Can I tell you about our Scotland Secret?

It's been all I could do to keep mum about it but Matt gave me the go ahead so I am in the clear for announcing.

First let me give you a hint, it has to do with where Matt and I will be most likely be living from the Fall 2010-Fall 2011

One more hint....

Well, you probably are getting the jist of it. The thing is, Matt applied to do the LLM exchange program for his final year in law school at the University of Edinburgh. Getting his JD from UT and his Masters of Legal Research from the University of Edinburgh seemed like the perfect fit but when he applied for the program a couple months ago, it seemed as if it was too good to be true. The student exchange office was packed with peeps interested in the various programs. We were really not sure if any of it would pan out. Still, Matt applied. Of course, being a reserved and shrewd fellow in all things, he told me not to tell a soul that he did. I did my darndest not to and stayed good on my promise, until now obviously. That was at the end of September. Until then we have been waiting. And waiting. And....waiting.

It got to be too much for Matt last week, so he stopped by to the student exchange office a week ago and asked if he could update his information with a relevant course he wanted to add to his resume. They let him know that it was unnecessary as decisions had already been made and the emails would be sent out "on Monday". That started last weekend out with a bit of tension but we tried to distract ourselves well enough so that we didn't pass out from holding our breath for 3 days.

This last Monday came and went without an email. Same with Tuesday. It seemed that all hope was lost. I was ready on Monday night for the worst and was sure to stop at Whole Foods on the way home from work to buy Matt some organic Reese PB Cups and fancy Martinelli's apple juice as consolation. He accepted it all with a weak smile and didn't even have to tell me that the juice would still taste a bit bitter for a day or two. Still, he enjoyed the PB cups on Tuesday and we both found ways to convince ourselves that "we didn't need that stupid exchange program anyway"..."moving is such a pain"..."if they don't want us then heck! we don't want them!" You get the idea.

Well, of course, Matt still needed closure; so he stopped by the office a final time to get a sure answer. The office was closed but on the door was posted the list of all accepted applicants to their respective programs. And sure to Sweeney form, in such matters, we had assumed too much too quickly. Listed next to the Edinburgh Scotland exchange were the two accepted applicants. Mr. Matthew Sweeney was one of them. The email didn't officially go out until Thursday but it indeed came and we are oh so thrilled!

So I suppose it is off to another adventure. I hope that Edinburgh is as keen on "keeping it weird" as Austin is. From the stories that both my dad and Mr. Swirly Patterns have said from their missions, they keep it weird there in a whole new way. I will let you know the baked goods and bads of what that will mean for Matt and I next year. Stay tuned then I guess...

***Matt wishes me to post one disclaimer about all of this and that is that there is still one more step to finalize whether this actually happens. That is, University of Edinburgh needs to have two interested law students wanting to come to UT in order for the exchange to work. We won't know that until March, so there is still a slight chance that something could come in between us and Scotland. Still, I can't wait until March to get excited for this. In any case, it seems likely enough now that Matt has been accepted.***

Just in case you were wondering

Here is a short list of things that get on my nerves lately.

1. The absurd number of girls on UT campus (and neighboring areas with the same age group) wearing running shorts like they are regular clothes.

2. How it seems that 1 in 3 girls between the ages of 16-25 think that wearing running shorts is not at all sloppy or stupid looking.

3. Girls wearing running shorts with a sweatshirt and flips flops. Can anyone validate how this doesn't make sense?

4. Girls wearing running shorts who clearly .... how can I say ... do not engage in anything that includes physical exercise. Wearing the shorts does not make your legs look like a runner's. Far from it.*

5. The realization that running shorts are the new pajama pants of the south.

Oh well, I suppose it makes it a bit easier now that I have left BYU campus, as most of these girls have reasonably un-big hair and don't tend to wear an unholy amount of mascara. Still, let it be known that running shorts were not designed for fashion. They are clearly designed for a specific function and no amount of "built-in underwear" or colorful stripes on the side can compensate for failure to wear actual clothes to school. The sooner people can begin to respect this principle, the better this Austin community will be.



*Sure. You may say that I am being exclusive about runner's apparel since I wear running shorts when I run. By no means am I suggesting that my legs look any better than most of these girls, even though I do run. I do, however, respect that running shorts are utilitarian. As a result, I avoid wearing them in public at all costs. I respect that running shorts were created by the running geek and for the running geek.

For your convenience, I have included an image of the appropriate use of running shorts.