the waiting game

The job search is, well, going. No positive results yet. I'm assuming that the places I applied to way back in late January/early February that haven't responded have decided that I'm not quite their type. Bleh.

Oh well, right before Spring Break, I submitted applications to the Open Society Institute (a policy think tank that does fiscal policy research), the Institute for Children and Poverty, and I just submitted an application for a summer internship at ETS. Yes, ETS. I'm interested in seeing how these standardized testing methods are developed and what the inner workings of such an organization are like. It'll be informative no matter what, seeing as I'm interested in making a career of educational policy and all, heh. I'll hear back from ETS before April 30th. Oh, the waiting game, how ridiculously not fun you are.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the Institute for Women's Policy Research and the Teaching Assistantship Program in France...I'm assuming they'll be getting back to me soon-ish? Not sure, but I'm eager to hear what they have to say.

It would be really nice to get this ETS internship because it would let me spend another summer at home (hopefully I'll be somewhere else next year), it would be incredibly productive, in many ways, and it'll be a nice transition into the working adult's life, I guess.

I guess all I can do for now is keep working hard and being proactive with this job search. If I keep sending out all of these applications, something's GOT to turn out in my favor, right?

On another random note, some songs that I've really been enjoying lately, some new, some old:

"All Day and All of the Night" - the Kinks

"Hey Soul Sister" - Train

"Teeth" - Lady Gaga

c'est trop.

c'est trop compliqué, tout ça.

ma mère m'a dit des mots vraiment sages l'autre jour quand mes parents m'ont rendu visite. elle m'a dit,

"quand on est petite, on s'occupe de ses notes, de ses études, de son travail, mais enfin tout ça, c'est facile. mais les personnes, les rapports...sont compliqués et dificils. c'est frustrant, hein?"

que ma mère ait raison. quand je me concentre sur mes cours, l'exercice, mon équipe, ma recherche d'un boulot, la vie me semble d'être simple, beaucoup plus facile à controller et vivre. mais ajoute les considérations de l'amour, tout les affaires du coeur et je suis perdue. on sait qu'on est dans la merde quand on pleure toute la journée sauf quand on est dans une classe. ce n'est pas la vie, ça.

i can read

Mom and Dad came by my tournament yesterday to come see me captain/play one more time before I graduate from the Wellesley Whiptails (oh god, the nostalgia. sorry. i'll try to stave it off, but when it comes to emotions and feelings and touchy-feeliness, i'm like a neverending fountain of sappy), and they left me with some crackers and food, including a bag of crackers which I'm eating right now as I finish my application for a summer internship at ETS.

There was this random small plastic packet with white ball-like things in it, and I thought it might be those poisonous silica gel things or something, and the packaging was in Korean so I thought I was just going to have to throw it out in case I read it wrong and accidentally ate something that would kill me.

BUT THEN SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENED. I read the characters out loud, which looked like this:

I sounded it out, "byul...sa...tang," and then I was like "oh, star candy. sweet. I can eat it." And then I realized that I had read it and understood it! YAY. For those of you who don't understand why this is so important, well, let me tell you a story about me. Again. Whatever, this is a blog, my blog, actually, so it's just going to be stories about me anyway.

When I was very little, I spoke Korean fluently with my parents. I learned English with my parents and quickly switched over to English as my dominant language and now I can barely speak any Korean at all. It's really quite tragic. It never bothered me before, but now that I'm going onto my second foreign language (first French, now Spanish), I kind of have been itching to learn Korean. It's also a point of sensitivity, the fact that I can't really communicate that well with my extended family, but I think that that's something I can amend.

So, basically, everytime I'm able to understand/read/speak Korean, I get really excited. Pretty cool, huh?

Whiptails Extravaganza: Part II

Onward! For the second part of our Spring Break in the South, the Whiptails caravanned to Folly Island, South Carolina and stayed there from Monday through Thursday! We kicked off the week by participating in a inter-team hat tournament. Dartmouth and Cornell also participated. My team won :)

The week was filled with all sorts of fun social activities, and the captains took it somewhat easy on the team this year. We gave the team a day off and held practice the day after for about 3 hours. But the rest of the time, people had to go into Charleston, frolic on the beach, relax, and do whatever they felt like doing. On Monday night, we celebrated Steph's 22nd birthday by having a big party at the beach house. Sara made Steph a birthday shirt, which she is modeling in the first picture below. A few of my teammates and I had brunch/lunch at the Lost Dog Cafe, a lovely restaurant in the center of Folly Beach, and enjoyed some delicious Southern food. I had a biscuit with gravy and also creamy grits with cheese, shrimp, and some vegetables...so so so good. And so heavy.

After practice, the next day, a whole bunch of the team went to the beach! It was warm, sunny, and gorgeous...though for the first time in my life, I didn't go into the water. I usually make a point of going into the water at least once, no matter how cold it is, if I go to the beach. But the combination of the ridiculously low temperature of the water and the potential of me being in immense pain from the salt water stinging my abrasion and blisters were enough to deter me from going in. We spent a few hours there, some of the team built sandcastles and buried a teammate in the sand in the from of a mermaid, some of them flew a kite, some of them went swimming, some of the read and basked in the warmth of the sun.

