The Intern

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So in a tragi-comedy I watched recently, a young mother/student travels miles away from her loving husband with their young child in tow. Before moving, however, she finishes a nail-biting week or so of finals and frantically tries to get funding while attempting to get her research IRB approved. Upon leaping through these hoops, she moves in with her in-laws and goes to work on her internship: evaluating a group of minority students' experiences with a school program.

Sounds tragi-comic, right? But wait, this wasn't a show I watched. It's my life. And it sunk in today how mad I must be to have so many balls in the air, but alas.

Luckily for me, though, it isn't really as tragi-comic as it sounds. I already have been blessed with some funding, and I'm not doing this alone. I now have a lovely project partner who is helping me fill out the odious IRB application that our advisor (also lovely) recommended we do in case we ever want to present or publish our findings. What a thought. Also exaggerated in my introduction is the aspect of moving in with my in-laws, who I adore. My parents are totally bewildered that I'd opt to live with my in-laws instead of living alone in their vacant home (which my project partner will be occupying, incidentally). I finally got it through to my dad that they only feel this way because 1) neither of them really liked their inlaws, and therefore never would have lived with them voluntarily, and 2) they keep forgetting that I still have a relatively young child in my care and Derrick will be miles away.

Also exaggerated in my opening is the idea that the internship project will somehow not be very fun or interesting. Quite the contrary. This was a project I created on my own for several reasons, but mostly because I'm interested in understanding racial/cultural inequities in the education system.

Not dramatized, however, is the fact that finals are fast approaching, I have TONS of preparation to do for the internship in addition to submitting our application to the IRB. gulp. Funny how blogging has somehow made it to the top of priority list, isn't it?