I've been told (by my very hip, highly-informed, younger sister) that the title of this post is a nickname for good 'ole New York City...hopefully, this was correct information! Either way though, New York was the location of my most recent adventure. My boyfriend, Chris, and I took a trip to visit his mother in Middletown, NY from May 13th to May 18th. I had always dreamed of visiting New York City, and this vacation was especially exciting as I would be meeting his mother for the first time (eek!). Chris and I have been dating for a year and a half, and thought he has visited his mother a couple of times since we first got together, this was the first opportunity that I had to travel with him.
Along with his mother in Middletown, his grandparents also live nearby in NY. There was a lot of family time and between all of it, we were able to visit the city to see some sights and take some pictures (p.s. this trip could have been a million times better with a little sunshine):
Not only were we going to NY to visit with his family and see the city, but we had also set aside a day while we were there to visit some colleges. Chris' mother has offered to pay for him to finish his Bachelor's degree (2 years worth of classes), if he does so in New York!
We visited two schools near his mom's house in Middletown: Mount Saint Mary's College in Newburgh and State University of New York (SUNY) - New Paltz in, you guessed it...the City of New Paltz. Chris' mom received her Master's degree from New Paltz, and was really excited for him to visit.
Our first stop was Mount Saint Mary's and we both were so impressed! It is a small, private college in a small town off the thruway. The campus is adorable with beautiful landscaping and excellent facilities. They also offer an accelerated adult program for some programs of study (including Chris' intended major of Human Services) that will allow Chris to take 1 to 2 classes every 6 weeks at night, rather than needing to concentrate on 4-5 classes for the full 16 week semester. Because he is 25 years old, he can receive a discount on tuition which makes Mount Saint Mary's just as economical as SUNY New Paltz's out-of-state tuition. Also, because it's a smaller school, Chris can get as much help and support as he needs to be successful. Everything at this school seemed to be a great fit for Chris (although he likes to tell everyone how "we" loved it and it's perfect for "us" <3), and it was tough to get motivated to even visit New Paltz. However, in the interest of keeping EVERYONE happy, we dragged ourselves another 25 minutes from Chris' mom's house for our second campus visit.
We arrived at New Paltz and all of our original assumptions were confirmed - it was a standard state school. The campus lacked personality and the school's welcome staff did not even attempt to impress, but rather made it clear that they didn't really need our tuition money. We picked up some brochures and left, wasting minimal time (and parking fees!).
This was a great day. I had never seen Chris even remotely excited about the idea of going back to school until we visited Mount Saint Mary's. He will be applying to both schools, though I think you know which school we are hoping he is able to attend! We both have a number of weddings to attend over the next few months and it isn't really feasible for us to move to NY anytime soon, so he will be applying for Spring 2012. He would like to apply TODAY if he could, but we are not sure if they are accepting applications and make admission decisions this early on. Both schools accept applications for Spring semester until December 1, 2011, so we are worried that he could apply now and his application may just sit until this Fall....clearly, we have some calls to make :-)
We had been talking about this opportunity for the last 6 months or so, but now it's starting to feel real. At times, I fear the excitement that I've felt all along at the thought of moving to NY with the love of my life will be edged out by my nerves... Given my difficulty in controlling my emotions, Chris may have plenty of opportunities to prove his love for me in the coming months.
Honestly though, I think this is an incredible opportunity for Chris and I'm so excited to experience something new with him!
