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April 29, 2002

Good News

So, I never got around to telling all of you about my good news -- right after I got it, I succumbed to a very nasty cold and didn't feel like doing much of anything. Now that I've recovered, I'll catch you all up.

:: :: ::

Two Fridays ago, I was woken up from a deep sleep by a phone call at around 10 in the morning. (I don't have classes on Friday, so I sleep in. Sue me.) It was the organization that I had interviewed with in DC a few weeks back for a summer internship -- and despite my groggy voice, they were calling to make me an offer for the summer! Why is this a good thing? Let me count the ways:

1. I have to do an internship to graduate.
2. They are going to pay me a fair amount of money.
3. I'll be moving to Washington at the same time that Ñaña's baby is born, and then I'll be there all summer to get to know her in all of her splendor, spoil her rotten and basically imprint my existence onto her impressionable newborn brain.
4. It's a really great internship working on the types of national security issues that interest me most.
5. Did I mention the money?

Though there are a lot of details to be cleared up (see below), it was such a relief to be able to say, "Summer internship? Check."

:: :: ::

Three days later, on Monday, I got my scholarship news for next year. It was very, very good news. I'll be a teacher's assistant in economics (oh wow, am I grateful for my teaching experience!), and though it's a notoriously time-consuming and stressful job, it's also an awful lot of money toward my education that I don't have to pay back.

It's been a little weird, actually. There's almost no way that I can explain this without seeming at least a little snobby, so I'll ask you in advance to forgive me: the TA positions for econ are really, really competitive. I knew that I was qualified and that my grades were high enough, but I also know that when many qualified people apply for few positions that it's anybody's guess who is going to come out on top. So I wasn't exactly surprised when I got it, even though I never felt like I was a shoo-in. Anyway, it took all of about 3 hours for me to encounter the first person who clearly felt that she* should have gotten it instead of me. Her congratulations were, shall we say, less than sincere -- and it's a reception that I've gotten a few times since then. Like I said, I don't feel like I don't deserve the fellowship, so it's not like all of this is feeding into some strange guilt complex. But it is the first time, that I can remember, that I have been in this position.

Anyway... next year's finances? Check.

*Tiny little snarky note: This person and I share the same alma matter. There are a few of you out there who know what this means. :)

:: :: ::

So, where am I now? You mean other than caught in some sinister, finals-filled hell?

I'm trying to condense what would be about 14 days worth of finals and papers and projects into the 8 days before I go to Italy. I need desperately to find some place to live in Washington for the summer, and even more desperately to find some one to sublet my apartment here in the Big Apple. I need to find a way to get a small, private bank loan to tide me over until the internship starts, and then again after it ends. I need to -- occasionally, at least -- sleep, eat, pay some attention to dear, sweet Jason, remember to keep up with daily chores like showering and feeding Boogie, and just hang on for dear life until there's time for a breather.

If you have any ideas on what I should see in Italy (Florence and Venice), where I should live this summer, who should live in my casa, and/or how to remain sane and solvent, please allow me to direct your attention to the comments link below. Help me out, ¿sí?

Posted by shannon at April 29, 2002 01:35 AM | For related posts:

Comments

Posted by: Ally at April 30, 2002 03:15 PM

Posted by: Jill at April 30, 2002 04:15 PM

Posted by: Jill at April 30, 2002 04:21 PM