Monday, September 19, 2011

I Had Some Senior Moments

The weekend is a short time period.  Just two days, maybe two and a half if you play your cards right.  Long enough to recover from the craziness of the week, but still short, when all is said and done.  That being said, you might find it surprising that over the past two days, I experienced many "senior moments," as we'll call them, because I need a phrase to justify my behavior.

It started on Friday night, at Alumni Shabbat (remember how I said I'm Jewish?  Well, this is how I spend my Friday nights...judge all you want).  Anyway, I was speaking with a recent graduate and friend of mine, who is part of GW's Presidential Administrative Fellow program (PAF).  In short, the program allows a select few graduating seniors to continue their studies at GW graduate school while also working for the university (obviously, GW gives these students a little extra moolah for their slave services).  Naturally, I decided I was going to be a PAF, too!  Senior Moment #1.  More on that later.

Then came Saturday, a day blessed by the gods as a sleep-in-and-watch-college-football-all-day-while-everybody-else-in-your-life-exhibits-productivity...day.  I can't fight with the gods, so I sat on the couch in my living all day watching various collegiate teams with which I have no affiliation while drinking mimosas (six, to be exact) and pretending to do homework (read: I added pages to my blog).  FOR TWELVE HOURS.  Senior Moment #2.

And, finally, Sunday, the day of rest....about that.  I went to the Redskins game (they won...as you can see below), but that has surprisingly little baring on my senior moments.  When I returned from the game, I discussed my newfound desire to become a PAF with my roomates, who swiftly reminded me that being a PAF involved taking the GRE.  And because PAF applications are due in January, and I would need to have my scores by then, I would need to take the GRE no later than Thanksgiving, allowing me about two months to prepare for a daunting exam, all while taking five classes, working 17 hours per week, and spending almost 10 hours per week with student organizations.  But apparently, my dreams of becoming a PAF weren't over yet, because I felt the need to go through all of GW's 200+ graduate programs to find the one that was just right for me!  About a half-hour later, I had narrowed the field to four programs geared toward my interests, at which point, I became "tired of applying to grad school."  You can only imagine my roommate's face (she's in the process of applying to law school).  I then turned to her and said, "It's probably an important part of PAF to actually want to go to grad school, isn't it?"  She didn't even have to say "that's kind of the POINT" for me to know that thought was rushing through her head.  Senior Moment #3, but sort of an extension of Senior Moment #1.


And, because it was Sunday, I felt the need to have an extra senior moment -- YAY ME!  I crawled into bed and starting planning my final semester schedule.  In case you've lost track, we're entering week 4 of 16 for this semester, and I'm already looking ahead to the spring semester.  This a problem.  Regardless, I am now reconsidering my Journalism minor (because taking TWO journalism classes next semester would just be far too overwhelming...I need one more class to fulfill my major).  I'll keep you updated on that situation.  And now I sit here, awake an hour past my bedtime, finishing an assignment I could have done last week.  Senior Moments #4 and #5.  I'm slightly worried that this is how you all feel right now:


Is it too early for me to be exhibiting signs of senioritis?

Peace, love, bagels...and senior moments?

Sam

3 comments:

  1. Sam, I am pretty sure I have been experiencing senioritis since day one of the year(not in social media of course), so I love this post. Also, great shout out to shabbat at Hillel...it is definitely the place to be!

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  2. I don't blame you at all. I have had senioritis since the first day of freshmen year. Also, nice planning skills. I'm not afraid to admit I have already planned my second semester as well.

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  3. Lots and lots going on here! I wish I could say something like, thoughtful about graduate school, but for what it's worth, you got into GW, so I imagine your GRE's wouldn't be half bad! But on the other hand, I really enjoyed working before going back to graduate school. But I went to graduate school without loans. Clearly I grabbed onto the graduate school part of this blog post.

    Also, I applaud your Saturday activities. There is no other way to spend Saturday in the Fall as far as I'm concerned.

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