Sara, Steph, and I were also ridiculous and went back to high school and took Myspace profile picture-style "sexy beach photo shoot" photos. I'd say Sara succeeded...me....not so much! But it was fun, anyways :)

After 3.5 days at the beach, it was time for the team to head back up North to get ready for our second tournament, Get Skyy'd, which was held in Stonehill, MA. We went 5-2, not bad, and came in 9th place out of 20 teams. We're hoping to make a better showing at Sectionals in a couple weekends, but for now...back to practice! I'll leave you with this adorable shot of our team in front of the beach house before we piled into the cars and headed back up the East coast.

Whiptails Extravaganza: Part I

I got back this weekend from my last Spring Break with the Wellesley Whiptails...and I had a WONDERFUL time :)

I can't help but get incredibly nostalgic as my time at Wellesley College is really coming quite rapidly to a close. 6 weeks of classes left, and in exactly two months, I will be leaving this beautiful place with a diploma in hand, having moved out of the dorms for the last time.

Refocus: the point of this entry was to tell you a little about my time down South with the ultimate frisbee team! While I wish we had done a little better at our tournament in Georgia, overall, it was great fun, and it seems to me that the team enjoyed it all and still managed to come back to campus relatively well-rested, as we changed up the itinerary this year and decided head back to Massachusetts a couple days early. First things first, if you look to the left, you will see an example of my amazing new cleats. They're Nike Mercurials...yeah, yeah, yeah, old model, but I love them. I used to have red and black ones, but they broke, and I was tired of wearing black cleats so I got new ones! I now have a horrendous set of blisters/deep wedges cut out in the skin over my achilles tendons from breaking them in, but these babies are almost worth it, heh.

The first couple days of our Spring Break consisted of LOTS and LOTS of driving. Sara, Steph, and I ended up in the same car (yes, we requested it), and we rode in Steph's massive, embarrassing, forest green Suburban. As usual, the car trip was tons of fun, with stupid activities from our team scavenger hunt, lots of music, and lots of bonding! The pictures below show Sara driving, the two cookies (newbies) that were also in our car, shown here atop of a zebra at South of the Border, and then myself trying a Five Guys hamburger for the first time. Delicious.

Then, when we got to Statesboro, GA, we competed in College Southerns, hosted by Georgia Southerns University. We didn't do particularly well, coming in something like 15th out of 36 teams, and the only reason we ended up in that spot was because our last two games on Sunday were wins by default since both teams that we were supposed to have played left early. However, it was a great chance to see what we've been working on play out on the field, and it was lovely to see the sun! People were generally in good spirits...until we played the host team. Georgia Southern had one of the MOST unpleasant captains that I've ever met. She was incredibly rude, defensive, and she contested and freaked out about calls even though she herself didn't know the rules. My whole team complained to me about how terrible it was, so after the game I pulled her aside and pulled out the rulebook to explain to her all the wrong calls she made, and then told her that she single-handedly made the game incredibly not fun to play. She actually was receptive and apologized. I thought I was going to get punched in the face. Thank goodness. I ran into a couple friends from Rutgers, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Tufts, which is always nice. I ended up with tons of random injuries/scrapes, which resulted in me making frequent trips to the trainer. We got to the point where we were on a first-name basis. If you look below, you'll see that I'm sitting on the trainer's table. My ankles are taped because the blisters were "granulating" (??) so they needed to be covered, my finger is taped because I had an accident with a razor that took off too much skin, my left hand is in a brace/splint thing because I sprained it, and I look sad because the trainer just scrubbed my humongous grass burn abrasion thing with a gauze and hydrogen peroxide. Most painful experience ever. Next, you see a picture of some of my adorable teammates, and then me with my favorite trainer, Von Miller.

Then, we headed out to Folly Island, SC. This post is quite long, so I will break it up into two parts. See you in the next entry!

SPRING BREAK 2010...

...is but hours away! By this time tomorrow, I will be en route to Georgia to compete in a tournament with my ultimate frisbee team. It's my last Spring Break in college, and my last one with this beloved frisbee team to which I've dedicated so much time, energy, so many tears, moments of frustration and elevated stress, but from which I've experienced so many laughs, silly dances, jokes, and steps towards becoming a stronger person.

Our itinerary:

3/20 - 3/21 : Tournament in Statesboro, GA

3/22 - 3/25 : Hat Tournament, beach house stay on Folly Island, SC

3/25 - 3/26 : Drive back up the East coast

3/27 - 3/28 : Tournament in Stonehill, MA

Should be tons of fun! Plus, one of my best friends, Steph B, and I will be having a huge dance party with the team at the beach house to celebrate both of our birthdays :)

I didn't really have a huge birthday celebration, actually I barely celebrated my birthday at all. However, today it was beautiful and sunny and 65 degrees so some of my friends and I had a picnic outdoors for lunch before rushing off to all of our classes and meetings and homework sessions. For just an hour, we breathed in the fresh spring air and enjoyed each other's company. It was LOVELY.

