anticipation

Now the end of the semester is really practically here-- next week is my last week of classes, and my finals are quickly approaching. Fortunately, this means that summer is almost right around the corner, and it will be nice to have the chance to have a summer vacation (even if I may be working full time for free, there isn't the insane pressure around the internships that I am looking at is there is in some of the classes that I have been taking this year).
And, it looks like progress is continuing for my summer internship plans-- woo hoo! Rather than having second interviews last week, as was originally the plan, they happened earlier this week. One interview (once again, they were both via phone) got a little crazy, as the interviewer thought I would be available to talk any of the times I gave him, so he didn't email with a specific time. It just meant I was sitting in the library doing econ work when my phone rang, I looked at the number, quickly picked up when I realized what it was about, and told him I would call him back in five minutes when I had checked out a private study room so I wouldn't be disrupting all of the 3rd floor study area where I was working. (That is one of the nice things about going to a school with money-- they have massive libraries with every book you would ever need, if they don't have it you can use the book loan program from one of the other ivies, or can request that one of the Cornell libraries gets a copy. And, they have tons of private or group study rooms, another excellent feature that I have found very useful. The picture is of the library where I spend all of my time-- Mann.)
So, I called him back for a brief, but good, interview, and have now sent him a list of references. It was nice to hear that I was one of the first people he was interviewing (the guy calling would be my direct supervisor), as I feel like its better to be earlier on this list rather than later. I should hear back by the end of the week. I also contacted the guy I have been working with on setting up an independent internship, and he said he too would get back to me by the end of the week. I am a little nervous about that one simply because he made it sound like they had hired an abundance of interns for the upcoming summer, so they were still trying to work out the logistics.
But, on the positive side, during my Tuesday afternoon interview, with the director of a non-profit in New Haven, CT, I was offered an internship for the summer! I am excited about the prospect of spending the summer with this group, as I think they are doing really good work on human rights, and it could be a substantive internship (though unpaid!), but I want to wait and make a decision once I have all of my internship-related information, when I know what all of my options are. One aspect that I am still trying to figure out is whether it is better to take an internship for the summer that fits in with my specific studies here at Cornell (and could help me put together my master's thesis), whether it is better to make connections for where we want to live when I graduate next spring, or how substantive the internship is. I think all of these are important factors in the decision making process, but I am still trying to figure out how one aspect ranks or relates to another. I suppose it will be easier to see when I know what all of my options are, but it is my tendency to over-analyze, so I figured I would over analyze and see if any of you had input on my thoughts. Let me know if you do. And, of course, I will definitely update when I know more and have made a decision.
And, just for kicks, I will fill you all in on what I am writing my final projects/papers on for the semester. I feel like I publicize this information, but half the time Cody tells me that he has know idea what I am talking about when I randomly bring up my projects, so for kicks and giggles (and to explain why half of the time it may seem like I am suffering from a really short attention span), here is the list:
For econ: I am contemplating (its not certain yet) writing a paper on how exchange rates are determined, and the impact of artificially setting an exchange rate for international trade.
For my class on women's history: the role of women's community in historically black colleges and universities
For my community development class: I am profiling a non-profit that works on affordable housing in urban areas (I am specifically profiling Urban Homeworks)
and, well, stats needs no writing, it is simply an exam-- so we will see how that goes!
It makes me laugh to think that most graduate school programs really seek to focus your studies, and in many ways my education is focused, but in other respects (like thinking about the diversity of topics that I am writing papers on), it is still incredibly broad. I guess that's just the way it works sometimes!
--brianna