Graduation and Beyond

The last two weeks have been eventful. Life happens fast sometimes and you just get to enjoy the ride. Here is the update on the events of the last two weeks.
Graduation!
Sharon finished her classes in December, but didn't do any of the graduation stuff because she was in Brazil. She decided to put off walking until Spring so we could walk together. With finals behind me on Monday I was able to rest and relax for a few days before the big graduation ceremonies. Thursday, April 24th , was the commencement ceremony for all graduates at BYU. As we walked from our house to the Administration building we were surprised to find it snowing. First time I've seen it snowing that late in the spring in Provo.
After a long march, or procession, into the Marriott Center we heard from various speakers. A student graduating in accounting recounting the many things he had learned while at BYU that would help him and us have success in the 'real world'. After that the keynote speaker was Elder David A. Bednar. The main focus of his talk was centered around the BYU motto of 'Enter to Learn; go forth to Server'. His main point was that while at the University we should learn to love learning. He suggested that the motto for BYU, if there were unlimited space, should be 'enter to learn to love learning and to serve; go forth to continue learning and serving'. We were happy we decided to participate in the ceremony.



Friday, April 25th, were our separate convocation ceremonies. Sharon walked with the Anthropology department at 8:00 am and received her 'diploma' from the professor she went to Namibia with, Dr. Crandall. It's always nice to be congratulated by those you've worked closely with. I walked later that afternoon around 2:00 pm. The ceremony was fun for me too. I sat with two good friends from my program so it made it extra fun and special.
We then packed up and went up to Park City to celebrate with my family our graduation as well as my brother McKay and my Dad's Birthday.

Pittsburgh, PA
Monday morning we drove down to the airport and hopped on a plane headed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The purpose of our voyage was to evaluate the city and schools there to see if we would be comfortable and happy making the move. It was a fun experience. We rode the public transportation the first day to get a feel for how well we would be able to get around. There was a bus that went straight from the Airport, through downtown, past all the Universities including Duquesne & University of Pittsburgh (PITT), and ended at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). It was a colder than normal day, overcast and damp, not the best conditions for a great first impression. As we explored campus I found myself noticing people smoking on campus and run down buildings. However, after exploring the buildings more my perspective changed to admiration as I noticed the character they had from so many years of use and how great their architecture was. We also got to the newer buildings, which were also very beautiful.
Tuesday we woke rested and to a much more beautiful day, which helped get a different perspective on the city. We returned to campus (CMU), and I meet with my student host, Salahaldin Hussein from Palestine. Sharon & I went with him to a Business Intelligence class offered at the Tepper School of Business. The classroom environment really sold me. There were maybe 25 people in the class. Of those 25 a max of 4 or 5 were white Americans and few other African-Americans. The diversity was great. There were people from India, the Middle East, Asia, and I believe some European or Eastern European. The discussion in class was centered around a case on the Sysco Corporation and their strategy for implementing technology and whether or not they should give the go on a new project. I thought it was interesting. I even participated a little. After that I meet with the Director of the Information Systems Program and had a great conversation, followed by some informative meetings with career services, financial aid, and admissions directors and assistant directors. They were all helpful and answered many questions as well as gave great advice from succeeding in school to what and where to look for housing.
Sharon's parents made the trip across Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh so during my meetings and a little after they walked around campus with us. We then faced some construction traffic on our way back to our Days Inn and had an enjoyable evening visiting and eating out.


Wednesday we were back in town at University of Pittsburgh(PITT) for Sharon. She has been looking at their Anthropology and International Development programs and had lined up to meet with a few people. Again, very informative. I highly suggest meeting and discussing in person programs of interest. It is so much more enlightening and informative than emails and websites. We then took a few hours to explore PITT's campus. You can't really tell you are on campus because it's just part of the city, kind of like NYU. However, there is one building called the Cathedral of Learning that you can't miss. It's a huge tower built in an old Gothic Cathedral style. We went in and checked out the architecture and a few of the rooms that they made into 'theme rooms' to reflect different cultures in the Pittsburgh community. I recommend visiting it to anyone. After lunch we were on our way back to the airport and back to life.

Beyond
So, the verdict is in. We've officially decided to make the move to Pittsburgh to pursue my Masters degree of Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon, whether or not Sharon gets her degree at a University in Pittsburgh is still in question, but we are now looking into employment options, such as at an NGO. I have to say I feel really good about it. Of course I have the usual reservations and questions anyone has when it comes to moving and change in life, but deep down I know it's right. I'm excited for a change of pace from Provo. I'm look forward to making new friendships and networking with new people from around the country and the globe. I appreciate the experience and education I've gotten from BYU, but I'm eager to experience the difference. From our visit CMU seems very progressive, dare I say 'liberal' compared to BYU, which will be a fun contrast, as well as the, in my opinion, much more diverse environment. I also feel that CMU will open a lot of doors for Sharon and I in the long run. It's nice to have a decision made and be working out the finer details now. We have been in touch with the two wards that cover that part of the city and have had great responses to questions and help offered in finding housing. You have to love the almost immediate network and consistency the church provides when facing change.

