Thanks Praxis. It sounds like being away for a month was a good thing for you, and I do think we have a lot in common. I was 20 when I got married, but it was too young for me. What did you go back to school in? My husband says that he supports me in going back to school, but I could tell that going away to school scares him, and he made comments about the chance that I would get romantically involved with someone else or something like that. He goes back and forth between being willing or not to transfer to the place where I get accepted (if I did/ever do). Now that I've been rejected by the programs I replied to this year, and I might as well go ahead and finish my master's and wait and see if I want to apply again some other year, he has asked about what if he took a job where the programs I applied to are. When I went to interviews he was not willing to consider the possibility of transferring, so I told them that I would be commuting and staying with relatives.

I'd love to go stay with my relatives in Norway for a few months or a year. I went for a couple of weeks a year and a half ago. But that's not independence. I depended on them to drive me around, give me a place to stay, etc. It was nice though. I wonder if there would be any way to arrange for a practicum in Norway. Probably not.

I don't think that I want to leave my family permanently, but I think it would be good for me to be on my own for a while somehow.