Alyanumbers

I was at my mother's on a "shower break" from the revolution, as I'd spent the night on the pavement in front of the Parliament. I saw I had a new email message, and was expecting a journalist or a friend checking in on me; it was an automated message telling me I had a new message in my InTray on the uni's server. So there were 5 stressful minutes as I opened the website, and the page refused to load. Then as soon as I saw "Conditional offer of admission" in the subject line, I jumped around in joy. Exhaustion and worry dulled my emotions, though.

Chocolate bear.

Rotten eggs.

Car bomb.

Police officer.

Exchange student.

Just saw a Berkeley acceptance on the results board... Was that you?

Take down.

Head on.

On hold.

I was never particularly interested in an MA (in the US), but in any case, none of the Comp Lit programs I've looked at offered stand-alone MA programs. You might want to look overseas, though, if you can do that. Otherwise, for good programs in the field, it'll depend on your interests of course, but given your background in French I recommend Yale and Cornell.

Heh, thanks! I'm just very aware of my privilege (I grew up in a left-wing middle-class intellectual family, went to French school, speak 4 languages, etc). I care about the workers' rights movements, and don't want to be involved as a privileged outsider. Your plan also sounds lovely... I don't have any savings, but I want to go to South America (that might be easier to do if I end up in the US for the next 6 years!), and India, for two months each. I've planned to since I was 15, when it suddenly hit me that when I have a job, responsibilities, my own family (or at least aging parents who need me), I won't be able to do those crazy, non-serious, irresponsible things. Eventually, I also hope to open a public library, something there is a dearth of in my country. I love books, so this would be an amazing project for me.

I would look for work in factories, mines, etc. I want to spend 6 months to a year living as a working-class person, to better understand the workers' rights movement. Then I'll reapply, and widen the net (apply to 8 or so schools in the US, plus a few ones in the UK and France). I could also go to Spain; the Spanish government offers scholarships to Spanish-speaking foreigners.

Dear God. How's that going for you? Al Aswany is the Egyptian equivalent of Dan Brown, IMO. :/

Rotten eggs.

Red herring.

Land ho!

OT, but I love the quote in your signature!

Down time.

Counting days.

I am really stressed out, but no, not angry. Probably because before I started the application process, I was doing a Summer Training From Hell, which is when I used to be really moody and constantly irritated by people. Result: I lost one of my best friends. I'm more prone to tears than to anger, now. I haven't had much opportunity to 'wait', so to speak. Over the past 5 months, I've been studying for the TOEFL and GRE, writing my SoP, and then my first ever academic paper over 5 pages--in English (my first language is French and my second Arabic), and keeping up with my regular schoolwork. I'll be done with finals next Wednesday (semesters at my uni last from mid-September to late January, then mid-February to mid-June), and I really think I'll feel much better when the only thing I have to worry about is grad school.

Seconded! I regret not applying to more schools, and only applying to very cold places.