Remember how I didn't get in to Penn?

I did.

I ran into Rich, my ex-physics major advisor, at physics tea Friday. He asked about graduate school and I told him the situation. He said, "So why didn't you come to me and ask me to contact the admissions chair at Penn?" And I was kind of like, "uh, uumm, because I'm afraid to ask people for things?" So I brought him a list of faculty at Penn, and he found some he knew, and e-mailed one saying that he knew this great student who was accepted to x, y, and z but REALLY wanted to go to Penn, and wasn't there anything they could do about that? On Friday afternoon his e-mail was passed along to the admissions chair, and this morning I was admitted.

Holy crap, I knew that things like this happened, but I never thought they would happen to me. It's like winning the lottery!

Of course, it isn't a given that we'll go to Penn... I have to see what kind of money they'll offer me, and whether their visit weekend has already passed or whether they'll pay for me to come out anyway or what. If they don't offer enough money that would seal the deal against them, because Penn is a private school and thus expensive. And I'll have to like the department and the people and the place. But still...... EEEEE!

I've gotten a lot of things out of livejournal. I've gotten a way to see extra dimensions in friends' lives that don't necessarily get brought up. I've gotten practice in writing fluidly and expressing my thoughts clearly, so that I can develop an argument or speak persuasively with greater ease. I've developed a chronicle of my years in college, which is fun and thought-provoking to look back on. I'm even made close, real friends, some of whom stayed as online support, and some of whom developed into real life friends.

One thing, though, that I never thought I'd get from livejournal, is free (well, nearly free) airline tickets for Ben to go to Puerto Rico with me. It is amazing to me that anyone would be so generous as to give something like that to someone they've never even met. It's a level of kindness that I'm incapable of even describing, except to say how wonderful it is, and how much respect, admiration, and appreciation I give it.

It's too bad that the only thing I can say is thank you, when it seems so inadequate. But thank you, bookworm_myrtle.