Since last Wednesday, I have made the decision that I want to go to graduate school to continue studying comparative literature. But I’m a little late in the game for applications! I luckily found that Kaplan was offering free GRE practice exams on Wellesley’s campus and attended one last Saturday. It’s too bad that I had to miss Susan Napier’s lecture though. She wrote a great analysis of some of the novels that I’m reading for my Japanese Post-war Fiction course. If anyone is thinking of taking Japanese literature courses (in English) talk to me!
On Sunday, a lot of my friends submitted applications to the Wellesley in Washington program, another great experience you can ask me more about.
The rest of the week kept me busy planning two gifts- one for each of my parents because their birthdays are in the month of October. A trip to Boston on the (free) Peter Pan bus got me there to get all of my shopping done in one night. I stayed a little later so that I could study in a cafe near Commonwealth St. I always say that it’s good to get off campus every now and then and that travel time being a waste of study time is no excuse if you bring your readings on the bus with you.
I have to do really really good this year because it is my last chance to bring up my GPA and really show those graduate programs that I am serious about what I do! I had a hard time giving up some work hours at Slater International in order to make more time for studying but after all, it’s the reason I’m here. I am applying to comp lit programs at Berkeley and UTexas in Austin so far, as well as The Monterey Institute of International Studies for a program in translation and localization management, Teach for America, and finally a Critical Language Scholarship. With all these subjects have to do with languages, I will need to take up a third language soon…I’ve decided on Russian and will start Russian 101 this winter break, returning to Wellesley sooner than usual to take the class before spring semester begins.
Which reminds me! Tonight I went with the Russian department to hear Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, “Babi Yar” at Lincoln Center! A bus picked us up with dinners we ordered online from a nearby Wellesley sandwich shop and drove us the 4-5 hours over there. The symphony was AMAZING and it was my first time every seeing a symphony live like that. I will leave you with Symphony No. 13, I can sleep well now 🙂
Inside Lincoln Center waiting for the Shostakovich symphony to begin! Saving these tickets forever!
Outside of Lincoln Center