Kindling
There are two reasons behind my blue mood lately. First, I didn’t get the Fulbright grant I applied for. Oh, I was in good company, though - over 6000 people applied for about 2500 spots. Maryam said it best on her blog in reference to the Bloggie Award she had hoped to win,
“I didn’t really think it would win. But there was that secret part of me that hoped that some how, some way…. Well, you know how it is. So I am burning that particular hope on a bed of kindling and getting on with it.”
See, here I am burning my proposal. (Er, symbolically, I didn’t REALLY do anything that dramatic.) I want to thank everyone that supported my efforts in this, from proofreading my proposal (thank you Maryam!), to providing recommendations (Dr. Kavanaugh, Dr. Shoup, and Dr. Riskedahl), to just general support and encouragement (too many to list!).
I had a lot of fun talking to various people and doing research, which made me think, “Hey, I miss being in school.” That’s when my idea of going back to grad school started to gain more emphasis…but what to study, exactly, and where? I haven’t figured that out yet.
The second thing that’s been on my mind was an awesome, super, amazing job I was offered. I’m not at liberty to reveal who/what/where, but it would have used quite a few of my talents concerning Morocco. This was one of the major topics of conversation (see last post) between my husband and I for several weeks.
In the end, I only had a couple of cons against taking the position, and many pros - while he had many cons and almost no pros. In the end, I had to compromise in his favor, for two main reasons. First, it’s his country…I tend to make the job decisions here, while he knows more about how things work there. Second, we’ve been back and forth for five years now- I think I’ve been to Morocco over ten times, and he’s now on his fourth trip here. We’d like to feel settled for a little bit - well, especially him, and I can’t blame him for that.
So we’re probably going to be here until the end of 2007, and then we’ll review our plans again. I’m still not sure I made the right decision, but I’m trying to be positive about it - I like our neighborhood, I’m enjoying being less than an hour away from my parents, and I love getting Indian/Mexican food whenever I want!
There you have it…a little bit of letdown, a little bit of second-guessing myself. At least Spring is almost here!
March 25th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
It’s too bad about the Fulbright. Sounds like a lot is going on - just know we wish you all the best.
March 26th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
I am really sorry to hear about the Fulbright. Clearly a grossly myopic misjudgment on the part of the Fulbright people. It sounds as though you are going through a bit of a rough patch, but I hope things look up soon. In the meantime, at least there’s the Indian/Mexican food (although personally I am partial to Chinese/Japanese/Thai when I am not eating Moroccan!)
March 27th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Ditto Bill. F* ‘em. Their loss. Move on to better things (and a few tamales can’t hurt).
March 28th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Still interested in what you are considering for grad school. It’s nice to see/hear what others want to study. I chose a fairly conventional path that was probably not such a good fit, but sort of feel trapped in this career because I’m still paying off the loans from my last bit-o-school.
Totally off topic, but did I read once that you may have a good travel agent/source for discounts on RAM? I’m planning to go back to Marrakech in June and flights are starting to get a little pricey. If so, please feel free to e-mail mail.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
[…] all generous, kind, intelligent, and strong. One of these women is Maryam, as mentioned before, but the second is Dr. Andrea Kavanaugh of Virginia Tech. Yes, where the shooting was. Yes, Dr. […]