On the downhill side of Spring Break
This week is Spring Break for MSU and I have been enjoying it. Not much has happened on the travel front, I am just too damn poor and have to save the money for my trip to SC in May. Even if I had the money, I had too many school related things to work on this week. This semester is getting busier and busier with projects. On top of my capstone studio project on the pedestrianization of campus and my project for Urban Transportation on strategies to improve public transit in Mankato, I got a new project last Friday in my Heritage Preservation class, doing a historical context of Nicollet County. The project is looking at the history of the county (a county just across the river here) from the 1500's until about 1860. It is a group project with another grad student. There are other groups doing the other counties in the region as well. The point is to assist a local architect in the writing of his book. He is looking at the really historical structures, or in many cases the ruins of said structures, in the region. We are assisting him in researching the historical context of the region to explain to the reader why the structures are important historically. Gotta love being a grad student and all the free labor we provide (rolls eyes).
Besides the endless pile of projects all due the first week of May and the continuous work that goes along with them, Spring Break hasn't been too bad. I have been able to just lounge around and do a whole lot of nothing. I have been making a little bit of extra money by helping out one of the other studio groups. They are working on a phone survey for the tourism bureau in the state. The state contracted with the university to pay students $3.00 per survey the complete. We are using a list of numbers and names provided to us, and so far it hasn't been too bad. I have gotten 106 surveys completed, so $318.00, not bad for about 10 or 15 hours of work. Also on the work front, tomorrow is the deadline for applications to an internship I applied to early last month. After Friday they should be calling people in for interviews. My fingers are crossed, because I need an internship for this summer and so far, not many positions have been posted.
I am beginning to get a bit nervous about finding a job when I graduate in December. One of my friends and classmates was telling me she applied for a position in a suburb of the Twin Cities. She got a letter back saying over 110 people applied for the position!!!! That is pretty scary when for an entry-level planning position that many people are applying. So Kelly suggested I go over to the Career Development Center on campus to sort out my options. The CDC here on campus puts Winthrop's excuse for a career center to shame. I am going to talk to a counselor next week about my options with my undergrad majors if the planning thing doesn't work out. If all else fails I could pick up my teaching license and teach, but I would really like to be able to use my master's for something.
Spring Break has also given me a chance to spend more time with Kelly, so that has been nice. We are both broke so we have spent a lot of time either at her place or mine. I went over to her house the other night and ate dinner with her family and watched tv with them, it was a lot of fun and nice to hang out with her family some. Thankfully the 30 inches of snow we got in one week is melting pretty quickly, since it has been near 50 everyday since Saturday. That has given us an opportunity to walk around her neighborhood which has been fun and good exercise. It was also nice enough the other night, that we sat out on her stoop for over 30 minutes and just talked and people watched, it was nice to do the couple thing and talk and hang out. In the next month or so it should continue to warm up so we should be able to spend more time outside. I think it will be mid to late April, but more likely May until we can go camping, as the ground will prob. be wet until April from the melting snow and then the melting ground frost; plus I don't think most parks with camping open until May 1.
I hope everyone is having or will have a good Spring Break, if you are lucky enough to have one. Good luck to my alma mater, Winthrop as they hopefully kick some Fightin' Irish ass tomorrow. I know I will be here cheering them on! GO EAGLES!!!!
Besides the endless pile of projects all due the first week of May and the continuous work that goes along with them, Spring Break hasn't been too bad. I have been able to just lounge around and do a whole lot of nothing. I have been making a little bit of extra money by helping out one of the other studio groups. They are working on a phone survey for the tourism bureau in the state. The state contracted with the university to pay students $3.00 per survey the complete. We are using a list of numbers and names provided to us, and so far it hasn't been too bad. I have gotten 106 surveys completed, so $318.00, not bad for about 10 or 15 hours of work. Also on the work front, tomorrow is the deadline for applications to an internship I applied to early last month. After Friday they should be calling people in for interviews. My fingers are crossed, because I need an internship for this summer and so far, not many positions have been posted.
I am beginning to get a bit nervous about finding a job when I graduate in December. One of my friends and classmates was telling me she applied for a position in a suburb of the Twin Cities. She got a letter back saying over 110 people applied for the position!!!! That is pretty scary when for an entry-level planning position that many people are applying. So Kelly suggested I go over to the Career Development Center on campus to sort out my options. The CDC here on campus puts Winthrop's excuse for a career center to shame. I am going to talk to a counselor next week about my options with my undergrad majors if the planning thing doesn't work out. If all else fails I could pick up my teaching license and teach, but I would really like to be able to use my master's for something.
Spring Break has also given me a chance to spend more time with Kelly, so that has been nice. We are both broke so we have spent a lot of time either at her place or mine. I went over to her house the other night and ate dinner with her family and watched tv with them, it was a lot of fun and nice to hang out with her family some. Thankfully the 30 inches of snow we got in one week is melting pretty quickly, since it has been near 50 everyday since Saturday. That has given us an opportunity to walk around her neighborhood which has been fun and good exercise. It was also nice enough the other night, that we sat out on her stoop for over 30 minutes and just talked and people watched, it was nice to do the couple thing and talk and hang out. In the next month or so it should continue to warm up so we should be able to spend more time outside. I think it will be mid to late April, but more likely May until we can go camping, as the ground will prob. be wet until April from the melting snow and then the melting ground frost; plus I don't think most parks with camping open until May 1.
I hope everyone is having or will have a good Spring Break, if you are lucky enough to have one. Good luck to my alma mater, Winthrop as they hopefully kick some Fightin' Irish ass tomorrow. I know I will be here cheering them on! GO EAGLES!!!!