So for the next month we are in Provo, then we will be in Seattle, WA for seven weeks, then we will be on our way out to Pittsburgh, PA.

We hope you've enjoyed the update. If you know of anyone who might want an update on our lives feel free to pass on the link to this blog. We also love to hear your comments and feedback, don't be shy about leaving a quick comment or two.

Introduction

This is my first blog attempt, which is sad considering the fact that I am planning on going into a semi-technical/computer based job market. I have multiple motivations for starting a blog they are:

1. Keep the world posted on Sharon, my wife, and my life without writing huge mass emails that fill up the inboxes of to tons of people that may or may not want to know what is going on in our life.
2. Start getting some experience in the blogging world. My goal is to setup my own blog and not rely on Google's predefined settings and templates.
3. So I can sound cool and tell people that I blog and hand out a nifty blogger address
4. Everyone else in the family already has one
   

With the reasons why I'm starting this blog out of the way let me bring readers of the blog up to speed on the essentials of the Quinn life so far.
My name is Anthony Quinn, like the actor for those who are old enough to remember him. I was lucky to find an amazing girl that gave me a chance and after dating for awhile we found ourselves not wanting to go on without each other, or in other words we were madly in love and we decided to get married. And so, Sharon Ellsworth and I were married about one year ago at the end of a long school year on a beautiful April morning.
We should have started a blog much earlier because this first year of being married would have been worth reading about everyweek, we'll see if it continues. Two weeks after being married and honeymooning in New York, Boston, and the stylish 'Nottingham Village' we found ourselves on a plane to Mozambique for the remaining of the summer.
Mozambique was a fun experience. We were with an NGO working on multiple projects helping them establish themselves in Beira a port city in the central part of Mozambique in the Sofala province. We ended up teaching a micro-enterprise class to entrepreneurs with small business and women who were seeking help from the government and had had some experience with business. As part of the class Sharon and I started a little brownie making business to put into practice the principles we were teaching. The proceeds went to help one of our students who's husband had left her with six children and a house that was falling over. Our other projects were helping develop a well/pump system to be built in villages without clean water.
Besides digging lots of test wells and shopping around for materials in the local markets we found ourselves in many meeting with the government as they liked to know what was going on. Our time there came to a peak when a group of Americans came over for an expedition, which we, mostly Sharon, had also been planning and organizing. We stayed out in a village for a week working on installing some prototype wells to be monitored for their effectiveness for the next year.

We returned at the end of August to our last year of school.
Our next grand adventure was taking a trip to Santiago, Chile to see Sharon's Parents. We had a wonderful trip over the Thanksgiving break. The week we were there we were able to relax and see and experience some of the wonderful parts of the Chilean culture. We took a day trip out to Pamaire, a old pottery village and looked at the art work and had a great traditional meal. We also saw the old fortress (right) and and visited a lot of cool places around the city. Almost every evening we went for a stroll through the city and played in the parks and checked out the cool architecture.

In December Sharon finished with her double major in Psychology and Socio-cultural Anthropology from the School of Social Science.

For Christmas we had the good fortune to be included in the families trip to Brazil. After being kicked off of our Delta flight in Atlanta because our seats weren't assigned when we checked in in Salt Lake we had two days to kill, which were spent in hotels and in the airport playing card games. After a couple day we finally got on a flight and made it to Rio de Janeiro. Instead of being able to spend the time we had planned there, we only had a few hours, but it was enough to drive through the city and see the famous beaches. It was cloudy and we were afraid we might not see the Christ statue, but right as we were about to head back it appeared from out of the clouds. Unfortunately we had to cut Iguassu Falls out of the itinerary, so we went strait to Curitiba. We had an enjoyable train ride through the hills down to the beach and then drove back to the city. The next day we traveled to Manaus in the Amazon and spend a couple of fun filled days hiking in the rain forest and floating around in the Amazon. After that we spent some time in Maceio where my younger brother served his mission, and then drove the four hours up to Recife where I served my mission. I loved seeing all the people that I had worked with again. We finished the trip off with a few days in Sao Paulo.

Right now I am finishing my major in Information Systems at the Marriott School Of Management at BYU. This summer we are looking forward to spending a couple months in Seattle, WA doing an internship, and then heading off to graduate school. The final decision has not been made yet as to where we will be going. The two main choices are between the Master of Information Systems Management (MISM) at BYU or Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, PA.
I also applied and was accepted to Willamette University in Salem, OR; Idaho State University in Pocatello; and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. We're open to your knowledge and opinion about any of these schools, but we have all but made up our minds on where we want to go, and that will be posted as soon as the final decision is made.

That wraps up most of our first year being married. Hopefully we can more fully document the coming year and keep everyone posted on how life is. Thanks for reading all of this.