Thesis is DONE and Headed to New Orleans!!

So, my senior thesis is finally complete. 46 pages written, 19 sources used, many more read, and countless hours of work later. I can't believe it is done! Such a good feeling to hand it over to your professor, and know that you are free from the bind of secondary cources, theorists and in text citations! I never want to analyze another quote ever again!!!

Now, SPRING BREAK!! I have never actually gone anywhere for spring break since I have been in college, no time like the present:) I am going to New Orleans with a program called Alternative Spring Break, we will be working with soup kitchens and Covenant House while down there. I have been a bit nervous about going, but I am also excited because it is so different and new to me. I have no idea what to expect, but that is the best part of traveling. You know you are going, but you are not completley sure about will happen or what it will be like. I think I am more nervous about leaving home, than going somewhere foreign. I've been to Italy and Ireland and I have seen so many amazing, ancient, elaborate monuments, but this will something totally different.

THe weather is going to be in the 60s, so I cannot wait to thaw out a bit and be warm for a few days :)

Still trying to decide of I like her or not

I heard Kelly Cutrone on Z100 this morning, and I am still trying to figure out if she is totally awesome, or totally rediculous, or maybe both. All I know is that I would never, ever want to work with her. Rather than go outside to cry, I would probably have to go outside to throw up, or crap my pants. Yet, I may still go get her book. I feel like its a perfect read for anyone, like me, who is having random spaz attacks about what is going to happen in 3 months, wondering "What the EFF am I going to be doing for the rest of my life" (I did not include any question mark or exclamation points on purpose, you decide which to use, because I am undecided)

http://www.slate.com/id/2245425/

Huge sigh of relief, looking foward to New Orleans

I cannot believe it. I finally finished my Senior Honors Thesis!!! 44 pages, 19 sources and endless hours later. I have to meet with my advisor on Monday with my final version, make sure everything is okay, then Thursday is the final deadline. I have been working on this thing since last summer, so it is crazy that I actually pulled it off and got it done! I have never written so much in my life. Not so sure I will ever do anything like that again, EVER.

I had a Blue Moon to celebrate. (Don't worry, more elaborate celebrations will follow when there isn't a foot of snow on the ground.

On another note, I e-mailed in my cover letter and resume to Penguin for a summer internship! It is fate that I end up working at Penguin. My grandfather worked in the same exact building in Manhattan for most of his career. He made the same commute, walked the same streets. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long to hear news about that. My grad school applications are also almost finished. I only have one more to send in!

I leave for New Orleans next Saturday! I am going for Spring break. It is an Alternative Spring Break where we go to volunteer in the city. We will be doing different community service projects during the day and will have the nights free. I am so excited to see a new place, and possibly thaw out from this rediculous winter we are having :/ It is supposed to be in the 60s when I get there... not the warmest, but it will do just fine!

Katz and Candy feature

Here is a link to my latest story for my Feature Writing class.

http://wagnerfeatures.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/120/

So far, so good

So far, it seems that Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be my favorite days of the week. In the a,m., I have a literature class called "Growin up in Dixie," and it is about exactly what it says...growing up in the South, and American literature stemming from Southern authors. My professor is a new, just out of school dude from Wisconsin...laid back, easy going attitude. Then, in the afternoon ....Ceramics. Yes, I get to play with clay twice a week and act like a little kid with Play-Doh being taught how to make bowls from a man who seems more like a grandpa then a college professor.

My other lit class is Modern English and Irish Literature. The reading list seems like it is going to be really enjoyable, but this particular class is going to be a bit more work than the others, but that's okay. Still not as much reading and writing as I had to do last semester so far, so its all good. I am also taking a feature writing class. This will be my.. 6th (?) Journalism class. I am still a little skeptical as to how this one will turn out, but we shall wait and see.

Then there is my Senior Honors Thesis.

I am writing about the family dynamics/ culture/ life in Indian families. I am using Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things and Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. Originally, I also planned to use Midnight's Children by Rushdie, but I decided to eliminate it because I just wasn't as enthused by it, than the other two. I need to have some kind of draft in a couple of weeks. It is interesting to be invested in this one project for so long. Normally, for a term paper, you labor over it for days, then you hand it in and forget about it, you can't even stand to look at it anymore. But with this, it is months of work, and you actually have the freedom to go in any direction for as many or as little pages as you want, or don't want. It is different but challenging and fun to have the ability to just completley delve into a book and totally rip it up, give your own analysis, then put it back together...and all with your own words, thoughts and conclusions. More about that later...

I know, I am a bit of a nerd. I can't help it :)

My life at the moment

Today, my last semester of college began, and I felt as if I was in a fuzzy dream the entire day. The kind that when you wake up, you are dazed and confused. But I have to face the facts, that today actually happened, and that May 21st is actually coming, and way too fast.

I am an English major with a minor in Journalism, and you would think, at this point in my educational career, that I would be able to read a book in my sleep, write a paper in an hour while watching TLC and eating some Special Dark hershey's chocolate, and let the stresses of class just roll off my back. Nope.

Last night I had a midnight freak out about my life. It happens every semester, every year. You get a break and eventually have go back, but that night before never gets any easier. It is like when you were little, and getting ready for the first day of the new school year. The mixture is a blend of nervousness and excitement. I've realized that those emotions remain exactly the same. The only difference? Instead of new classmates, seeing old friends, etc., we worry about..Am i going to finish this thesis on time? How am I going to get all that reading done? How on earth am I going to survive??

I am currently applying to grad schools in New York City, but am also searching for internship opportunities for the summer. Taking it one step at a time, not sure where I will end up. Job? Two more years of acadamia? Who knows. I can't wait to find out...but then again, I can. I want to soak up this last bit of college life, enjoy the time I have to be care free (sort of) and take whatever comes my way. Readyyy...Break!