classes, internship, reading

[deralte]

What has Ariana been doing this week?

Let me count the stresses and blessings.

- On Monday in Korean, one of the others in my class mentioned how stressful the whole class was. I had a little epiphany moment realizing that, yes, the stress was really what made the class the worst. I mean, there's no reason I should be blithely sailing through Advanced Japanese but struggling at basic Korean. I'm studying for hours every day and barely breaking even. Meanwhile, the professor had an epiphany when people once again started failing her tests, so she gave us all a chance to correct our lesson tests without looking at our books. This was good for me since I always look up what I get wrong after a test, but I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that I'm not likely to get an A in this class (and that if there's something stressful our Korean teacher can do to us, she will).

- On Monday, I also received an email asking me to a meeting on Fri. at the Met to discuss my internship application. Cue lots of flailing and staring flabbergasted at the email. Also cue a ridiculous round of calls to the hospital over the next three(!) days to cancel my shift since they make it pretty much impossible to reach anyone in charge there unless you get lucky and call at just the right time *sigh* It also took me two days to figure out where I'd put my meagre supply of make up (I have 8 pieces of makeup) since I haven't worn any for at least a year and a half. I wanted to look older for the trip to the Met though so I ransacked my room and finally discovered it in a box surrounded by anime keychains. Go figure.

- So today I braved the rain to head into the city. I made it to the Met and much to my joy, was offered an internship helping with the Asian Art catalogue, starting in two weeks. I wandered about the museum after that, determined to take in all the Asian Art galleries I'd never had the time to see on school trips years before, plus a really interesting display of artefacts from the Yuan dynasty which was a special exhibit. I'd have been content to stay there for hours more (I had to force myself to take a ten minute break around 2pm to eat lunch *L*), but I'd worn new dressy shoes and they, of course, tore my feet to shreds so that even now I can feel them aching and have the blisters to prove it. I did end up walking back through central park which was interesting for me since I've never been there (it was the same distance to walk through the park as it was to walk to the other closest subway entrance, and it saved me a transfer). I'm totally thrilled that I have the internship, even if it's looking likely I'll lose my helpdesk job because of it and I'm probably going to have to work at the hospital on Weds instead of Fridays (and hence not be able to go to Buijnkan on Weds for the next few months). This will be something new and brilliant I can present in my Phd applications (and there have been many times in the past several months that I've despaired of having anything new to speak of in them) and to be honest, working the back rooms of a famous museum has been one of my dreams for a very long time. I'm still shocked it's coming true.

- I started to read To Say Nothing of the Dog on the trip out today, and I'm already on page 265. Sometimes, when I'm being forced to read so many things I'm not so engrossed in, I forget how much fun it is to read a good book that really pulls you into the story and is well written and well plotted.

Comments

[doolabug.livejournal.com]

I think that would be a great recommendation! It'll show the application review committee that you have real-world experience as well as academic. I don't know about your particular supervisor, but typically curators at world-class museums like the Met are respected researchers as well, so it'll be like two birds with one recommendation.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

Thank you. That's good to know.