September 19, 2004
I hope you're a little better at it than I am.
For those of you who don't know, my husband is in his 4th year of school for Landscape Architecture. We've been trying to figure out what our plans are for the 5th (AND FINAL!!) year, which involves an internship.
Well, he talked to the head of the L.A. internship program last week. We learned a few things, the first one being that they don't offer internships in the States. Secondly, he doesn't necessarily have to intern, he could just study at a different school for a semester. Or, he could just stay here and do what amounts to a semester's worth of "busy work" with about ten other students. Note, the internship is a paying position, the other two we have to pay for.
Careerwise, an internship abroad is the wisest thing, because this looks great on the resume. Plus, it gives him five months of actual job experience and an opportunity to make some good employment connections.
The second choice would be studying at a different university, and I'm not sure if that means in the States or not. It's not as useful as the internship, but still makes the resume a little more interesting.
The last option is staying here, which is the least appealing. It's basically a waste of a semester, and nothing is accomplished to further your employment/education.
Sooo. Having a family makes the first two choices much harder than the last one. We could all go, or he could go, or none of us could go. Financially, OUCH. It's not cheap. We've been advised that the least expensive place to intern as a family would be Thailand, probably Bangkok (where they speak English a lot). Patrick is corresponding with a guy that went with his family last year, so we'll have more info on that soon.
Options are nice, but I'm a little overwhelmed. I don't want him to miss an important aspect of his education, but I'm not sure how to make this work. The thought of just sitting here for five months when we could be somewhere amazing is too depressing. Grr... what to do, what to do?? I wanna stamp my passport, dangit!
Anyway, that's the latest update in the Internship Dilemna. I'll post more as the complications increase.
I do like challenges though. Good thing for that!
Yikes! Wow. Well, at least the kids are still young, so that if you did decide to up and move to another country 5 months it wouldn't be like upheaving them from schools and intricate social circles of band and soccer. (You know, orchestra is a lot cooler than band.)
Posted by: Jeannette at September 19, 2004 08:28 PMJeannette, I changed the description for you in my bloglist and I have been laughing about it all night.
Posted by: Shannon at September 19, 2004 10:30 PMYou could consult Nostradamus. He seems to be in the know when it comes to predicting the future.
Posted by: Joey Wolfe at September 19, 2004 10:35 PMNostradamus did once say that "the lion of spring will have a drink with the penguin of discontent, on or around the fifth of the sixth." I wonder if he was somehow referring to me.
Posted by: Patrick at September 20, 2004 12:10 PMMetallic body paint!? How did you know!?!? :-)
Posted by: Jeannette at September 21, 2004 10:56 AMBut if it's a paying position, wouldn't that offset some of the cost of travel, accomodations, etc? I'd look at it as an opportunity for some world travel while also earning an income. I'd go if at all possible, even taking out a loan if necessary.
Posted by: jon at September 21, 2004 11:16 AMPatrick is looking into scholarship/grants to help out with it. If we can swing it, we're going to go. It's too good to pass up.
Posted by: Shannon at September 21, 2004 11:49 AM