soooo i dont know how much all of y'all (my texan side coming out) know about my state dept internship... experience. but there has been a rather interesting update.
i originally applied to an internship at the american embassy in beirut for this summer back in nov when everyone and their pet hamster was applying for the embassy internships. i didnt hear anything back and, comforting myself with the thought of the total lack of time and effort on my part that went into the application - always a good excuse - i forgot about it. so i was not expecting the email i received in late january from the state dept congratulating me on the internship i received at the "school of languages, foreign service institute, dept of state". have you heard of it? i havent heard of it. no one has bloody well heard of it. but it was at the state dept so, despite the fact that i hadnt applied for it, i - generously - decided to hear the lady out. i write her back a "hey nice to hear from you what are you talking about" email and dont hear back from her for about 3 weeks. at this point id written her 2 more emails and had decided that i must have hallucinated the first email and some woman at the state dept thought she had a new stalker. buuuuuuut eventually she writes back apologizing for the delay and the total incompetence of beaurocracy in general and wants to get to know me, be my friend, etc. so, still totally confused as to what this internship was, where it would take place, what the school of foreing languages was or did or whether not not it actually existed, i wrote her back a loong email pretty much asking her all these questions plus a "and btw how did you get my application in the first place?" ps. oh and a "does this mean i didnt get the internship i ACTUALLY applied to?". i felt pretty justified in my total ignorance and im afraid that might have come through pretty clearly in the email... but again that was ok bc, i mean really, THEY had contacted ME, right?
so this morning i check my email again and - quite exciting - i have an email from her in my inbox. her email went somewhere along the lines of "um... you DID apply to this internship... you checked foreign language institute as your second choice... you suck." oh and "there are plenty of ppl who DO want this internship so if you dont, let me know so we can select another candidate". ooooooooooooooooooooooh sweet humiliation i have the brains and tact of a camel in heat how the HELL should i respond to that??? and do camels go into heat anyway? deathdeathdeathdeath talk about great first impressions. i havent even met the woman and already she knows that a) i applied to an internship i know nothing about and didnt bother to research b) i am totally incompetent bc i couldnt even find the institute's website, which she ever-so-kindly sent me the link to to clear up my confusion and c) i have the iq of a caterpillar.
so yeah i should write back to her... luckily i was planning on doing middlebury anyway. hopefully she wont add any sort of 'warning: due to suspicion of total stupidity and inability to spell, this girl should not be let within 5 miles of the state dept' to my permanent file. which already includes, no doubt, 'lived in saudi arabia + lived in cairo + visited west bank, iran, syria and lebanon + owns 2 passports for 'educational' purposes + liberal tendancies = possible terrorist. thats me; another day, another chance to burn bridges. whatever. ill spend 9 weeks in a hole in vermont being eaten by misquittos and swimming in humidity and ill be HAPPY about it. masquittos. mesquittos? hears hoping no one important ever reads my blog.
moving on... so im sitting in the AUC courtyard having finally registered my computer on the network. well, "registered". i illegally got the password from a friend who had illegally gotten the password from a friend... but it amounts to the same thing. so instead of going home after my class i have chosen to seclude myself with my computer, and sooth the sores of my aim-withdrawal by soaking myself in gmail, facebook, and blogger.com.
plans for this weekend include my roommate's norwegian class tonight = 15 college kids + unnecessary norwegian vocabulary + duty free alcohol. following this there will be house parties, dancing and creepy taxi drivers, in that order. tomorrow my roommates and i will be joining a group of ex-pats who apparently go running the desert every friday afternoon, and then go out drinking afterwards. how had i not heard of these ppl before? i can feel the spiritual connection. i also have grand plans to start writing my paper for the class with j.b. who is, btw, a god. i want to be him when i grow up. sans mustache. seriously my class with him is awesome. maybe im just seminar-deprived, but i can actually feel that class shock my brain out of its cairo-coma. god bless.
good news for all of you ppl out there is im really enjoying being back in cairo! none of that what-the-hell-am-i-doing-here-when-i-could-be-at-stanford depression i expected. so i wont be coming back for spring quarter unless something goes horribly wrong. :( sry darlings. i do miss you all! but cairo is... well... i mean come on im going to iran for spring break. woot. assuming, that is, that israel manages to restrain itself. can a zebra change its stripes? is a frog's bottom waterproof? these are the important questions we must all ponder.
ok the sun has dissappeared so im going to retreat back to zamalek. mumkin go to the gym? mumkin take a nap? how well do you ppl know me? ok im off. muah.
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