Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Looking for Her Shirt, 1830.
I received the news on Friday that I was accepted to be one of the graduate TAs for the UC Paris Program. I'll be there for four months, from mid-August through December, helping teach a class about Parisian and French history (in English) to UC undergraduates. I also applied to be a RA for the program, since they don't cover your housing and B and I are facing some serious financial predicaments if we have to maintain apartments in SC and Paris at the same time.
The whole thing is both really exciting and completely overwhelming. There are a lot of serious challenges this poses to me, to B, and to both of us put together. We hate being apart, and we've never been apart for longer than a week before in the eight years we've been together. The money issue is serious; we barely scrape by when we're both just doing our thing and there couldn't be a worse time to be dealing with the dollar-to-euro conversion. I'm always embarrassed about sounding like a rube in French. If I don't get the RA position, finding housing is going to suck. Etc.
At the same time, this is the single most meaningful opportunity I've ever had, certainly comparable with my acceptance and fellowship in my PHD program itself. The program is designed to allow time for research on the side, and if I'm clever about it, I could get a lot (most? all?) of my France-based research done on my dissertation while I'm there. Come hell or high water, we're going to get B over to visit me so that she can finally get to run around in Europe, too.
So: I'm pretty confused and suffering from sensory overload, but I'm also really grateful and excited. I'll be forced to confront a lot of the things that scare me the most about being alive (planes and speaking something besides English to native speakers being high on my list), but I'll come out of it a much smarter, stronger person than I am now.
The whole thing is both really exciting and completely overwhelming. There are a lot of serious challenges this poses to me, to B, and to both of us put together. We hate being apart, and we've never been apart for longer than a week before in the eight years we've been together. The money issue is serious; we barely scrape by when we're both just doing our thing and there couldn't be a worse time to be dealing with the dollar-to-euro conversion. I'm always embarrassed about sounding like a rube in French. If I don't get the RA position, finding housing is going to suck. Etc.
At the same time, this is the single most meaningful opportunity I've ever had, certainly comparable with my acceptance and fellowship in my PHD program itself. The program is designed to allow time for research on the side, and if I'm clever about it, I could get a lot (most? all?) of my France-based research done on my dissertation while I'm there. Come hell or high water, we're going to get B over to visit me so that she can finally get to run around in Europe, too.
So: I'm pretty confused and suffering from sensory overload, but I'm also really grateful and excited. I'll be forced to confront a lot of the things that scare me the most about being alive (planes and speaking something besides English to native speakers being high on my list), but I'll come out of it a much smarter, stronger person than I am now.
15 comments:
Congrats, yo! This is fantastic news and you should be very proud of yourself! I know you guys will figure something out.
This is great, great news.
YEAH! I am SO excited for you - both. Oh, this is so wonderful (because I am totally reliving all the wonderful memories from when I lived in Paris and it was... indescribable). It will be indescribable for you too. Yeah again!
And right now I'm trying to remember why I became a US historian when my real goal long ago was to find a way to get back to Paris. Oh, the French history; you won't be sorry, my friend.
Wow that is great news. Hopefully something will come through and you won't have to be apart too long.
Congratulations! That is so exciting, you are both going to have SUCH an amazing time, and I'm sure you will work it all out. Yay!
Congratulations Dude!!!! You are going to blow the French away my friend!!!! And you and B will be great. Luckily, you're both superstar computer peeps, so no doubt skype will be in play daily. And you guys can stay motivated by planning all of the fun trips you can take when she comes to visit. The plane part--just knock back a few shots before you get on and you'll be solid.
congrats!! What wonderful news. :) the memory that stands out the most from my two days in Paris was the food. so good! That's such great news for you! :)
Felicitations! On doit parler avant Aout; je serai la en Juin, et puis en Suisse depuis quelques semaines cet ete (j'ai recu un PacRim grant... mais c'est pas comme 4 mois en France!)
About housing in Paris... if you need it I might be able to contact some people who know some people and work something out. Don't know what prices or where you'll be (tell me) but if you need help I think I can help. Not to mention I lived in the damned country for a good 5 years of my life and miss it every day :(
Also, don't worry about groceries or food stuff. I will tell you where to go if you need to save $.
P.S. Don't forget that many people in France work part-time or hardly at all and still make ends meet. It's a mentality and a lifestyle people in the U.S. can't fathom, but indeed it is possible.
Congrats! Take advantage of the situation and don't stress too much on the potential difficulties; there are many ways to work all this out and I'm sure something will present itself. Four months will go by quickly, just concentrate on making the best of this opportunity and have a great time.
Congrats! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Email to come.
wow. fuckin'congrats my friend! You will totally make this happen/work! You are the man with many plans - most of which are applicable to the real world. This will be an amazing challenge that you will accomplish!
Absolutely oustanding news! I am very impressed. That is such an amazing opportunity and adventure. I'm sure that you'll figure out all the monetary details. Did I mention that my sis will be in London doing her law internship from May through Sept at the same time?
Yay for international kids!
Wow! That sounds like an amazing opportunity! I hope the money stuff works out and I'll know you'll do great talkin French with native French talkers. Internet high five!
AWESOME! CONGRATS!
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