Seriously. It’s been a long time, but I’ve been a busy girl.

I graduated from Columbia University (Barnard College) on May 21. I turned 22 on May 23. And moved home for about a month before I head up to Maine and a girls summer camp (I’ll be teaching arts and crafts!). Oh, and did I mention that this totally awesome camp has 4 full sized looms? I get to learn to weave!

Also, I just got an apartment in Pittsburgh just yesterday/today. It’s small, but close to campus and I won’t have any roommates. And it’s just down the street from a little asian supermarket which means I can indulge my love of asian food.

And I have a job at the archives at Pitt. I will be taking a huge pay cut (like 10$ down to 7.15), but I’m getting some tuition forgiveness so it’s worth it.

in other news I’ve had the hiccups for 3 hours. and no sign of stopping. sadly, this isn’t particularly unusual.

I headed over to knitty city today (or rather down since it’s about 40 blocks south and half a block west from my apartment). I needed to buy some lace weight yarn for a scarf I’m knitting for my Russian adviser (she’s been really helpful this year, so I wanted to thank her for it by giving her a gift). I ended up deciding on some charcoal/black lamb lace weight - super soft. I’ve already finished about half of the boarder on it so I’m really excited that it’s going this quickly. Also picked up some dream in color baby lace weight is a super pretty pink/lavender color. Oh and a book of orenburg lace patterns. I haven’t decided what I’ll make out of the pink stuff, but Mara’s scarf is going well.

As for school - I am now done. I graduate on tuesday and wednesday (tuesday is barnard’s ceremony and wednesday is columbia’s), but until then all I have to do is finish packing and sit and knit the scarf (I’d love to finish it before commencement, but I don’t think that I’ll be able to - doesn’t mean I won’t knit as much as possible to finish it before tuesday!).

I’m fairly sure that I just left one hand knit pink and green sock in the library.

Yes…just one.

Let’s just say that it’s been a very long week…

I’ve started thinking about life after college. I have somewhere to live next year (at least at the moment, I haven’t signed my lease yet, but I am very close), a job, etc. And more exciting, I have signed up to be an Alumna Admissions Representative for Barnard. Basically that means I’ll be the alumna who hangs out at college fairs and conducts interviews. I’m actually really excited about this. I have had problems with Barnard over the years, but in the end I really do love it (mostly because of the slavic department and my job over the past 4 years). I also recognize that it has helped me to get into grad school and to get a job. (It will also allow me to tell people who want to be a dual major that if they want to do it, great, it won’t really help them get a job, but also to plan ahead for getting your senior thesis agreed on by both departments - I did not and the trouble has come to a head at the last minute, which brings me to the next bit of news).

I’m now a single major - or rather will be soon when my paperwork is filed. Which will hopefully be tomorrow.

Over the past few days, I have been watching a hilarious old tv show (The Professor and the Nanny - in color!) and mending costumes for my play. Even though I’m not in charge of the costumes (I’m doing props) I’m still stuck doing all the mending since I’m the only one who can sew. I wouldn’t care, except I also have to run all around the city looking for props. Oh, and the fact that I really…really…really hate the kid who is supposed to be in charge of costumes. He is one of those people who thinks he’s better than everyone else and doesn’t hide it. He’s a fulbright scholar and thinks he knows everything (just because he’s good at Russian doesn’t mean he’s smart - or nice). I’ve been trying to be nice for the entire year, but he has finally gotten on my last nerve. I am trying to be a good/nice person - but I have a couple more weeks.

(For the record, this isn’t just me not liking him, the other people in our class agree with me. He’s the kind of person who shows up 30 minutes late for his oral final exam - throwing the rest of us off for the entire day. And who doesn’t show up to class most of the time but still gets A’s. Also, he insulted one of the desk attendants at Barnard saying “You can see why he has that kind of a job.” implying that he was stupid because the attendant didn’t understand what this kid said at first. This was insulting because not only is that attendant a really nice guy, but because apparently now anyone who isn’t exactly like him is worse than him. Also, he over acts. A lot. I mean this is a grotesque comedy, but at the same time, it is not necessary to throw your costumes and props around the room which results in their loss or to knock over the table and chairs every time you go through a scene. It’s just silly. I like to think that I’m nice, but I no longer have any patience for him.)