Well, back to the big push before I get to get off campus for a little journey down South! Just one more exam and some packing and I'm home free :)

PLUS I get to see Mom tomorrow because we're stopping by at the house!

it's our birthday!

Someone asked me last week if celebrating a birthday was different because I've always had to share it with someone. I had never really thought about it, but it's true. For most people, their birthdays mean a day of ME. I by no means think it's undeserved, silly, or lame. In fact, I think it's wonderful that people get a chance to celebrate themselves for once instead of celebrating others...though in general, being happy for others is a pretty good feeling :)

But I thought long and hard about it, and you know what it, it IS different. I've always had someone to share it with somebody, my lovely twin sister. And though we've fought, and in high school we failed to ever have a birthday party because we couldn't agree on who to invite/where to have it/pretty much anything, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

My twin sister is incredibly strong, wonderfully talented in so many ways (painter, violinist, thinker, athlete, cook, comedian, expert sleeper at times, etc.), and while I'll never know what it would've been like to grow up without a twin, I don't think I really care to find out.

Happy 22nd Birthday, Jin! We made this far and I can't wait to see what life has in store for us next!

a poem

My International Macroeconomics professor also happens to be a big poetry buff. So, every Friday at the end of lecture, he hands out copies of a poem to read to us. I really enjoyed the one he shared with us yesterday morning, so I've decided to share it with you.

"Warning"

- Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick the flowers in other people's gardens

And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street

And set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

injury

At practice today, one of our best cutters, Balto (also a wonderful friend), rolled her ankle pretty badly during our scrimmage. Ugh. I hope she feels better soon.

I jammed my fourth finger really badly though I don't know what's actually wrong with it. I can't bend it to make a fist, it feels like there's something stuck in the bottom knuckle of that finger and it's frustrating me A LOT. Try doing anything without your fourth finger. The problem is that it hurts when I use the rest of that hand. Bleh.

nice weekend with jenn

I just enjoyed a lovely but far-too-short weekend with my little sister Jenn, who came up to visit me to kick off her Spring Break! She took the train up from Swarthmore College (a long trip) and spent a few nights and days with me before heading home to be with Mom, Dad, and Sheba for the rest of her break. It was altogether just relaxing and low-key...unfortunately we both had tons of work to do so we ended up spending some time in the library, the student center, and at Peet's Coffee in the Ville doing work. But still, incredibly pleasant!

I was so happy to find that the weather would be gorgeous during her stay, and indeed, it was! Sun shining, temperature in the 50s, a light breeze, and blue clear skies! Wellesley at its finest, really :)

The picture to the left is of Jenn in front of Lake Waban when we took a walk near there to see how beautiful the view was. I have to say...she looks pretty natural/good in my Wellesley sweatshirt and in Wellesley scenery...maybe that means she belongs here? Just kidding, hehehe. She's too busy TAKING OVER Swarthmore!!

I just churned out a 7-page paper about the U.S.-China trade deficit...my policy proposal? Don't do anything. Basically. We'll see what my professor thinks about that. Hope he's a free-market kind of guy! Yikes!

After I turn in this paper tomorrow morning, I just have one more midterm exam and a big problem set standing between me and my last Spring Break trip with my beloved frisbee team! Speaking of ultimate frisbee, I unfortunately have to deal with some messy administrative/tryout stuff before Spring Break starts. As always, there's a lot of random tiresome things to do before the fun actually begins! A couple fun things to look forward within the next couple weeks: a party at Tufts that my friends and I are planning on going to, an outdoor scrimmage against Brandeis University's women's team, and perhaps a little birthday celebration for my 22nd birthday!

In 6 days, Jin and I are going to be 22 YEARS OLD. How old does that sound?? I sure would like to hear back about a job opportunity before the end of the month. Not likely. I think I hear back next month from a few of the opportunities. Before I leave for Georgia with the frisbee team, I need to submit a couple more applications. *sigh* It never ends!

Well, I'm off to bed. Good night!

Tough workout, but good

Today was a pretty weird day. I got emotional and then locked myself out of my room and had to call campus po to let me in. It's also been gross out for the past week or so, making productivity low and moods rather bleh overall.

But practice was good. George has been writing really good track workouts for the team that everyone can do and in which everyone can tell they're improving. They're tough for the body, but good for the body, spirit, and confidence. Today, the workout went like this:

4 x 400 with 2 minutes rest between each 400

I ran them at 1:28, 1:27, 1:27, 1:26, respectively.

4 x 200 with 1 minute rest between each 200

I ran them all of them at sub-40sec, I think maybe even a few of them sub-35sec.

4 x 100 with 30 seconds rest between each 100

I ran them at 18sec, 17sec, 18sec, and I don't know what the last one was because I got confused by a painted line and stopped early...lame, I know.

Practice always puts me in a better mood. There's nothing like a tough ultimate practice to remind myself that I don't have to worry about silly things that distract me from my life and that I have all the friends and loving family and amazing things to do that I could possibly ask for and therefore have nothing about which to be sad!

Good night :)