What a week! Four great days so far. I will have to do a breif recap from the week trip home next post.
Monday: I worked on a policy memo on how to conduct a Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to a project on rural irrigation in Africa. Then did some computer research on community partners for an Aging in Society undergrad class for work at the Office of Experiential Learning. Then did some reading and writing for other classes catching up still from the week before. And checking emails- I swear we get so many emails from our program Heller. Then I took the bus to school (I live about a mile and half away), froze my butt off, and had class from 6:40-9:30 with Kristina- Geographic Informations Science- basically using computer software to visually map data about anything I choose. Dean Ravi (from India) teaches the course and it is great- he is passionate about data and displaying information to persuade the audience about your message and he is funny (and bring us Dunkin Donut holes every class!). Then I came home and worked on stuff for Tuesday- reading for class and whatnot.
Tuesday: I had Climate Change (which consists of economics and ecology) from 9-12. Then from 12-2 I had meetings with my colleagues for class projects. From 3-5 I had Poverty, Inequalities, and Development where the ending of the class went over how we need to decide where we stand on all the issues we covered in class (like labor trends, globalization, the Human Development Index, and Washington Consensus and structural adjustment all impacting development) and how to be innovative in our approach to development in our projects being leaders in the field.
Wednesday: My supervisor picked me up on by my house and we drove to work (its the new Mandel Humanities Center across from Heller where my classes are) and we did a brainstorming marketing meeting with stakeholders involved in our office like students, community partners, and faculty at 8AM!!! Then I worked until 12 and had an NGOs and Strategic Planning meeting for my group presentation for class. Then I went to a student presentation for work of undergrads who did sustainable campus and community projects- very cool to see a great/close student teacher relationship in the class with an amazing professor Laura Goldin. Then I read and caught up with Kristina- we always have stories of the day to tell each other- great fun! This includes anything little from Kate if dating Dan to this is what we discussed in class and what is your theory of change or development. We are so on the same page, actually hoping to boost the education emphasis in the program, in which we are both interested, and work together to bring a course to heller on Education and Development. Then I had planning and implementation from 6-9 and did group work with 2 Indians, a Ghanaian, and myself- a funny mix. We definitely laugh and have fun together. I also had a nice conversation with some second year students who made me realize the positive and negative aspects of the Heller school and our program. (one good thing is the free beer and wine they give out on the first Friday of the month in the on campus bar!)
Then I came home and did work on a group project to submit the draft on Thursday. And 1:30am comes around and I am off to bed...
Thursday:
A great day that started with a class with the Director of my program, then I went to a work meeting to talk about research on community partners and it was great to meet with the professor and make that connection (she is really big in a consulting firm that touches on development work which I would love to be a part of!). It was so great being with Audra my supervisor and Lexi the other undergrad assistant who is a senior and super cute. I am definitely glad I have this job, even though it is only 10 hours a week. Then I had a great meeting with the Dean of the school who is also interested in education like I am so we talked about past students who have the same interests and I do. Then I had lunch with Kristina at my office (they always have leftover catered food for us poor grad students!) and talked about what we like about the program. Then I had my climate change lab where we talked about global hegemony of the US in the context of the economy and then we talked about green leasing.
Friday:
I worked in the morning at the EL office then went to the Poverty, Inequalities, and Development lecture we have every week by an outside lecturer. Then I had a Planning and Implementation group meeting for my class, reviewing our proposal to address malnutrition in Peru where I went straight to a Heller event called the Philosophy Cafe where a professor leads an informal discussion on some development topic like the role of institutions in development at some bar. There were about 12 of us from the Conflict and Coexistence and Sustainable International Development program, it was great. From there I went home to meet my couch surfer who stayed on my couch for 2 days, he was from France and we met some friends at a bar for a beer! Very fun.
Saturday
What a day- after such a long week, I woke up early to do Yoga with my supervisor/friend Audra, but it was cancelled- so I did a little work in the morning then went grocery shopping for rice, beans, cilantro, onions, and peppers to make Gallo Pinto. I made Gallo Pinto (black beans and and rice) for about 40 people and was cooking all day until the Latin American Cultural night at school where we celebrated the region, which was put on by people who worked and are from LA. It was a great night and we all danced and had a great time.
The typical week of a grad student in Heller...
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