FRIDAAAAY!!

So it's finally Friday. Yay! Man, this year is actually flying, and I don't really like that. I have too much that I have to do this semester for it to be going by so fast. I have to get research for my colloquium presentation, take my GRE, and apply to graduate schools while maintaining my awesome GPA so that I can actually get into these grad schools. RAWR!

But I talked with Dr. Gaber this week about grad schools. At colloquium last week Dr. Dever pretty much told us all that we were completely screwed for jobs because we chose archaeology as our majors. Gee, thanks. So every senior archaeology student had a heart attack and flocked to Gaber and Dever after colloquium to figure out our futures. Turns out I might actually be quite set because my meeting with Gaber went extremely well. Gaber and Dever said that the only way to get into anything in archaeology and make any kind of money is to 1) marry a rich person (haha); 2) get a PhD in either languages, art history, or anthropology; 3) get the PhD at an AMERICAN graduate school; 4) you MUST know French and German, and Greek and Latin or Greek and Hebrew; 5) forget about trying to head your own dig in Israel; 6) work towards a teaching degree. Well, I was hoping to accomplish most of that anyways!

But I've always wanted to learn as many languages as I could. I am on the highest level of German that Lyco offers, I took enough French in high school that if I were to do a refresher I think I could at least maintain a reading comprehension of it, I took as much Greek as Lyco offers plus some, and I'm taking Hebrew right now. CHECK! I also have an anthropology minor. I guess I should give up hoping to study in Israel. At least for my first PhD. HAHAHA! Yea... And I want to be a professor anyways. Yay!

Gaber sat with me and said that pretty much I should try for Johns Hopkins University's Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department. She said it's the best place in the States for a Near Eastern Languages degree. Following is UCLA and University of Michigan. I told her I was also looking at UPenn; she said they don't have a very strong program anymore and that they should be my "back-up school". UPenn, a back-up school...it's Ivy League! But, she said, I have an amazing GPA (3.81), I have most of the background stuff covered, I have dig experience (and supervisor experience, nonetheless!), and I'm doing very well in here class, which means I can write well...or at least can think like a grad student. She also said that I can expect a killer recommendation from her. Gaber also knows the department head at Johns Hopkins very well! woop! I have an in! My only worry is the GRE because I've never done very well with standardized testing. She said all I can do is do the practice problems and take it twice. But really they look at everything, so I think it'll be all ok if my GRE is just ok. I really want Johns Hopkins, though. It's in Baltimore! I like Baltimore! And I really really REALLY don't want to go to LA. Too big and too far away. But I won't put it out of my mind. But she said my deciding factor will be my Financial Aid. UCLA won't give me as much money as Johns Hopkins would because it's government funded and private universities are much better at giving out money to their grad students.

I also sent an email to Steve Ortiz about my summer dilemma. I want to go to Maddy's wedding but it's during the first weekend of the dig. I looked at all options and pretty much I just have to decide between one or the other. If I go to Hawaii, then I need to come up with my own money for my plane ticket. I don't think that's going to happen. But I don't want to miss it. :( Anyways, I told Steve about it and he said, "What does Hawaii have to offer? Blue water, white sandy beaches, dark Polynesian men. And Israel: blue locus sheets, brown dirt... No comparison!" haha. At least he has a good sense of humor. But he told me in underline and bold "We want you back". So I really have no idea. I also have to start searching for some kind of summer job, too. *sigh* Oh wells.

Well, I must get moving this morning. Lots of stuff to do.