Interview #2
Ok if I thought it was cold before...this is just ridiculous. School's been good other than the walking to class part. A lot of the classes are very interrelated so it's kinda nice but definitely Medicinal Chemistry is the best. I love Prof Wentland and he is just a great teacher. The Protein Folding class is kinda weird because the prof isn't a good lecturer or teacher and there is no outside work or reading so it sort of barely sticks in your brain. Bioinformatics II is at 8 AM so like there is little to no brain functioning for that. My schedule works out that I have most of Monday, Wednesday and Thursday off so happy times! I've been trying to get a hold of Blanca in order to go back to the lab...but she's been weirdly incommunicative and I'm not really the type to just barge in her office and demand to know what's up. It's been too cold to even make that extra effort to walk to the Biotech Center anyway.
On Wednesday I had my interview at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. For a surprise bonus, Dave got his phone back so he could actually come with me to Boston and do some wandering about while I was tortured. The night before we stopped off at Holy Cross to set up camp. I missed Abbie and Lesley...and from getting Patchogue updates from them I kinda realized that most of the high school kids are pretty up in the air in terms of what their future is like. I think Matt definitely needs a pep talk. In a way it was sort of empowering that my future seems so nice.
The interview itself was a bit stressful, as I had to drive through like Boston's Chinatown to get to the place and shell out a ton of money for parking. I'm not sure if Tufts didn't get the memo or not...but most of the other places seem to like TREAT their guests. But whatever can't put a price on my future. It was a very different atmosphere than Stony Brook and had a weirdly different feel to the whole process. There was a lot more talking about me and a lot less talking about what professors do their. They do the PhD program differently too...you don't really work on a professor's project...but mainly do your own thing under the mentorship of a professor. Which at first seems daunting...but really it's actually better. They also get all your classwork done with as early as possible...meaning less time doing core requirements and more time working on projects and eventually out in the real world...another plus. Everyone also seemed much more professional...which made it harder to like connect with them...but at the same time...made me appreciate them more and feel more important. I actually was first interviewed by like the senior editors of The Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. It was like...whoa...and they gave me a copy of their latest edition! There were a lot of old (like REEEEALLY OLD) men and no real women faculty. But there were a lot of women grad students and most of the grad students seemed like my kinda crowd as compared with Stony Brook where they were mostly minorities or barely spoke english. Really what I liked most was that I felt like..elite...to be there. And that's how I deserve to feel. Right now I definitely want Tufts more than Stony Brook...although I would like to explore Boston more...but that's what next weekend (with my Northeastern interview) is for. Dave seemed to thoroughly enjoy Boston on his random 6-hour stroll and that made me very happy.
Dave himself obviously hates Troy and can't wait until we get out (as is the norm), but I feel you don't have the right to hate something unless you've really given it a try...which he really hasn't. And I guess the only way he can really give Troy a try is going to a couple parties or something. He's like me in that he doesn't like going to parties full of people he doesn't know...and usually he's working early Saturday and Sunday making party-going not really an option anyway. I mean there aren't exactly AMAZING parties here...but I'd like the occasional bar-hop more often than is the case. Well, I don't exactly like driving to places where I go to drink unless I can stay the night (i.e. an Erin party or something) so that's the major issue...but I think now that Amanda is in the picture she can help out from time to time. I'd like to take Dave to Waterworks (our main gay bar) eventually, just to experience it and have a nice night with him (hopefully with someone else driving). I frankly can't stand the capital-area gays at all and it's the pretty common opinion that they're mostly REALLY damaged and just viscious people. Fun.
I kinda miss people like Hart and pre-Miljan Erin and definitely Pantene. They were a real good group of friends and it would be awesome to just go partying with them or just hang out or whatever. Now Erin is rarely up for coming to Troy. I mean Genericon is this weekend and that's our thing but she's shown barely even slight interest. She will be here Saturday for Bert and James' party...but she constantly was saying how she wouldn't go if Amanda was there (which she isn't) and I find that pretty sad. I am very very happy to have Amanda here for numerous reasons. I feel kinda like I have a home now that Amanda and Dave are there (haha even though it's not MY home) but wow does she buy a lot of good food and it's been fattening with her around.
