So, as of yesterday, I realized that my lovely TA/research job that I love so well will indeed die at the end of the semester. Hooray?
There's a chance that my boss/friend/confidante may be able to employ me again, IF she gets a grant, IF the government is still running in July. I love teaching and I hate that this job has an expiration date, but such is the economy, I guess.
In a way, this is kind of good, though. It's making me seriously consider my options, my future, the Big Picture I Have Avoided Since Graduating from College (all of 6 months ago). The upcoming loss of my job has inspired me to set the application process for a scholarship to Finland in motion.
Why Finland? Well, friends, there is a question I've heard about as often as "Are you Mormon?" (I'm originally from Utah, and no, I'm not.)
I studied Finnish entirely because one of my friends, a tiny dominatrix studying German art, told me that the Finnish professor at my school was "the greatest woman ever." Truth: she is; she gives off the most friendly, grandmother-that-bakes-you-cookies-and-never-makes-awkward-racist-comments-to-your-boyfriend vibes. Further truth: she retired after my first year. I kept taking Finnish, though, largely out of spite for the French department, until I somehow found myself in Finland, working at a camp for middleschoolers, teaching children to shoot arrows and carve amulets. A story for another time, perhaps.
Anyway, Finland also offers free tuition for all degree programs. I just graduated. A master's program seems like the perfect thing to help me sort out my life, or at least seem more employable. It's also just about the greatest place on earth for a crazy liberal hippie-type: universal health care, recycling and composting everywhere you go, public transportation, lakes and saunas and forests wherever you go. I'm hoping to go to Tampere, which I consider to be the greatest place of all time (and considering I'm currently in New York and a pretty fierce lover thereof, that's really saying something).
But for the time being, what to do? That is the question of the day. It's not so bad today, when the view from my lab is completely gray, but it'll get harder as May and The End get closer - the Hudson and the Jersey City skyline are definitely making a play for Best Sunset Ever. Plus, I love working in an entirely female lab, where more or less all of my coworkers are people I love hanging out with. Blah. BLAHHHHH, I say.
Oh well. Maybe I can find a job with benefits. You know, like healthcare. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. HA HA HA. HA.
I should've applied to grad school.
