When I heard the American Academy of Advertising annual conference was schedule for Cincinnati, Ohio last year, I immediately wanted to attend. Both of my parents grew up in Cincinnati and I was born in Cincinnati. I moved to Orlando, Florida when I was a little over a year old. Growing up we visited Cincinnati occasionally and I can remember falling in love with the city. I moved to Columbus to attend Ohio State after I graduated high school. However, in the five years I was at Ohio State I never made it to Cincinnati.
My thesis and soon to be Ph.D. adviser has a terrible fear of flying. If it is absolutely necessary he will fly but close to against his will. Because of this, he asked me to drive with him. As some of you know, I love to drive. Dr. Bradley and I accumulated 2,515 miles over the course of 6 days. I had an amazing time both driving to the conference and at the conference itself.
During the second day of the conference I received word that I had been accepted to the Ph.D. program at Texas Tech complete with a scholarship and assistantship. The best news I have heard in a long time. My hard work is paying off and the news has served to encourage me to work even harder.
After hearing horror stories about the group trip from last year in Vermont, I was a little skeptical of the boat trip. My concerns were mirrored by a few of the conference attendees who had been bused about Vermont the year before. Despite the concern the boat trip up the Ohio river was probably the high-light of the conference. I met quite a few people and did some networking for myself on behalf of Texas Tech.
We also had an opportunity to tour the campus of Xavier University located around 4 miles from downtown Cincinnati. Wendy Maxian will be teaching at Xavier in the fall. I was definitely impressed with the campus and especially the basketball arena.
After the conference in Cincinnati, Dr. Bradley and I took a trip to Bloomington, Indiana. Although not technically on the way, this was the first time Sam had been remotely close to the city where he lived for over three years while getting his Ph.D. In the two nights I spent in Bloomington, it is possible I learned more than an entire semester of reading. Surrounding yourself with smart people is definitely the key to getting excited about your education.