| College |
[May. 7th, 2006|12:02 pm] |
I was just looking over my degree audit, and there's a section at the end that tells you what classes you took that didn't count towards any requirements. In other words, these are classes that I technically did not need to take, but that I chose to take for my own pleasure and enrichment. Looking down this list, I'm so glad I took them. They taught me just as much as the classes I took for my major (psychology), my minor (history), and for all those random area requirements. I thought I'd share:
SPN 319 ADVANCED ORAL EXPRESSION 2002 fall
LAH 102H THE IDEA OF THE LIBERAL ARTS 2002 fall
LIN 306 INTRO TO STUDY OF LANGUAGE-HON 2002 fall
MUS 302L INTRODUCTION TO WESTERN MUSIC 2002 fall
SPN 346 PRACTICAL PHONETICS 2002 fall
HMN 101 COMMUNITY SERVICE 2003 spr
UTL 101 INTRO TO TEACHING PROFESSION 2003 fall
SPN 329S SPN SOC&CUL CONTM DIV 2004 spr
ENS 109P POP CHORAL ENS: LONGHORN SING 2004 fall
PSY 357 UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH 2004 fall
ENS 109P POP CHORAL ENS: LONGHORN SING 2005 spr
EDP 363 HUMAN SEXUALITY 2005 fall
EDP 367 INTRO INDIV COUNS & PSYCOTH 2005 fall
ENS 109P POP CHORAL ENS: LONGHORN SING 2005 fall
J 316 PHOTOGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION 2005 fall
ENS 109P POP CHORAL ENS: LONGHORN SING 2006 spr
Special prize goes to whoever can guess which two of these classes I got Bs in. |
|
|
| Caffiene |
[Apr. 29th, 2006|04:45 pm] |
I made it almost all the way through college without developing a caffiene addiction, despite the predictions of many. However, I think I might be getting hooked. The sad part is that I've started drinking caffiene not for the purposes of staying up late studying, but to keep me awake so I can stay out with my friends past midnight on the weekends.
This is really sad. |
|
|
| I'm supposed to be studying Biopsychology right now... |
[Apr. 9th, 2006|07:41 pm] |
I don't know how many of you will actually respond to this, but I'm curious. What's the most romantic thing anyone's ever done for you?
Feel free to post anonymously if it's embarassing and/or kinky. |
|
|
| Gainful Employment! |
[Apr. 2nd, 2006|11:25 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Monte Montgomery - Wishing Well | ] |
I got the UT job!
I found out on Thursday, but I wanted to tell people who live in Austin in person. I've accepted, of course. Now, for a list of cool things about this job, in no particular order:
1. I'll be working on campus, so I can still have lunch with friends.
2. I will cure eating disorders and adolescent depression. Yes.
3. UT benefits! Yay for health care!
4. My office has a view of a pretty courtyard.
5. The other position went to my friend, so I know I like at least 50% of my co-workers.
6. My boss lives in Oregon, so I get lots of independence.
7. I'll probably have the opportunity to get published.
8. I'll make enough money to support myself and start an IRA (not the Irish kind).
9. I don't start until August 1st, so I'm going to travel some this summer. Intended destinations include Mexico, Wisconsin, and Needham. Jess, what are you doing the first week of July?
10. I get to stay in Austin! |
|
|
| It's time to wait. |
[Mar. 27th, 2006|09:44 pm] |
I've had all my interviews, and I'll start hearing back next week. At each one, I asked how many people they were still considering and how many positions were open. Here are my odds of getting hired:
Duke: 1/5
UC-Boulder: 1/3
UT-Austin: 1/2
The irony is that I have statistics skills on my resume, but I still can't figure out the odds of getting hired by one or more of these labs. I probably could do it if I wanted to.
Edit: I stand a 22/30 or 73% chance of getting at least one job. Special thanks to Brendan Younger. |
|
|
| When it rains, it pours! |
[Mar. 24th, 2006|11:06 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
Hello Rachel,
Thank you very much for your interest in our Professional Research Assistant
Position. I'm writing to let you know that you are in our top group of applicants, and we'd like to set up a phone meeting to discuss the position, your potential match, any questions you might have, etc. Could you let me know your availability today, March 24th and/or Monday, March 27?