Good
-I’m graduating soon (two days before my birthday to be specific!)
-I’m done with my thesis (just have to format and rewrite my conclusion)
-I have a job and somewhere to live in Pittsburgh.
- I have a job for the summer (and a plane ticket to get there).

Bad
-I have paperwork that has to be filed ASAP so that I can graduate for real.
-The person whose signature I need is notoriously hard to get in touch with.
-Our super claimed to have fixed our light…he did not.

Eh
-The paperwork is so that I can become a single major with a minor. I hate my second thesis reader and I decided that I was sick of the stress she causes me. Consequently, I will be dropping my political science major to a minor. This will not effect grad school or the exciting news.
-My allergies are killing me. This is just an eh because it means that the trees and gardens are blooming. It’s worth it to sneeze all the time
-I officially have tendonitis. Why is this only an eh? Because “eh, I already pretty much knew it”. I’ll go pick up some braces to sleep in and take some aleve and hopefully a summer of no computer will help me get rid of this bout.

The So Increadibly Awesome That It Needs Its Own Column
-I got the job! I have no clue when it will start or where (it’s a large company), but assuming I don’t screw up in the next few months, I will have a job (with a very good starting salary). All I know is that I will probably be in the Virginia area, but not necessarily. Yay. Although this means I’m going to have to get a car. Boo.

So I definitely have somewhere to live next year. I have not yet signed my lease, because I have a friend stopping by when she goes home for Passover, but barring the house being full of roaches and rats, I can’t see turning it down. (And for the record, the photos are great - newly renovated etc.)

The weird thing is I have to plan moving. Since the absolute longest I will be living in Pittsburgh is a year, I’m planning on downsizing…a lot. And since it’s a furnished house, I can downsize. It’s going to be tough to get all of my things home, but moving down to PA should be a breeze (a big suitcase, a box of yarn, some of my specialized kitchen utensils, a box of books, and my laptop).

I’ve already met two people on Ravelry who will also be starting at Pitt in the library science program, and I’m hoping to meet some people in the city that will be able to compare to my friends in NYC (for all the hell that Barnard has put me through - I have met some incredible friends here).

Also, my thesis is almost done! I’m editing it at the moment, and then all I have to do is write a conclusion and get it bound. And then I’m done. Really. Done. I don’t even have finals this year (a take home and short oral exam for Russian, and a play for my theater class - and neither of those count). So after my May 6 performance of Gogol’s Revizor - I am free to wander around the city until May 20 when I graduate. It’s an amazing opportunity, and I have to make sure I get my ID validated so I can go to art museums for free (we have a deal or something…but I don’t have the correct sticker on my ID to get it).

I’ve noticed something though. Every school I have ever attended has had the same color scheme and basically the same mascot. My high school is the West Genesee Wildcats (Blue and Gold), Columbia are the Lions (barnard are the bears - and our main rival is Princeton, who are the tigers = lions and tigers and bears - OH MY!) with baby blue and white as our colors, and the University of Pittsburgh are the Panthers with blue and gold as their colors.

I just heard/saw the first ice cream truck of the year!

1) I made feta corn muffins tonight. They were strangely amazing. We’ve all been eating them. Even better with some ham. The recipe is from Moldova and my Russian cookbook. Seriously, they’re strange, but amazing.

