inside Rhodes

WOW.  So this has been quite the semester so far.  I have never been so stressed in all of my life, and that is definitely not an exaggeration.  And I’ve officially reached the halfway point… and it’s still going to be a tough finish.

In order to establish a brief “catch-up” here’s how the semester started and has evolved up until this point.  I’ve been very slow in reaching the present, and it’s about time.

The first thing I started doing upon starting classes was moving towards applying for the Marshall and Rhodes Scholarships to receive a fully-paid Master’s at Oxford University to receive a degree in Development Studies.  It was an exhausting process of collecting 6 letters of recommendation and re-writing my letter of purpose about 9 times.  Dr Haas, the director of the application processes, was amazing and helped me along the entire process with great dedication and patience.  Unfortunately, since then, I have learned that I am not to be interviewed for the Marshall.  I am not crushed, as these are nationally-competitive scholarships.  But my only worry with the Rhodes Scholarship is that if selected to be interviewed, it could possibly conflict if I am able to run at NCAA Nationals for Cross Country.  That kind of conflict hopefully won’t occur, but if it did, I’d almost certainly run my spot at Nationals.  It’s hard to describe why an athlete must compete, but it drives everything else so I can’t resist it.

After returning from Russia and Estonia, I decided to change my life plan of only pursuing a Master’s to pursuing a PhD and work towards a career of academia and teaching.  I’m rather excited about the prospects, and I have been e-mailing professors at numerous programs in order to see if the fit seems good.  The list is large: 9 schools (UWashington, UMinnesota, UIndiana, UWisconsin, UTexas, Ohio State, Brown, Emory, UPittsburgh) and it’s all towards a PhD in Political Science, focusing in Comparative Politics in order to focus on Russian social policy (immigration, health, education, etc).  But I’m just now starting the application process, but I’ve received a lot of enthusiasm from professors about my study proposal, and I’m confident with the prospects.  But I’m paying for grad school by myself, so my GRE score is a HUGE gateway to getting a fully-funded PhD, especially considering the competitive nature of the schools I’m applying to.  Weee….   NOT.

Classes are good, but I’m only taking 3 this semester.  I’m going to graduate with a huge surplus of credit hours, so that’s not a problem, but it’s definitely different.  I only have class on Tuesday/Thursday, so it’s fun but odd calendar.  I’m taking Acting I (for my Fine Art credit), Masterpieces of Russian Literature (for my minor), and Introduction to International Relations Theory.  I love my classes, they’re a perfect balance in terms of interest and engagement.  The work has been stressful between learning new scenes and trying to improve my acting, reading international relations philosophy, and then the ever-present reading of Russian novels.  hahaha.  But the writing hasn’t been too intense, but it’s going to REALLY pick up towards the end, so we’ll see how it progresses… but 3 classes is the maximum I could manage this semester due to grad school / fellowship applications.  Ugh.  Senior year stresses.

Cross Country has been an uphill struggle.  My training in Estonia and Russia left my endurance intact, but my speed was severely underdeveloped, along with my ability to hold fast speeds for any amount of time.  So my initial races and workouts were abysmal and rather disappointing.  But the team has been amazing.  The freshmen have been amazing and have been mixing it up with the upperclassmen at every race, and so the dynamic is wonderful.  And I’ve certainly enjoyed the last month of training, as I’ve been able to get back into my prime.  It’s been a whirlwind, and I’ve been putting on my “Johnson Juggernaut” – a running process where I suddenly start dropping minutes off my times and rapidly explode onto the scene.  It’s frustrating for myself and the coaches, because we don’t have a very stable picture as to where I am in my training, but it’s exciting because the possibilities look so amazing.  Last week in a workout, I comfortably ran mile and two mile times in my workout that were seconds and minutes below my high school PRs, respectively.  I’m in a kind of shape I can hardly believe, but I know I’m here and I’m not wasting it.  hahaha.  Next weekend we have our SCAC Conference Championships in Atlanta, so the top 12 will compete.  The results from that race will create the list for the Top 7, who will compete at NCAA Regionals in North Carolina, and possibly Nationals in Ohio.  WOOOOO!!!!   Running is woot woot.

So I stand on the other side of the half of the semester.  I can’t believe where I am, but I’ve got a long way to go.  The time to buckle down is here, and I’m strapped in and ready for forces of  in excess of 9 Gs.  Weee!!!  (Note: I know that’s physically impossible, but I’m an invulnerable 21-year old, I don’t care).