Balancing Act

It's been a fun week! Lots of stuff due very quickly all at the same time. I'm juggling all the Peace Corps stuff with my academic things, and I have to be careful to strike a delicate balance so I can get everything done without stressing myself out (seriously, it's summer, the first summer I haven't worked since I was 16 - I'm taking it pretty easy right now despite all the things I need to do).

My to do list:

• Peace Corps: Aspiration Statement (finish by Friday)
• Peace Corps: Update my resume (finish by Friday)
• Peace Corps: Apply for passport and visa (as soon as possible)
• Academic: Thesis rough draft - 1,000-2,000 words (finish by Sunday)
• Academic: Conference paper - 20 minute paper (finish by next week)

Peace Corps wise, the statement and resume are almost done. I'm irritated I don't have my teacher training information here with me to put on my resume, but all that stuff is in storage back home so I'm just going to have to let it go. And the statement! The questions are so vague I don't even know where to begin. I spent all day yesterday poking at it and, well, I'm not too terribly impressed with what I've written. I'll look over it again a few more times before I send it out in a couple of days. I have an appointment next week to hopefully get the passport and visa stuff taken care of, and I'll tell y'all all about the fun adventure that's sure to turn into (ROAD TRIP!).

In between all this Peace Corps stuff I've continued working on my thesis. My supervisor wants me to send her a good chunk of the middle because we've been having trouble structuring my paper and she wants me to see if what we came up with is going to work. I've been finishing up my research and will hopefully start writing tomorrow, which will give me a couple of days to bang it out. Since I pretty much know what I want to write in my head, it should be really easy after I finish the last of my reading.

Now, that conference paper...that's going to be interesting. I was asked very last minute to present a paper at this huge conference here in Leeds by a friend because someone dropped out. This conference is one of the largest Medievalist conferences in the world (right up there with Kalamazoo) and, well, depending on the day I go from being pretty calm to freaking out. I've never presented a paper before and don't know how comfortable I feel (as a Masters student) presenting my ideas to people who've been doing this for years, especially over a topic I have only studied for a semester. Argh. I wrote the paper last term but haven't touched it to make it presentation worthy yet. I'll have a week to work on it after all these other deadlines are met, which will be plenty of time (I hope). Because, hey, at least I have a paper. Some people who are also presenting papers don't even have outlines for their papers yet. It'll be a good experience at the very least and will look great on my resume if I continue in academia after the Peace Corps.

It's all about balance, making sure I get everything done in time. I enjoy these kinds of balancing acts, though. Keeps life interesting. And after the conference, it's going to be smooth sailing until I'm back home.