Still Runnin’…
Nothing worth doing is ever easy.
We’ve all heard the phrase a million times. And we all know it from personal experience. It often becomes our mantra when life throws us curveballs and just generally makes things difficult for us as we pursue our goals. That’s part of why this blog’s name is what it is. Pursing something will be difficult, and will be like running against the wind.
I’m leaning on this phrase heavily today. I received notice sometime within the last hour that I will not move on to the Oral Assessment of the Foreign Service in November. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t very upset to get that answer instead of the invitation to Washington for a chance to prove myself in person. But I also knew that there was a high chance that this is the answer I would get. After all, I have never been out of the country for anything more than a high school music competition. I have little formal training in economics, which is the field I want to work in. And I’m sure plenty of other candidates had both of those things.
So what this means is that my back-up plan is now the plan. Graduate school was always the path I wanted to pursue if the Service didn’t work out because it will give me the right combination of academic preparation and personal, or life, preparation. It gives me the opportunity to study abroad, meet people from around the world, and really learn about the field. Knowing that there’s no chance of the Service this time around does mean I have to re-evaluate whether or not to pursue some programs in the Spring 2011 semester. Doing so means starting my studies earlier, but possibly forgoing a chance of going to some of the best schools – which only start in the fall. It also means giving up the option of trying for a Pickering Fellowship, which would help me with both grad. school and getting work experience. I figure I have a few days to figure that one out. Today I’m just going to let myself be sad and work around the house a bit. Tomorrow I’ll start asking the tough questions.
Why I Stay Ahead of My Classes
The semester has started off well. My statistics class is active every day, but I can stay a bit ahead of the game by doing reading and taking notes ahead of when they are assigned. And our online discussion area let’s us save our posts as drafts, so I’ve been able to start writing them in advance as well. Macro. was a shortened class yesterday due to the professor being absent. And yes, the homework I did isn’t due until next week, so I’m ahead of the game there as well. International Relations doesn’t meet until next Monday due to the holiday, but I have the books (although no syllabus yet), which has allowed me to start reading and taking notes well in advance of the class. It’s a habit of mine that I’m making no attempt to get rid of.
Here We Go!
Well, yesterday was a very runaround kind of day, back and forth to my local community college. Raritan Valley is a community rather than county college because it serves both Somerset and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. After several hours in many offices I confirmed that my application had been accepted, got my ID number, talked to an advisor who told me I was doing things exactly right to realize my goals, got registered for 3 classes, got my ID card, set up my semester payment plan, and got all of my books bought or ordered. (I order used from sellers on Amazon whenever they offer me a better price than the college book store.)
Autumn Plans
In my last post, I spoke about where I am in life – playing a big waiting game. The biggest news, of course, is whether or not I advance in the interview process of the Foreign Service, which I should find out about in 2-3 weeks. It gets harder to keep waiting the closer the timeframe becomes. But I’m also planning on making the most of my autumn both in terms of career development and graduate school preparation. And of course, that matter of finding a paying job to fill anywhere from the next six months to the next year.
Update
I completely fell off the 365 bandwagon again. I’m going to start in September and just try to document a month, and build up from there. My life stalled out in general over the past several weeks. Months have dragged by with me trying to find a position that will pay the bills, with little luck. I had a lot of ups and downs, and I doubt I will continue to have them as long as I’m in this situation of being unemployed.
