college update: college trek accomplished

i have now visited all the colleges that im currently considering. first off, thanks to my family for making the trip happen. we flew out to providence, RI, where we picked up our one way rental car. drove up to boston: boston college. drove thru fordham in new york (saw statue of liberty and ground zero as well). walked around franciscan u. of steubenville. visited loyola chicago. and finally marquette in milwalkee. i had already visited slu and wash u back during spring break. i really liked bc except for its distance from home. frankie u. would be great spiritually, but it's too conservative for me. loyola and fordham are too urban for me. marquette is a lot like slu. so right now, slu is my first choice, bc is second, and marquette third. i stopped considering wash u bc its not jesuit (mission of education not directed by spiritual goals). and truman is a good school, but same prob as wash u plus not in a city.
so slu is my top choice right now because it is in st. louis. i am so connected to st. louis with the people that i love being here. my well being is somewhat reliant on being with people that i love. slu is obviously jesuit. something that has apparently become my main criterium for my college search. i have a great chance at receiving lots of financial aid from slu. the college credit that i have earned is accepted by slu. my favorite color is blue. these are a good number of reasons why slu is my first choice right now. just a sidenote: while my home is only 5 minutes from the campus, i would be planning to live on campus (its part of the college experience). and hopefully with financial aid, it will not be unnecessary money spent on my part.
during this trip, ive had ample time to think about things, and for a major, im thinking education with the intent of teaching high school theology. cuz at first i was thinking about the priesthood and homilies and that led me to consider the fact that im probably more able to teach in front of kids than preach in front of adults. so im excited about that thought. the other thing i like to think about as a career is to work at karen house. its part of the catholic worker movement (dorothy day and all) its houses families while they get back on their feet. and the people who run it also live there with the families. it is an awesome way to live out my drive to work for social justice. and to live out a life of physical poverty. the people who run it have very few possessions. their lives are very simple. that is definitely a goal of mine. to simplify my life. less is more. if i empty myself of possessions, God can fill me with grace. that said, i often feel like a hypocrit for wanting to buy things. my bday is coming up, and my family likes to know what i want in the way of gifts. so i have this list in my mind, and these items are completely unnecessary in the long run. the items themselves are contradictory. some are to have brand name things and some are to fight against brand names. ahhhhhh.
ok, i'll make this clearer by telling you my list. its short, dont worry. ok, aviator sunglasses. to look cool basically. something i dont normally care about and dont want to start caring about. the next is teva sandals (brand name alert) the idea is to have sandals that arent leather. but i can get unleather sandals at target. i guess my idea was that they would last for a long long time. but my original reason was because i liked the way they looked. so its a cool thing again. ug. my third is the antibrand name item. converse style sneakers that are made by unionized factories (not the converse brand) thats at www.nosweatapparel.com. but again, my desire for the shoes is not only to have them union made but also for the style. so after writing about it, i think the shoes would still be worthwhile purchases. and if i ever come across aviatiors that are cheap, there is no harm in having style in the spirit of fun. sigh. the material world sure does complicate things though. ok, well i started out talking about colleges and i took a tangent over this way. the tangent ended, so i think this blog is done.