Interview #3: Erin

Hello readers!

I have one week of my summer research internship left. I can’t believe how fast it has passed! On Thursday I shall present my poster at Wellesley along with the rest of the summer students… and then I’m done. How strange. However, it’s the lab’s running joke that anyone who has left the lab (we had a farewell party for Rosa and Cleo last Monday) can come back and be paid a casual wage by Professor Conway… which I will be doing next week :). So I shall be back at work come Monday, and happy to be so :).

In other news, my sister and her friend are visiting me from Wednesday to Saturday! I am so excited to show them around Boston, and the schools around here. They’re rising seniors, so it’s like having my very own prospies, except I’m extremely invested in them and get to spend several days with them. I have Plans, with a capital p. Duck tour, museums, Chinatown, visiting colleges, night out with roommates, sofa-sleeping… it’s going to be so much fun.

Next week I think I’ll have a post reflecting on my summer experience, if I don’t find someone to interview again. My friends are all so generous with their time :).

And without further ado, my interviewee for the week: Erin!

Name: Erin Pomeroy

Major: French and most likely history (if she can get her credit transferred from her year abroad in France. Note: see how she’s not a science major? Are you excited? I’m excited ;P.

Year: 2014. Incoming senior, coming your way :).

You’re almost done with your time at Wellesley. Are you excited or nervous for what comes next? Right now I’m excited, because I think I’m ready for it. Another year will be great, but I think that I could live on my own now. City preferences? I love Boston, and I’d love to stay here if I could. It depends where I get a job though. Where are you applying? I don’t know. What are you applying for? (Laughs) I don’t know. I could continue with conservation work, or I could start something completely different.

Well, that’s a nice lead in! What’s your job on campus? (I love interviewing friends because I already know quite a bit about them. Makes tie-ins so much easier :)). My first year, I started working part-time in the conservation lab of the [Clapp] library. It turned into a full-time summer job, and this year I have a special summer internship where I work with Archives, Special Collections, and Conservation. My title is “Historical Collections Intern” (she grins at this, and tells me they’ll come up with a different one soon.) I’m working with all three this summer, then when the school year starts I’ll go back to working only for Conservation.

Why did you choose your job? The summer before my first year, I was applying to jobs online. (We have a student on-campus employment website.) I saw the job description, and it sounded really fascinating, so I applied, and ended up getting invited to interview my first week at Wellesley, and got it.

How often do you work? During the school year, it depends. In the fall, I work 8-10 hours a week because of swim season. Once the season’s over in the spring, I can work anywhere up to 14 hours. 13 is the most I’ve done so far.

What are some of the cool projects you’ve done this summer? (Erin often tells us about the great things she’s doing in conservation. It’s especially compelling when you can see her passion for history, and her reverence for the books and documents she’s handling.) From the conservation side of things, this summer I’ve done some interesting projects—making custom boxes for things, like clamshell boxes, for objects, for books in Special Collections and the Art Library. I vacuumed a book yesterday. It was one of six copies of that book in the entire world, and there I was, vaccuming it. That was fun. In Special Collections, I’ve been databasing manuscripts among other things. In Archives, I’ve been doing a survey of objects they have in archives as well as going through the scrapbooks they have. Did you know that all of the societies got shut down at one point? You don’t hear about it, but there are no pictures that year in all of the scrapbooks. I’d like to look into that—see what happened.

What else are you involved in on campus? It’s been a while (Erin’s been in France all of junior year), but swim team, of course, and I do some stuff with admissions. I’m an overnight hostess, and I do some lunch hostessing and letter writing. I really enjoy doing that. I have a pretty good success rate (grins).

How’s swim team? (I’m grinning at her as I say this. We will always love the swim team.) It’s like having a family on campus—that’s one thing I really enjoy. With me not being the fastest on the team, I love just being able to swim and be with my friends. It’s nice to get good times, but I don’t swim for the times.

Agreed. Hey, did you find a place to stay after your summer job was over? (Sorry, this was a bit abrupt. But Erin’s not going home this summer, and she was looking for an apartment for a while.) Yes, actually! A lovely retired Wellesley employee offered me a place for August. No rent. (I gape at her a little.) I know. She put three daughters through college and said that she understood how important every penny is. She asked, “do you want me to do dinners for you?” It’s wonderful. I told her my schedule’s a little crazy, so I would take care of it. I have to commute of course, but I have a car so it’s not an issue.