Thank you,
Amanda Bowles
Cognitive Development Center
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Center Coordinator
303-492-6389
http://psych.colorado.edu/cdc/
(This is at UC-Boulder) |
|
|
| May 20th is coming up too quickly. |
[Mar. 21st, 2006|11:18 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  nervous | ] |
I've been home sick since yesterday, and I'm bored, bored enough to post in this thing.
I never really know what to write about in here, since everyone who reads this thing falls into one of two groups: either we talk often enough to know what's going on in my life; or we haven't seen each other in a while. I often prefer not to write about everything, so that I have stuff to talk about when we catch up in person. However, this medium does lend itself well to writing down things I don't necessarily enjoy discussing at length, such as my job situation.
I've applied for positions doing psychology research at UC-Boulder, Stanford, Duke, and UT-Austin. Most of these jobs start in June and last for 2 years, after which I'll presumably start grad school in developmental psychology. I'll begin to hear back from these places in early April. Unfortuantely, these jobs are extremely competitive, due to the overabundance of psych B.A.s and the scarcity of paid research positions. Most universities have only one or two psych professors who have the funding to hire someone full time, and many of these professors choose to hire postdocs.
That said, I had my Duke interview last Thursday, and it went reasonably well. They're hiring 3 people out of the 15 they interviewed, and they seemed excited about my Spanish-speaking abilities. I'll get final word from them in early April. As for the other schools, I haven't heard anything yet, although it's still early. UT is my first choice, and I'll find something in Austin if I don't get any of these jobs. Maybe I'll substitute teach.
Update: I have a first interview for the UT job. Cross your fingers for me... |
|
|
| Mexico, DF |
[Jan. 13th, 2006|07:30 pm] |
The past couple of days have been great. Yesterday afternoon, Gina and I went to Chapultapec Park, el Museo de Arte Moderna, y el Museo National Antropol'ogico. The art museum was very small, but it had the Two Fridas, which was pretty cool, and some stuff by this Spanish woman that I really liked.
The anthropology museum was absolutely amazing. It was one of the best museums I've ever been to. Unfortunately, we only had time to see two sections, so we picked the Mexica (Aztec) section and the Mayan section. I learned a ton about ancient Mexican history and saw lots of old stuff, which I always like.
Yesterday evening, we met Gina's friend Jaime at a cafe (he's a UT grad student whose parents live here). He was great, showing us around to different cantinas. We went to La Opera, where we sat in a velvet-covered booth, ate snails (or, in my case, queso fundido) and saw the hole in the ceiling where Pancho Villa supposedly shot it. We also went to La India, where a drunk guy decided to sit with us and repeatedly propose marriage to Zwiebel.
Finally, we took a cab to a different neighborhood to hang out in Mama Rumba, a Cuban salsa club. We arrived kind of early, so a dance class was going on for the first hour we were there. We sat and watched; they were all really good. After the class ended, we got up and danced. Jaime was very nice, taking turns dancing with the three of us. He was pretty good, easy to follow, and fun to dance with. Other men in the club danced with us, too. Most of them were extremely good, and they all offered gentle tips such as "This song actually isn't salsa" and conversation gems such as "So, are you from here?"
This morning we got up sort of early (for us) and went to Teotihuacan to see the ruins, which included two large pyramids. The people who lived there must have had enormous thighs, because there were stairs everywhere. I climbed the smaller of the two pyramids, which was still pretty big. Even though this pyramid was much taller than the Mayan pyramids I've been to, my fear of heights didn't bother me as much because there were landings.
Running out of internet cafe time, so I'll summarize the rest: we ate lunch, caught the bus back, went to a market, and walked here. Tomorrow I go to Atlanta, and I'll be back in Austin late Sunday night! |
|
|
| Guanajuato |
[Jan. 12th, 2006|11:39 am] |
Well, Guanajuato was gorgeous. I'm so glad I went. It's a small, colorful city in the mountains about five hours north of Mexico City. It's all narrow, cobblestone streets, rolling hills, sunny plazas, and brightly-painted buildings. The city is also home to an old silver mine, which means lots of jewlery to browse through and buy. Tuesday we spent the afternoon wandering around the city. We went to a Quixote Museum, which was full of Quixote-related art. Some of it was really good, and some of it was pretty awful. We saw a drawing there by Dr. Zimic, the UT professor who Gina had for her Quixote class last spring. We took the funicular up the side of the mountain just in time to enjoy the late-afternoon sun over the valley, not to mention the myriad of tourist shops strategically located across the street from the plaza with the view. We saw a Che shirt that said "Guanajuato" on the bottom. This city is pretty hilarious. It likes to invent connections to Che Guevara and Cervantes.
