I just spent the last week on the East Coast, interviewing for jobs, visiting people, and doing some very brief sight seeing. Since I'd barely been to the East Coast before, it was mostly just a vague concept in my mind, put together from what people say and what you see in movies. It was very strange to actually be there. It felt completely different from anywhere else in the US. And, of course, New York, Washington DC, and Philadelphia were all completely different one from the other.
Anyways, I had 5 interviews, which were with educational recruiters, a school, and a publisher. The most rewarding interviews were with the people that I got the impression would actually be hiring (apparently, most schools start around February). A few of them said they were just looking for potential hirees to fill potential openings. This is all fine and well, just not particularly heartening when you're actually in the market for a job. The next step for pretty much all my applications: online forms and submitting letters of recommendation. I'm going to try to get all this done before I head back to Grinnell.
In New York Lee Anne and I stayed with our friend Sara, who lives in White Plains, about a 45 min commute north of the city. The flight, the traffic coming back from the airport, and the early first day of interviews really took a lot out of us, but we did manage to walk around and see some things. We rode the ferry to Staten Island, had fresh New York bagels, went to Times Square (which isn't actually a square at all...how misleading!), and to Central Park. It was completely exhausting. Great to see Sara and her girlfriend though!
After a night in Delaware, we took the train to Washington DC, where Lee Anne and I both ended up having two interviews. We stayed with Sukha's girlfriend Margaret, which was lovely and very relaxing. She was a very considerate hostess and we actually got a good night's sleep before our interviews, both of which made a big difference. Anyways, in DC we went to the Museum of Natural History, which is fantastic and free, and walked around the neighborhood with all the embassies, trying to guess which country was represented by which flag. It was cold but absolutely gorgeous; both Lee Anne and I really liked DC.
After a morning interview in Philadelphia we went and saw some Revolutionary War historic sights, like the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross' home, and Franklin's burial place. It was sort of cool, though that era of American history doesn't interest me all that much. Of all the cities, I felt like I got the least sense of what Philadelphia was actually like, other than that it's really, really big and sprawling. I guess we were just too tired of seeing sights and trekking around big cities by that point to put in the necessary effort.
All in all, after 6 states in 6 days, 5 job interviews, and 7 forms of transportation taken, I am GLAD TO BE HOME.
