Update from the Southeast (Katie)

At the beginning of June, Duston and I moved with our new pup Linguini to the quaint town of Carrboro, North Carolina. Also known as “The Paris of North Carolina,” or “The Graduate Student Ghetto” for UNC Chapel Hill, the town is an odd combination of 20-somethings with dreadlocks and young families with dogs and babies. Linguini fits right in. On Thursday nights, Weaver Street Market, the food co-op, hosts reggae and bluegrass bands on its front lawn, which fills quickly with kids and families. And middle-aged hula-hoopers. Since town ordinances allow you to drink outside the co-op, as long as you buy either a single bottles of beer or wine, it’s a pretty fun place to spend a Thursday.

The town also boasts one of the highest-ranking farmer’s markets in the nation. We pull ourselves up every Saturday morning to buy our week’s worth of fresh produce. We actually have a pretty good system; twenty dollars cash gets us everything we need. Getting used to eating seasonally has been interesting – it reminds me of your blog, Josh. There’s something incredibly satisfying about knowing that we’re right in the heights of eggplant season, and that okra’s just around the corner. Or that tomatoes and sweet corn have lasted throughout the summer, but as September gets chillier, those vegetables are waning away for butternut squash and kale. I wore a Midd shirt to the market once, and actually got a lot of comments. One farmer (with the best green peppers) told me he used to live up around there, but he and his wife were driving from the northeast to Florida and their car broke down in Carrboro. They decided to stay.

As far as school goes, I just got my placement for student teaching. My school is right around the corner (literally), so I’m always just ten minutes away. Anna O’Connell, my mentor teacher, teaches ninth grade along with remedial reading classes. She is incredibly kind, and I cannot wait to dive into working with her. UNC is large, overwhelmingly so at times, and completely different than Middlebury. But I love it for that; I don’t think I could have come to a replacement-Midd. Oddly enough, one of my friends in the program was Eddie’s high school girlfriend. Small world! My classes attempt to cover every angle of secondary education in a semester, so I'm taking Contexts of Education (a sociology class), Adolescent Pyschology, Young Adult Literature, etc. It's a lot of work, but everything I'm doing is relevant to the work I'll be doing as a teacher, so it's easy to motivate. The professors are also such caring and inspiring people.

If anyone is anywhere in the Southeast anytime soon, let me know! Our couch is always open to those passing through. I cannot believe graduation was months away; it’s been such a whirlwind. Speaking of craziness, wedding plans are starting to get exciting, and I’ll want addresses soon to send out save-the-dates for those of you who want to attend the big event next summer!

I miss all of you, but I feel like you are all kind of with me all the time, or at least when I watch Top Chef, or do Turbo Jam! I hope our paths cross soon!

Love, Katie