hrm

I need to write down my thoughts about the future somewhere, otherwise I will go crazy (that ship, while it hasn't quite sailed, is all-aboard and ready to go).

So. I have one year left as an undergraduate student at Webster University. I am currently on a lease on a house through next May. I need 9 credits to graduate. I will not graduate early. I WILL change my minors from Anthropology and Women's Studies to German and Human Rights. Call it a change in priorities, I don't know, I just figured with my future ambitions, those are far more appropriate.

Anthropology is great and I've really enjoyed my classes with it, but something had to give. I can only have two minors. BAH.

German wasn't originally slated to work out in terms of time, but because I can register for the Berlin class as 3 hours of German, I'll be able to get the necessary 18 for the minor. Might as well. As "they" say, major in anything and minor in a language. It's just more practical for me.

Aaaand, Human Rights. It's relatively new, so I didn't think we would have enough classes in St. Louis for me to be a minor (I believe it used to only be offered at our Geneva campus). But now, I have 9 of the required hours, and I need 9 more. I can do it, it's just going to be an interesting year.

OK. Academically, I should be ok. I need to start making straight A's for my peace of mind, but otherwise, I think I'm fairly squared away there.

Now, as far as extra-curricular activities go, I am kind of in charge of Students for Gender Equality, and I want to make stuff happen with it. I've had the thought of having a Feminist Fun Fair or something, where we can have speakers, and activities, and perhaps an equal pay bake sale (google that shit, it's awesome). Obviously, we'll still have our normal stuff, but I want to expand it.

I want to be more involved with Amnesty International and maybe get involved in some other stuff as well.

I want to be a better volunteer. I want to get involved in the election. Campus Democrats, maybe.

I am so looking forward to getting back to STL and my new house. I can't wait to decorate (and live in a room that's larger than a closet, and *gasp*, has windows!).



And then inevitably I get the question of what I want to do beyond that. It's all very vague, but I have some ideas. First of all, I want to go straight through grad school after I graduate. I just don't want to wait, because I know it gets harder and harder and I KNOW I want a master's.

I'm thinking very seriously about Webster's Global MA in either International Relations or International Human Rights. Both would be splendid. If I did that, I would be done by August of 2010. I imagine if I didn't some finagling with the schedule, I could be done by May of 2010 as well. That is ideal.

After I graduate...I don't know. I've been doing a lot of thinking about teaching. Teaching itself sounds great to me, I'd have a decent salary, and I'd have summers off. Naturally, it's a very trying profession, and I don't mean to trivialize it. Quite the contrary, the relative difficulty of it is what is giving me pause. Teaching has never been my "dream".

I would really just like to get a decent paying job. Seriously. I would like to be doing something related to my major, but I'm flexible. I just have SO. MANY. STUDENT. LOANS.

I also don't know where I'm going. I've toyed with the thought of moving back to Texas (Austin, most likely) to teach, because I know how the certification process works there, but I just don't know. I don't really want to come back here. I want to get started with my life, and if I move back to Texas, that's just going to feel like another transition. I'm sick of that.

I'm going to a coast, that's for sure. I've thought about Seattle and San Francisco, but the cost of living is exorbitant. I want somewhere that has a good public transportation system, because I am selling my car and getting a scooter or something. UGH. So done with this whole car business.

GOD. I just really don't know. I guess it all depends on where I can get a job. If I can make a decent salary in my field right after graduation then HECK YES I'll take it. If not...I'm back to square one.