Globe Corner Blogs

As a grad student and bookstore employee, I have pestered co-workers since December: “what should I do with the rest of my life?”  Well, I’m sad to report that it’s April, and I still have no clear answers (honestly, I’m not surprised).   But what I do have is an unpaid internship that I took on a whim… in Sydney.

I just bought my Lonely Planet and my plane ticket so it’s official -  for the month of May, I will be writing science news articles for the Australian magazine COSMOS.  Honestly, I couldn’t be more excited – it’s pretty close to exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life – I think.  And, I’ve always been curious about living and working in another country (when I lived abroad, I was always in some form of school), and I wonder how the 9-5 life will stack up to the adventure of generic tourism.  I can imagine taking my lunch break strolls near the opera house in warm weather, being greeted by surfer dudes as I head back to the office.  In all honesty, I’ll probably be downtown, far from the opera house and, since it will be the fall, in a jacket.  At any rate, I’ll keep you posted.

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Yesterday I played “Customer.” It’s similar to playing “House,” only instead of  serving a dinner made of plastic to my stuffed animals I went on an imaginary vacation. I pored over every guide book available for the place, unfolded every map ever drawn, and then stood staring at the shelf perplexed and overwhelmed.

After the initial wave of panic subsided and I’d taken a deep breath–in through the nose, out through the mouth, flapping hand motions–I steadied myself and reached confidently toward the Québec shelf.

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