I dunno...I honestly find myself getting the most pleasure just being with Dave and doing our happy little game time. Just enjoying each others enjoyment. It'd be nicer if I had an actual working laptop instead of this gay hybrid...but being an only child means many things are available to occupy my time. With the WoW expansion it's been kinda rough because we both constantly want to play but obviously only one at a time can play at his place and I don't wanna go back to my house alone to just play a game. I'm not sure whether I should go and get a sexy flat monitor (with Dave's discount) or just hope I get a new laptop for like a graduation present.
<33
On Wednesday I had my interview at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. For a surprise bonus, Dave got his phone back so he could actually come with me to Boston and do some wandering about while I was tortured. The night before we stopped off at Holy Cross to set up camp. I missed Abbie and Lesley...and from getting Patchogue updates from them I kinda realized that most of the high school kids are pretty up in the air in terms of what their future is like. I think Matt definitely needs a pep talk. In a way it was sort of empowering that my future seems so nice.
The interview itself was a bit stressful, as I had to drive through like Boston's Chinatown to get to the place and shell out a ton of money for parking. I'm not sure if Tufts didn't get the memo or not...but most of the other places seem to like TREAT their guests. But whatever can't put a price on my future. It was a very different atmosphere than Stony Brook and had a weirdly different feel to the whole process. There was a lot more talking about me and a lot less talking about what professors do their. They do the PhD program differently too...you don't really work on a professor's project...but mainly do your own thing under the mentorship of a professor. Which at first seems daunting...but really it's actually better. They also get all your classwork done with as early as possible...meaning less time doing core requirements and more time working on projects and eventually out in the real world...another plus. Everyone also seemed much more professional...which made it harder to like connect with them...but at the same time...made me appreciate them more and feel more important. I actually was first interviewed by like the senior editors of The Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. It was like...whoa...and they gave me a copy of their latest edition! There were a lot of old (like REEEEALLY OLD) men and no real women faculty. But there were a lot of women grad students and most of the grad students seemed like my kinda crowd as compared with Stony Brook where they were mostly minorities or barely spoke english. Really what I liked most was that I felt like..elite...to be there. And that's how I deserve to feel. Right now I definitely want Tufts more than Stony Brook...although I would like to explore Boston more...but that's what next weekend (with my Northeastern interview) is for. Dave seemed to thoroughly enjoy Boston on his random 6-hour stroll and that made me very happy.
Dave himself obviously hates Troy and can't wait until we get out (as is the norm), but I feel you don't have the right to hate something unless you've really given it a try...which he really hasn't. And I guess the only way he can really give Troy a try is going to a couple parties or something. He's like me in that he doesn't like going to parties full of people he doesn't know...and usually he's working early Saturday and Sunday making party-going not really an option anyway. I mean there aren't exactly AMAZING parties here...but I'd like the occasional bar-hop more often than is the case. Well, I don't exactly like driving to places where I go to drink unless I can stay the night (i.e. an Erin party or something) so that's the major issue...but I think now that Amanda is in the picture she can help out from time to time. I'd like to take Dave to Waterworks (our main gay bar) eventually, just to experience it and have a nice night with him (hopefully with someone else driving). I frankly can't stand the capital-area gays at all and it's the pretty common opinion that they're mostly REALLY damaged and just viscious people. Fun.
I kinda miss people like Hart and pre-Miljan Erin and definitely Pantene. They were a real good group of friends and it would be awesome to just go partying with them or just hang out or whatever. Now Erin is rarely up for coming to Troy. I mean Genericon is this weekend and that's our thing but she's shown barely even slight interest. She will be here Saturday for Bert and James' party...but she constantly was saying how she wouldn't go if Amanda was there (which she isn't) and I find that pretty sad. I am very very happy to have Amanda here for numerous reasons. I feel kinda like I have a home now that Amanda and Dave are there (haha even though it's not MY home) but wow does she buy a lot of good food and it's been fattening with her around.
I dunno...I honestly find myself getting the most pleasure just being with Dave and doing our happy little game time. Just enjoying each others enjoyment. It'd be nicer if I had an actual working laptop instead of this gay hybrid...but being an only child means many things are available to occupy my time. With the WoW expansion it's been kinda rough because we both constantly want to play but obviously only one at a time can play at his place and I don't wanna go back to my house alone to just play a game. I'm not sure whether I should go and get a sexy flat monitor (with Dave's discount) or just hope I get a new laptop for like a graduation present.
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