4 Interviews, 2 more requests, 1 Fellowhip, a Birthday...oh, yeah, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Well, as you might glean from the heading of this post, it's been a busy couple of weeks for me.
My first interview at Boston University went really well. The profs there that I would work with were super cute female professors that took quite an interest in my (actually Sarah's) shoes. After the interview, Sydney and I grabbed a beer and then went back to her super awesome apartment. She has a really sweet dog, nice roommate, and tons of cool artwork. That night we braved the cold, hit the town and went to a couple really cool bars. Boston would be a great place to go to school.
The next day I had free, so I treated myself to a small shopping spree at H&M. That night we took it easy and watched, "Flirting with Disaster", which I had never seen and is freaking hilarious.
Then I was off to D.C. The interview there also went swimmingly. I really hit it off with a prof who I wasn't familiar with (he and his daughter do karate seriously). He's really into cross-cultural studies and liked my ideas about investigating the affect of the "culture of kawaii" in Japan on cultural expectations of body shape. I got to hang out with Ashley, who I haven't really hung out with since high school. She drove me all around the city and I realized that D.C. would also be an awesome place to live.
Then it was on to Tallahassee, where it was amazingly warm. Like 75 degrees. The people there were amazingly nice and answered all of my questions, plus talked at length about their experiences. I definitely got the fullest picture of what was going on at Florida State. FSU is the most research oriented school I'm looking at, which was initially unappealing to me, but is becoming more and more so. I won't really go into the whole clinical vs. research thing here, but let's just say I'm divided and unsure of how to resolve the issue.
Anyways, the next day I had lunch with the prof that I would work with and after talking with him he enthusiastically offered me a spot in his lab. Pretty sweet to already have an offer.
Super tired from having to be "On-April" 24-7, I made it to New York. There I was met by my Parisian driver, but sadly my luggage was no where to be found. I waited and waited, but it didn't turn up, and after speaking with the people in baggage claim we figured out it was in Roanoke, and the earliest it could get to me would be after 3pm the next day, which was definitely not in time for my interview at Columbia.
Met Mike for a drink that night in the bar of my uber swanky hotel. (Like they actually had dudes who roped off the bar area with those velvet ropes with hooks [even though there wasn't a line] and you had to get "let in" by them.) It had been awhile since I had seen Mike and I accidentally gave a stranger a huge hug and was going in for a kiss on the cheek when I realized it this wasn't Mike at all, and that in fact Mike was directly across from us, seemingly enjoying my mix-up. Stupid doppelgangers.
Despite being in my rumply travel gear, the interview at Columbia also went pretty well, but unfortunately the prof there that I would work with has no money to offer me, and as dope as doing grad school in NY would be, it's not fiscally possible without some serious cash. To cheer myself up I hit up the NY H&M.
That night I was done with interviews and Mike and I took the city by storm. First we went to a bar frequented by SVA-ers, but deciding the scene there was lame, we headed to a country & western bar staffed by pudgy, white trash girls who clearly thought they invented the whole "Coyote Ugly" thing. They took shots upon shots, danced on the bar, pulled back dudes heads and shoved shots of whiskey down their throats. It was excellent. After 2 Long Islands we headed to the Beauty Bar, a gay bar hosting a Drag Night. 1 more Long Island and I made the super uncool move of trying to request a song from the shirtless DJs. Though Mike warned me that kind of shit doesn't really fly in NY, I think I kept trying.
The next night I got to see Mike's studio space, which really does seem to be a little utopia for artists. Then we headed out with some of his weird SVA pals to the Knitting Factory to see the Psychic Ills. Excellent show.
Zombified, I arrived at Narita airport 2 days later. Going down the escalator I accidentally lost my grip on the super tech bullet-proof suitcase Hiro let me borrow, and it tumbled all the way down the escalator taking out a small Japanese woman. Luckily, because of its impenatrable outer shell, Hiro's suitcase was unscathed. I wish I could say the same about the Japanese woman.
When I got back home on Sunday night I was pretty much delusional, but with it enough to get super psyched about the email notifying me that I had been awarded the highest Fellowship at FSU: tuition, health insurance, and $23 grand per year.
Also, the profs at the University of Hawaii and University of New Mexico sent emails requesting an interview.
The next day was my birthday, and I celebrated with Hiro, Wen and Matt at this super rad restaurant that Hiro knew of, that was literally in the woods. It was a pan-Asian restaurant and the interior decoration was unbelievable. Plus they had two ducks.
That's it in a nutshell.
posted by April @ 7:04 PM
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