's museum, Saturday farmers markets, and possibly even a trip to Mount Rushmore!
I have uploaded more pictures to my facebook account, but if you don't have facebook, email me (samantha.gustafson@asu.edu) and I can send you a link to additional pictures. I promise I will try and blog more often while I'm here and I'd love to hear from you all as well. I hope everyone has a wonderful summer planned. 