Employment?!

Just realized there are a bunch of employment opportunities for research assistants/technicians and I have all the experience and prerequisites they want. Even in midtown Manhattan. What what! Skipping grad school for the moment and getting tuition reimbursed anyway? I'm going to apply to just see what's up. No harm in that.

University of Delaware: Hmm?

I didn't get into the program I applied to, the Biological Sciences M.S., but the department chair wrote to me and offered to transfer my application to the Plant and Soil Sciences Program, which is more of what I wanted anyway... waiving all the fees and such. So, this is kind of a good thing anyway. :)

Suddenly I see, this is what I wanna be...

Break was stupendously relaxing. I mostly read pleasure books and visited Adam, while helping my dad with things around the house and doing grocery shopping for my mom.

Books I read:
The Golden Compass Philip Pullman
The Subtle Knife Philip Pullman
1/2 of The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman
Circle of Magic: Sandry's Book Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic: Tris's Book Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic: Daja's Book Tamora Pierce
(have, but haven't started, Briar's Book)
Alanna: The First Adventure Tamora Pierce
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling

Oh, it was glorious!

School started Wednesday, two days ago. I'm taking Undergraduate Research in Biology (continuing to follow up my research started 2 years ago), Directed Study in German (really cool actually; I'm researching crazy theories from German scientists and psychologists in the 17th and 18th centuries and how they, in fact, have some shreds of accuracy and are now practiced in modern neurological medicine with different procedures and under different names), 19th Century German Culture (urgh... lots and lots of reading), and American Sign Language aka ASL (which I'm SUPER excited about!!).
The ASL class is pretty crazy; the professor has been deaf his entire life, can't lip-read or talk at all, and interpreters will only be present in the class for the first two weeks. After that, the students have to fend for themselves. Talk about immersion! We also cannot talk at all inside the classroom, even to ask questions or say hi to other students. "Even though I am completely deaf, have been so my entire life, and cannot hear a thing, I can tell when you are talking! I can even see you whispering! Don't do it!" We have to do a 5-10 minute skit in ASL and attend at least two deaf events to sign to real people. Intimidating, but so awesome.

I also decided that it was time to start contributing to my own income during the school year instead of totally relying on the summer. Plus the fact that I only have 6 hours of classtime per week, I have plenty of time to work. So, I got a job in the Science and Engineering Library, doing random librarian things like checking out/in books, shelving and collecting fines. The library is pretty small, small enough that the stacks are on little wheels that move them around on the floor so you can get into an aisle. Two of my roommates already work there, so whenever I have hours with them I can make the long walk to the library with them and chill. My boss is really nice, and I'm kind of excited to be making some pocket money. Also, thank the lord for the raised minimum wage in Massachusetts recently - it is now $8! That's what I started with for Kohl's! Sweetness!

I got a new camera for Christmas, the black Canon Elph SD750. Looks like this:

Pictures from it can be found here: Public Facebook Album: Senior Year

I also got a Coach wristlet... Adam picked it out all by himself, I'm so proud of him! (lol... boys showing good taste is a definite character aspect to hang onto, as per the graduate students in my lab... even steve said he'd hang onto him.) Looks like this:


I'm going to Marco Island in Florida for spring break with Jen and Danielle - finally going somewhere for one of these breaks instead of going home! We're all on an exercise regimen called Operation: Bikini.

Graduate school applications are all in, I just have to send out three more transcript/recommendation combinations and I'll be set. My two top choices are UCONN and NYU, although I don't know which to choose if I get into both (gack!).
UCONN
pros: cheaper (5K for residents), bigger school, better program
cons: in the middle of nowhere, will have to have a car (which incurs costs) and pay full rent/housing, far away from Adam for another 2 years at least, during which I will have zero time for visits - grad students have a nonexistant social life

NYU
pros: more diversity, in New York City, won't need a car, will probably live with Adam (eee!), which = cheaper rent, goodness, etc.
cons: more expensive (27K for nonresidents), less prestigous Biology program

Hmm... just comparing the length of those two lists kinda points to NYU. We'll see if my parents flip a complete shiznit if I pick NYU. Oh, this will be fun...