The official departure date is 1st September, wherein I will leave the opulent Nashville airport, saunter over to D.C., strut down Paris (actually, I'm dreading that airport), only to make a splashy arrival at Cologne. I will arrive approximately six days before the T.A. orientation at Altenberg, so this will give me time to a.) travel to Niedersachsen and find a place to live, b.) embarrass myself in Cologne, and c.) get used to a foreign country where polite people seem frightening solely because they speak a different language. Okay, so the third option will require a longer period than one week, but I do believe that an early arrival is a wise choice. Money? Who needs money? Oh, right. A teaching assistant.
Excitement!
* * *
So, a little bit more about myself, before I recount the Fulbright application process in a future post. No, my name hasn't changed since the last post. I am an alum from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (definitely an engineering school), where I majored in history (with an early modern English/Atlantic World slant) and minored in English literature (particularly eighteenth-century and post-World War I utopic/dystopic). Being a Liberal Arts-y person in an engineering-dominated university has its quirks, like...receiving an air of disdain when you tell someone you're a history major. I very nearly completed another minor in German--indeed, just one class away--but I kind of wanted to graduate only one year over the "standard" limit for a bachelor's degree. I have no regrets, really, because I was able to stay within my comfort zone concerning the language. Do I feel comfortable speaking German? Of course not. However, I feel that this teaching assistantship will, er, relieve me of some of that insecurity. It'll pretty much have to, dammit.
I have spent the last five years fiercely devoted to my studies, and I, for the most part, loved being in that sort of academic setting. It's rather...liberating, in its confinement. I suppose analysis has become my forte, and I aim to combine both my passion for early modern history with my love of literature...so, I conjecture that I'm set for a cultural studies M.A. or Ph.D. This means I'm screwed for job prospects, but you know what? Tough noogies. I like being completely useless to society, thank you very much. Take that, engineers.
This brings me to the Fulbright process, which I began in September 2008...and will be recounted in another exciting post! Stay tuned, duckies.
I have spent the last five years fiercely devoted to my studies, and I, for the most part, loved being in that sort of academic setting. It's rather...liberating, in its confinement. I suppose analysis has become my forte, and I aim to combine both my passion for early modern history with my love of literature...so, I conjecture that I'm set for a cultural studies M.A. or Ph.D. This means I'm screwed for job prospects, but you know what? Tough noogies. I like being completely useless to society, thank you very much. Take that, engineers.
This brings me to the Fulbright process, which I began in September 2008...and will be recounted in another exciting post! Stay tuned, duckies.
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