eek! more decisions!

so i was bragging to a friend about how i get spring break now that i was back in school...but oh no, it was no break. i mean, i went home and visited my family, but i did work much of the time. apparently, that's how it is for most grad students-which, i might point out, they did NOT tell us at orientation (disappointed face).

anyway, friday i went to graduate studies day at american university in dc. it was mostly for people who had applied and were accepted, but i thought it would be a good idea to go and check out the anthropology program. i'm already interested in applying, (i know, even after i said i didn't want to go into a doctoral program) mainly because they offer a concentration in race, gender, and social justice.
most of the orientation was pretty boring, except for the marine biologist from australia (or new zealand?) who gave a presentation on his research on the sex habits of hermit crabs (funny, and a bit creepy)
next we met with our departments, which was basically a question and answer time. they presented themselves as striving to make anthropology more available to the masses. the chair of the department was pretty adamant that public and applied anthropology were different things. in his mind, public anth took it a step further. although i didn't really agree with them, i was impressed with the fact that they had both a master's only program (in public anthropology) and a doctoral program, of which half of the graduates go on to non-academic careers. i talked with one of the professors who looked not much older than me, and was also studying the african diaspora. the more conversations i had with her and other students, the more i felt like i could really see myself in that program. of course i would have to finish at maryland first, but it looks like i may apply next year!
wow! phd. it wasn't even in my realm of thinking when i finished college.
i even liked the campus. i like maryland, but it's entirely too big, which contributes to all the grad students being so isolated in their departments. i'll probably take some classes there next year since they're part of the consortium, that way i'll really get a better sense of the department.
sooo..that means more decisions, more applications, more debt, more schoolwork...yipeee!! i'll be in debt for the rest of my life! yay! oh well, i'd rather be in debt doing something i love, then out of debt doing something mediocre that i hate. it will totally be worth it.
obligatory photos of my adorable and brilliant nephews:

[insert clever title here]

ok, so i had all this momentum going with posting regular blogs, then these past couple of weeks just hit me like a ton of bricks. the conference was great; it was pretty bad timing, considering all the work i had to do that weekend, but worth it because i got a break from school. at the end of the weekend my brain was completely full, and my resolve to help "save the world" renewed. oh, and not to mention the numerous additions of corporations i must now boycott (coca-cola); got to hang around some fun presbyterians, a group of whom let me crash in their hotel room (thanks maggie and claire!). hearing marian wright edelman speak was amazing-her speech was simple and to the point; there were no grandiose statements or pretentiousness that normally goes with speeches from someone of her stature.
for most of the weekend, i thought of how all of this related to anthropology. don't get me wrong, i'm really enjoying my studies so far, but at times i feel like we spend too much time discussing what it means to be a practicing anthropologist, but not a lot of time on what kinds of things we should be doing specifically.
speaking of which, the good news is i have an internship! yay!! some of you might know that i had planned on working with my advisor this summer, but that fell through. i was really starting to panic after awhile-i didn't really have a clear sense of what i wanted to do. most of the research being conducted in my areas of interest-race, the African diaspora, and missiology(study of it, not practice) were mostly academic. then i had an epiphany a couple of weeks ago. i did a presentation on an article about applied anthropologists working with sudanese refugees in nebraska, and i thought, hey! that's what i could do! i can't believe i didn't think of this before! i have experience volunteering with refugees in the past, and it fits in with my research interests. so i will be working at the presbyterian washington office researching issues facing african immigrants, and hopefully doing some ethnography. the drawback is that it's sort of up to me to develop the internship (hence the ton of bricks) on top of mid-terms...
so that has been my life so far. sorry, my camera broke so no pretty pictures to look at.