Over the course of a single week, things have changed. The weather went from sunny and low nineties to snow in just a few days. No gradual transition into wintry weather here... after a couple brief weeks of pleasantly mild days, we've dropped into the twenties and thirties, and have had light snow every evening for a week. But of course, there's always work.
With my vegetation surveys finished, I determined that, aside from weekly grousing, I only have two days of fieldwork remaining. (These days will have to wait until next week, when the snow is supposed to let up.) After tallying all the overtime hours I've worked and haven't yet used as flex time, I figured that I could stand to take five days off. What better way to take that time off then to use all five days consecutively at the end of my internship? After talking it over with Dwayne, he conceded that I could finish a week early. So my last full day in Newcastle is, officially, two weeks from tomorrow, on October 23rd!
I have plans to move back to home on October 24th.
The end is in sight, and my freedom from this town is almost tangible. Just two weeks, and I leave the armpit of Wyoming far behind. I'm anxious to leave, glad to be headed back to someplace with people my own age, mountains, non-oil-refinery-tainted air, food, and a house that isn't a half block from a train crossing. Yet my departure from Newcastle signifies something undesirable, too: unemployment.
Living at home is better than living in Newcastle. Having a job is better than not having a job. Is having a job in Newcastle better than not having a job at home? A tough question. Right now, my answer would obviously be that the latter is much preferable to the former. But what happens if I end up living at my mom's for two months and can't find someplace to work? Then a job in Newcastle might not look quite as bad. Or maybe it will... I don't know. I really don't like Newcastle.
I've spent the past few weeks scouring the internet for job openings, and applying for everything from a interpretation position at a national park in Florida to a naturalist internship at a science school in Colorado. So far I haven't heard anything, but I keep hoping that one afternoon after work I'll check my email to find that someone has contacted me about setting up an interview. I've become accustomed over the past 4-odd years to not living with my mom, and to be perfectly honest, I never planned on living there again. Job = money = rent. No job = no money = no rent. Pretty simple.
Monday is Columbus Day, and since I work in a federal office, I get the day off. Apart from the continuous job search, I'll be starting my graduate school applications. I have no idea how to even begin writing a personal statement, but I shouldn't have too much trouble filling in the basics. Right now I have five schools on my list: UC Somewhere, UC Somewhere Else, U Big City, Yet Another UC, and Ivy League School. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I'll hear from two or three more professors before the application deadline on December 1st. Not aiming high or anything....
In a convoluted way, I'm starting to link the outcomes of my job search and graduate school. I feel as if finding a job is imperative for a successful application. Not that I can't get in somewhere without working for the next nine months, but rather, I'm worrying that if I can't even get something as simple as a job, then how am I going to convince an admissions committee that I'm good enough for a competitive PhD program?
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