Wow, nice Erin. So how important is having a car? (I know the answer to this one, but I hear it asked a lot by prospies.) During the school year, not as much. There was the occasional time when I wished I had a car, but for the most part you can get where you need to. During summer, I’d say it’s very important. Though they’re supposed to be adding a shuttle to the Green line in the fall… (This is a much anticipated development, though I am keeping my expectation low that it will occur before I graduate. Still, it’s happening eventually!)

So where do you live on campus? Caz 4^th floor. I love Caz. (This would be Cazenove Hall, in the Quad.)

And now we’re into the good part :). Why Wellesley? When I was looking at schools, Wellesley sent me a brochure in the mail, and I looked at it, and I wasn’t interested because it was an all-womens college. My mother, being from the East Coast, said I needed to look at it. I did a big trip out here on the East Coast, and Wellesley was the first school I visited. And as soon I was on campus, I knew it was for me. I knew it was my place.

Anything specific that sparked that feeling? I think I was very impressed with the tour—with the person who gave the tour— and the people I talked to in Admissions. They were all extremely confident and poised and very self-aware women, and that’s something that I never had in high school. And it was something that I really wanted to have. And I thought coming to Wellesley, I’d be able to gain that confidence, and I definitely have.

How else has Wellesley helped you grow? That confidence, and the independence. But I think what I got most out of Wellesley was finding who I am. The academics, the books, that’s great—but it’s finally having the confidence to be myself, and really thrive on that. I think we all pass a hurdle at some point in our lives, and that’s when we really understand ourselves and know who we are. To be confortable in your own skin.

We paused for a bit after this, and Erin told her story about what had happened her sophomore year—my freshman year. I hadn’t been aware of any of it. But she told me that she had learned to be self-aware, and to ask for help, and had grown so much through that experience. Every time I think I know Wellesley, I run into another woman, hear their story, and am astounded. So lucky. I’m so lucky.

Should people study abroad?  I would say yes. Under the condition that it’s something that you personally want in your education and want in life. If it will fit in with your educational and life goals, do it. I don’t recommend going if you think that it might inhibit your education in any way, like if you think you won’t be able to take the classes you want. It is a fabulous experience, but some people come back and didn’t like it. Don’t go in with any expectations—go in open-minded and enjoy the opportunity.

How was France? France, in general: the experience was wonderful. I went there with minimal conversational skills; I was not comfortable with the language. Although I am not fluent, I’m more than confortable speaking it whenever the occasion arises. And that was really what I wanted to get out of the whole experience. I met that goal. It was a lot of fun. That also helped me with the confidence and such. After you travel by yourself, you realize you can do this, you can handle real-life situations by yourself.

How is it entering the bubble again? (By which I refer to the Wellesley Bubble, the phenomenon of an enclosed college campus. I enjoy the bubble very much, as do most of us… then we go into the Real World and Real Life begins :)). Returning to the States itself was a little weird at first. Hearing English everywhere was odd. (It’s so funny how she parallels Iulia.) And there are cultural things I wasn’t used to—like, people here speak very loudly. It’s not something you notice in France. It’s not something they’re doing on purpose, it’s just the culture. We’re taught to emote, to project. When you’re excited, you start speaking loudly, and you don’t notice it. That’s something I didn’t notice until I came back. There are other things, like leaving the door to the bathroom open. As for back in the bubble itself… at first it was kind of hard. It’s very quiet on campus in the summer. I lived in the heart of the town in Aix [a city in France where Wellesley has an exchange program]. And peoples’ approaches to life are different.

Most valuable experiences at Wellesley? The swim team, and travel abroad.

Looking forward to classes this year? I’m so excited for my French classes. It’ll be like a gathering of all of us from Aix. And you’re totally going to rock it. (Big smile.) Yeah.

And there you have it, good readers. Erin Pomeroy, talking about her study abroad experience, and all that Wellesley has done to make her grow into the person she is. I feel like we owe more and more to this school as the years pass. Speaking of which, shameless plug to come see my poster from 2-4pm on Thursday, so you can hear about the wonderful summer Wellesley has given me :).

Love to you all,

Monica

ps. Feel free to send me questions or requests for interviewees!