2) I think I found somewhere to live next year! It’s a shared house in a nice (and SAFE) neighborhood that is decently far away from the University (I don’t want to be surrounded by students) while still being close enough to be a comfortable commute (like 20 mins). And down the street from a liquor store (this is important because in PA you have to buy anything with alcohol in a liquor store - talk about culture shock from NY where you can buy beer in grocery stores, and from Russia where you can buy hard liquor pretty much anywhere), a grocery store, and A YARN STORE. .6 MILES FROM ONE OF THE MAIN YARN SHOPS IN PITTSBURGH!

3) Oh, and it’s a really nice house with laundry in the building, and it’s furnished (convenient).

4) Since it’s a fairly affordable rent (350-400/month plus utilities) I can actually afford to spend money at the yarn shop HALF A MILE FROM MY FRONT DOOR!

This is not 100% yet, as I’m waiting to hear back from the woman who owns the houses, but I’ve seen photos and it’s a beautiful house, in a nice neighborhood, and honestly I’m pretty much sold once I saw where the grocery store, yarn shop, and bus stop were. You can’t get much more convenient. With the exception of work and class, I can mostly live inside my little bubble of the neighborhood (I won’t lie, I’m a homebody, I love to travel, but I also love to just hang out at home).

So seriously, yay!

So I have finished my thesis in terms of page length (it is indeed over 50 pages at the moment), but not in terms of information. In fact, I haven’t even started the final chapter, you know, the one where I pull it all together and evaluate my questions.

Also, I have a Russian test on wednesday. Have I mentioned that I haven’t been doing much work for it over the past week because I felt very not well and didn’t realize our test was this soon.

Oh, and I have rehersals for the play I’m in (for a class…that I need to graduate) 3-4 days a week. And I still haven’t memorized all of my lines.

Let’s just say that I am currently freaking out and just hoping to survive the next week without having a nervous breakdown. Also, I have to remember to run to the video rental place and rent the movie that half of my test is based on (I have one of them but not the other).

Now, I need to finish the last bit of my thesis draft for the day, and try to go memorize vocabulary very very quickly…I can’t WAIT to be in the library science program. Honestly, it can not be as bad as this. No matter what it can’t be this tough. (Speaking of which, I’m still looking for an apartment, but I’ve sent out a bunch of inquiries and will hopefully hear back in the next week about what people have open).

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the next couple of years. This coming year I’ll be living in Pittsburgh, then after that it’s either off to Virginia or an attempt to find a job elsewhere. Originally I thought I would want to stay somewhere in the same region (i.e. the north east) but lately I’ve been thinking about possibly moving farther afield. I’m not talking about moving out to the middle of nowhere (not really interested in Iowa or the Dakotas for example), but a change of pace might be fun. My current fantasy is moving to Canada - although this would actually make more sense for me than moving down south. I almost went to school at McGill. I grew up close enough to the border that I never considered Canada all that foreign (in upstate NY when you can leave after breakfast and get there by lunch - it might as well be the next town over). Hell, according to my friends my accent sounds like I’m either Canadian or from Fargo (damn O’s - this is the reason why I can’t live in Chicago, Toronto, or Ontario).

Anyway, the point is, not only would it be fun to get a change of pace for a few years (I’m not limiting this to Canada, I’ve also looked at a few jobs in some larger cities in the US - although I’m limited since I need 4 seasons and a steady supply of maple syrup to survive, right now it’s either NYC or Mass. if I stay in the region), but there seem to be a decent number of academic libraries positions which don’t require you to already have 10 years of experience (which is what I’m finding a lot of through the ALA). Who knows, maybe I will finally fulfill my life long dream of seeing a mountie in dress uniform. And yes, that is on my list of things to do, along with seeing penguins in the wild. I’ve seen deer and moose and rattlesnakes, but never a (wild) penguin.

Oh, and I think I chose my couch for next year! I’ve been doing some furniture scouting for my apartment in pittsburgh, and I found a cute little couch at ikea (it needs to be inexpensive so that if I have to move I can either sell it without worrying about a loss or donate it or something, because relocation expenses are usually not included in academic jobs). Still don’t know about the apartment I applied for though. Soon. Supposedly sometime next week.