And where is that?

I sent in my Aspiration Statement and Resume today! I think it was almost (or perhaps just barely) under the 10 days from acceptance deadline. I was a little worried - I had written them over the last few days and planned to edit and send them during my 3 hour layover this morning, but somehow when I got into Philly my layover was only 90 minutes and I couldn't connect to the airport wi-fi.

On a side note, airports in general need more electical sockets or power strips.  If you're going to offer free wi-fi, people like me with 20 minute battery life-spans are going to need an outlet. The two sockets every 50 feet for the vacuum cleaner are just not sufficient unless you are the first person to the gate. Just sayin'.

Back on topic - I finished/edited both, but still needed a few last details before sending them (What semester did I T/A for Cell Bio? What was that great class I took my freshman year that totally relates to what I'm going to be doing?).  So I save them, hop on the next plane, get into NY where my dad picks me up, and we drive up north towards the hotel where all the wedding guests are staying (my cousin is getting married this weekend! yay!).  There's a nap, and a shower, and a frantic attempt to get my computer to open my Word documents while connecting to the hotel internet in time to make the boat to the rehearsal dinner (I then found out that we were driving anyway).  But in the end it all worked out and the necessary email was sent with the properly edited attachments and everything. :)

So off we went to the rehearsal dinner.  And then I spent the entire evening telling people where I was going. :p  I'm actually really thrilled that my family members are so proud and excited for me, but I definitely felt kind of like a shmuck for stealing a bit of my cousin's thunder (at least in my eyes) because everyone I met then asked if I was in school, what my plans now were, and Oh! You're going to Africa? What country? And where is that, exactly?

Granted, I had some lovely conversations with a few people and actually became quite passionate as I warmed to my topic of culturally appropriate aid and interventions (I think PEPFAR and the ABC's even came into it), and I'm really glad that there are now a fairly large group of people who have at least heard of the existence of Burkina Faso, but I still feel bad about having so much attention on myself at an event that is clearly in celebration of someone else, of two someone elses, in fact.  Is it weird to be so excited about something in my life but feel like I shouldn't talk about it because of the event that I'm attending?

And on an unrelated note, there are people singing/yelling outside of my hotel window :)  It was Taylor Swift a minute ago, but now they've moved on to something I don't recognize. Yay for headphones!