That night we went to this place called "Jazz Bar" that we'd spotted earlier. It was completely empty, but the bartender suggested that we try a place called "Barfly" if we wanted to see people. We did as he suggested, and we had a really good time. The bar was really laid-back, with lots of short tables and chairs and cool music. We talked to this guy who insisted that Gina looked like an Argentinian named Mia and I looked like an Amy. We told him that his name was Jean Luc. He later showed Gina his ID, and she accidentally put it in her pocket, so now we have his ID. Oh, well. It's really old. It was fun for a while, until this creepy Argentinian guy started hitting on us. I could hardly understand him, since Argentinian Spanish is practically its own language. At this point, I decided to start a conversation with one of the only girls in the place. She turned out to be really nice, so we talked for a while.
Yesterday, we got up and found a panaderia (bakery). We bought pan dulce and coffee, and proceeded to eat on the steps of Teatro Suarez, a beautiful old theater comissioned by Porfirio Diaz. It was so relaxing just to sit in the sun and people-watch. After breakfast, we started making our way towards this history museum. On the way, we spent about an hour and half shopping, in only two different stores. The first was a jewlery shop, which had some of the best stuff I've seen here. I bargained with the guy, and I ended up getting two pairs of earrings and a ring for $15 US total. The second store was kind of kitschy place full of every trendy, bohemian Latin American souvenier. Gina and Zwiebel bought a ton of stuff {coin purses, belts, headbands, etc.}, but I restrained myself to a pair of really cheap sunglasses.
We visited Diego Rivera's Casa/Museo, which is where he was born. The first floor was "furnished in the style of Diego Rivera's time", which we thought was pretty funny. It wasn't his actual furniture. The next couple of floors, though, were filled with paintings and sketches of his. I really loved his Mayan-and Cuban-influenced stuff.
After that, we wandered some more and ate a delicious, cheap lunch at a little four-table place. We finally go to the history museum, which was the site of Hidalgo's ringing a bell to call all these men to join the revolution. Honestly, the museum kind of sucked. Each room had a giant head on the wall of one of the men who was important to the revolution, and that's it. Luckily, it was free for students, so we left.
The last sight in Guanajuato was the Callejon del Beso (Alley of the Kiss). It's this extremely narrow alley where balconies from either side almost touch each other. There's a legend about star-crossed lovers who used to stand on the two balconies and kiss. Of course, they ended up getting killed, but it's still a big tourist thing to stand in the alley and get a picture of you kissing someone. We blew kissed towards the camera.
After that, we made a beeline for the bus station, and were treated to Dance With Me (a movie about Latin dance that takes place in Houston) and Garden State, dubbed in Spanish. Hasta luego! |
|
|
| ¡Mexico! |
[Jan. 10th, 2006|12:37 pm] |
I´m currently writing from my hotel in Guanajuato, Mexico. I flew in on Sunday, and met up with Gina and Rachel Zweibel at the airport in Mexico City. We stayed there one night in a pretty cool hostel, where we hung out with some Australians, Israelis, and a guy from the Netherlands on the bar on the roof, which had a gorgeous view of the Zocolo and the catedral. Yesterday we went to Xochimilco, which are these floating gardens where you ride around in a boat Venice-style. While we were on the boat, all these vendors rode up in their own boats and tried to sell us stuff. We bought lunch, drinks, and jewelry, but we managed to resist the blankets, dolls, photographs, etc. It was really nice to get outside in the sun after 3 weeks in Boston! Our boat driver/pusher was really funny. He kept asking where our novios were, and then he insisted that we each take a picture with him hugging us.
Last night we took a bus to Guanajuato. On the bus, we were treated to two movies: Alien vs. Predator, dubbed in Spanish, and Seabiscuit, with Spanish subtitles. Of course, they turned the sound way down for Seabiscuit, so I had to read the subtitles instead of just listening to the English. We arrived in Guanajuato at 1 am, only to find that all the casas de huéspedes were closed, so we were forced to stay in a nice hotel. Oops. Today we plan to ride the funicular. I´m thinking about you, Jess! |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2){kind=small}
raylina's journal