Well hello there... and Happy New Year!
It took me a little while to get around to writing my last blog entry, but here I am. I guess it's good that a few weeks passed since I finished up with school.
Life is good! It's really nice not to have certain books to read each night and papers to work on, tests to study for, etc. Freedom! One of the first things I did after finishing my final semester was to get some girly books to read from the library. No more criminal justice reading (at least for a little while)!
So what have I been doing with all this extra time without my internship, classes, etc? Working! I am still working at my Suffolk job 17.5 hours per week. I have also begun a part-time nanny job for a 5 month old baby girl in a town close to mine. My goal is to save, save, save money. Let me tell you...not being broke is a very good feeling! I was definitely just staying afloat this semester financially. Working unpaid 16 hrs/week definitely didn't help the bank account. However, it was completely worth it.
So, my plan is to continue working these two jobs through August (economy permitting) and then do some traveling come Fall 2009. Since I did graduate school immediately after college, I feel I need to get some traveling out of my system before I begin my career. It's a good time in life for me.. I'm living at home, single, with little responsibilities, my education is completed...time for a little exploring! My hope is to do some traveling throughout South America for a few months. I hope to start in Argentina and maybe volunteer for a month or so, then backpack through some other countries such as Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, perhaps Brazil if I can fit it in. I need to get a bit out of my comfort zone and challenge myself a bit. So that's my game plan for 2009--save, save, save and then travel, travel, travel. Most likely followed by plenty of job applications and job searching. Eek!
Career-wise, I think ultimately I'd like to work for the federal government. I really enjoyed my internship and especially my exposure to the Investigations aspect of criminal justice. Most likely over the next months, I will begin applying to jobs, as from what I hear, sometimes people do not hear back about federal job applications for 6 months to a year. I definitely would like to get a head start on job applications before I travel, if possible. We'll see!
Overall, my experience in graduate school with the Criminal Justice program was very good. I feel pleased with the education I received and the situations I was exposed to through classes along with my internship. On a more personal note, it is really weird to be done with school. I have been going to school for over 15 years non-stop! That's crazy! Probably a good time to try something new.
It was nice to keep a blog and be able to look back upon the whole experience. Sometimes it's easy to forget the really hard times when I had a full course load. I remember feeling like every waking moment was spent reading for class! How nice it is for that to be over. However, I really enjoy being a student and learning new things, and hearing the ideas and opinions of my peers and professors. I suppose I will have to find new and different ways of learning and challenging myself! Or I could always go for another Master. Ha ha!!
Best of luck to anyone who reads my blogs...thanks for tuning in. On to the next chapter of my life... :)
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