Well, I just turned in my last essay yesterday, a lovely 7,000 word (about 15 pages SINGLE-spaced) paper on the UN and human rights. And once again, I ran to my professor’s office 10 minutes after it was due, though he was fine with it. I nearly had a heart attack when all my footnotes weren’t showing up. But it’s submitted and out of my hands now. Last night I slept a glorious 14 hours. But now I actually have to get back to it. I have about 30 essays to grade from my teaching assistant job, and 4 final exam papers to study for, all coming up in the next few weeks.
So I watched the VP presidential debate, and Palin did a lot better than I (or anyone else) expected, although I think a lot of people watched just to see if she would mess up than for the actual arguments. It’s funny how I pay a lot more attention to politics whenever I’m overseas. And it’s nice to hear the bailout went through. My money is still safe with WaMu, though I’m sad to hear that it will eventually die and get eaten up by Chase. And just a random side note, I’m actually considering running for Congress one day, though I’m still bitter that the Constitution bars me from being president.
So after I finish my exams at the end of October, I’ll have the remaining time till mid-February to write my thesis. I’ll be in New Zealand till at least mid-December because of the conference that I’m presenting at here, but after that, I’m still deciding whether I should go home, or stay here. So in the spirit of democracy, I’ll leave it to your votes (though I still hold 51% of the vote thus negating all your votes, but I’ll still take them into consideration).
So these are my options:
Option A: Fly home for Christmas, and stay there to write my thesis. Mail my thesis to New Zealand when I’m done without going back.
Pros: Spend Christmas/New Year’s with mom and family, save money by living at home again and not needing to fly back.
Cons: Miss out on NZ’s summer, communicate with my profs about my thesis through email instead of face-to-face
Option B: Fly home for Christmas, spend a month or so there, and then fly back to New Zealand mid January (with a brief detour to Hawaii to visit a friend) and spend the remaining 2 months writing my thesis here. Then fly back home again in March.
Pros: Spend Christmas/New Year’s with my mom and family, still enjoy the rest of NZ’s summer, have face-face chats with my prof about my thesis
Cons: Spend a lot more money (extra $1600 for round-trip ticket, plus living expenses in NZ from Jan-March)
Option C: Stay in New Zealand all the way through March without visiting home
Pros: Enjoy New Zealand’s summer, have face-to-face contact with my profs regarding thesis
Cons: Miss Christmas/New Year’s with mom and family, extra living expenses from December to March
Comments? Suggestions? Advice?
I’ve actually learned a lot from getting into essay writing again, and will probably post another blog in a few days with some tips and advice that I’ve found helpful in writing ridiculously long papers, so check back.