chicago
As I was sitting in the backseat of our rental car on Saturday, enjoying the rugged scenery of the Ring of Kerry (at an average speed of 70 km an hour on zig-zagging mountain roads, trying to take deep, regular breaths in order to avoid throwing up) I realized that I was, for the first time in a while, objectively happy. I've said it many times before, but I firmly believe that happiness is all about having a sense of momentum - and maybe the uphill trajectory and deep breathing only helped to make it manifest during that particular epiphany.
I found out just before we left on our road trip that I was accepted to the University of Chicago to do my PhD in the fall, with full tuition funding over 5 years. I didn't get into 3 out of the 4 schools I applied to (Berkeley, Princeton, Harvard) but I'm not remotely disappointed. I only applied to the best schools in my field, and 1 out of 4 isn't bad at all. I'm headed to one of the best universities in the world and, from what everyone has told me so far, one of the better cities to live in in the States. I have no complaints.
I'm so happy I went to Ireland over the weekend. I really just needed to see some familiar faces, to reminisce and play video games and drink copious amounts of tea and relax. It was great, after how stressed out I've been here in Prague lately.
I feel like I can look at my time in Prague in a totally different light, now that I know I am leaving. I kind of already told my boss that I'm leaving in August - well, I told him that I got accepted to the University of Chicago and he went "That's a reeeaaaaallly good program. What are you going to do?" So he knows. But I still intend to work there until August, and potentially on a correspondent/rogue agent basis thereafter.
I e-mailed the registrar at the History department today and informally gave my acceptance. Now, I need to try to figure out how to get to Chicago for the weekend of April 3-5 for under $300 so I can meet up with people from the program and get oriented.
Life is good. If my horrible Irish damp-induced cold would just clear up and I could breathe through half a nostril, all of my stars would be in order, for once.
I found out just before we left on our road trip that I was accepted to the University of Chicago to do my PhD in the fall, with full tuition funding over 5 years. I didn't get into 3 out of the 4 schools I applied to (Berkeley, Princeton, Harvard) but I'm not remotely disappointed. I only applied to the best schools in my field, and 1 out of 4 isn't bad at all. I'm headed to one of the best universities in the world and, from what everyone has told me so far, one of the better cities to live in in the States. I have no complaints.
I'm so happy I went to Ireland over the weekend. I really just needed to see some familiar faces, to reminisce and play video games and drink copious amounts of tea and relax. It was great, after how stressed out I've been here in Prague lately.
I feel like I can look at my time in Prague in a totally different light, now that I know I am leaving. I kind of already told my boss that I'm leaving in August - well, I told him that I got accepted to the University of Chicago and he went "That's a reeeaaaaallly good program. What are you going to do?" So he knows. But I still intend to work there until August, and potentially on a correspondent/rogue agent basis thereafter.
I e-mailed the registrar at the History department today and informally gave my acceptance. Now, I need to try to figure out how to get to Chicago for the weekend of April 3-5 for under $300 so I can meet up with people from the program and get oriented.
Life is good. If my horrible Irish damp-induced cold would just clear up and I could breathe through half a nostril, all of my stars would be in order, for once.