This weekend, while many of you were watching college football (Professor, I'm looking at you), catching up on sleep, or out partying with your friends, I sat in services, repenting for my year's sins, and fasting for Yom Kippur. It might sound like a miserable experience, but in reality (for me, anyway), it became an incredibly spiritual one. There is nothing to do but pray and enhance your connection with God. No food to eat, classes to attend, or work to do. Just pray.
I won't delve too far into it. For a more in-depth experience of my Yom Kippur last year, check out an entry from my previous blog.
Shockingly, I have a couple career updates, as well! I will be heading to the Communications Industry Expo this week through GW's Career Center, and I found a communications opening at a Jewish nonprofit right here in DC! Perfect, right?! The job starts in January, though, which might be a little problematic...I think I need to relax a little bit. Sometimes I need a reminder that it's October and I'm graduating in May. That's still eight months from now. I think I need a chill pill.
If only I had the Emperor's qualifications.
Would any of you like to be my sanity coach? I'll be taking applications throughout the week!
Now, I might say I'm from San Francisco, but in reality, I grew up in Piedmont, CA, a small hybrid urban-suburban town about 15 minutes outside SF, completely and totally surrounded by Oakland. Piedmont is a boring city known for its affluent families and incredibly strong school system. Add that to easy access to San Francisco and you have yourself the perfect place to raise a family.
I hated it.
Especially my high school.
You might be able to understand, then, that my senior year of high school involved very little "school." I went to class for three hours per day (yay block schedule!), got a steak burrito for lunch, grabbed an old fashioned chocolate donut from Colonial Donuts (I always think that's so funny looking back now), headed home to watch hours of bad TV (think Bravo daytime), did a little homework, and applied to colleges. For the most part, I stayed as far away from school grounds as possible.
This video will hopefully give you a little more insight into my high school atmosphere.
Basically, for being in the Bay Area, Piedmonters can be very closed-minded. It wasn't all bad, though. The community is small and tight-knit, I had a strong, close group of friends, and looking back, I can appreciate that Piedmont was a nice place to grow up, regardless of how much I disliked it.
Last week, I was fortunate enough to be back in my hometown with my family for the first time since January.
I got behind the wheel of my family's Honda Pilot, the same way I did every day during my senior year of high school (only, at that time, I drove a Chrysler mini-van...yes, I was a soccer mom...it's fine). But instead of coming home to an enthusiastic chocolate lab (above), I returned to a 10-month-old baby (below) of a family friend, whose grandmother recently passed away, and whose aunt is newly engaged. I legally drank mimosas at our big "family" brunch (apparently there's a developing theme in my life), and I am constantly thinking about my ever-changing career plans. I am nowhere near as close with my friends from high school now as I was then, and I've established a pretty incredible life for myself in DC, away from my family and roots. In the words of the famous Bob Dylan: the times, they are a-changin'.
After running a couple of errands last week, I decided to drive around town to see exactly how much has changed. Surprisingly (or maybe not), things appear mostly the same as they were four years ago. I drove past my high school, which boasted on its front sign: "9/21: Senior Picnic." Reflection ensued.
In the four years since my class's senior picnic, a day the seniors enjoy school-sponsored activities off-campus, many of my friendships from high school have deteriorated, but so many have blossomed at GW. At the time, I never expected that I would end up in DC, but now, I could barely imagine going to college anywhere else. At the beginning of my senior year, I was sort of a science nerd, taking AP Bio and loving every minute of it. Now, I've caught the journalism bug and can't get far enough away from Corcoran Hall.
Just as I was searching for the "right" college four years ago, I now search for the "right" career and the "right" life. And after running my errands, I grabbed a burrito from The Burrito Shop and the same old-fashioned chocolate donut from Colonial.
I guess the saying is true: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
For those of you who may be unaware, today marks the first day of the year 5772 (counted since the beginning of Judaism!). If you're still confused, Wikipedia has the answers!
Traditionally on Rosh Hashanah (literally, "head of the year"), we eat apples and honey in the hopes of having a SWEET year. I had the fortune of coming home to California to celebrate the holiday with my family, so all indications are pointing toward a very sweet year for me!
A few jottings that have been on my mind since I arrived in California on Saturday:
1) Baseball season is over. I know many of you will disagree by pointing out that the postseason starts tomorrow night, but because my San Francisco Giants did not allow themselves a chance at a repeat championship, my records all say the season is over.
2) I love my family. Crazy and dysfunctional as we may be, we're a pretty solid group, and I know for a fact that I would not be where I am today without them.
3) The job hunt has officially begun. I spent the majority of last night sifting through job listings on various websites with numerous organizations. The task is daunting, but a strange part of me feels confident that a great opportunity will arise. As always, let me know if you see something for me!
That's about it for now. Look forward to a new year's resolution in the near future!
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?
Let's just cut to the chase. My name is Sam, and I am currently a senior (shudder) at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. I am majoring in Judaic Studies and minoring in Journalism and Mass Communication.
The first two weeks of senior year have presented a crossroads for me. I love GW, and I am constantly reminded of how much I enjoy learning in a classroom environment. However, my time in college is rapidly coming to an end, which means the work force awaits. The only thing I know for sure at this point is that I will not be going to graduate school in the fall. Beyond that, I have no idea what post-graduation life will look like.
Hence, the premise of this blog. I will chronicle my career-focused endeavors in an attempt to find the job that's right for me. If anybody wants to help me with my search, feel free to post job listings that you think might be of interest to me. The only criteria at this point are: 1) I can live in a major metropolitan area (that can include cities outside of the US), 2) my job is somehow related to the communications, writing/editing, social media, and/or marketing worlds. Clearly, I am flexible. Unfortunately for me, flexible has turned into confused, so I will use all of my available resources, including this blog, to hopefully find an appropriate job.
My goal for this blog is to keep the world updated on my post-graduation plans (they change every few days, so watch out) and attempt to keep my readers laughing both with me and at me.
