Fulbright Grants
This year, our university has decided to promote Fulbright grants (which you can find more about here: http://www.iie.org/TemplateFulbright.cfm?section=Fulbright1), since our student population is underrepresented in the numbers of awards given out each year. I am intrigued by the programs available - in particular, I like several of the teaching assistantships described, and I'd like to do a research project comparing either European educational systems (in France or Romania) or Asian educational systems (in Taiwan or Japan) with those in the U.S. However, I remember how painful and expensive living out of the country can be from spending last summer in Costa Rica (and that was only for three months).
Mainly, there's Matt. It was horrible enough not seeing him for three months; I can't imagine not seeing him for six to nine months. He wouldn't be able to go with me - I wouldn't be able to support him, for one thing. Also, how would I react if he told me that he wanted to leave the country for several months and that I couldn't come? People are forced to do that sort of thing if they're in the military, but I think I would be rather upset if he did something like that voluntarily (unless of course I could go, too).
Managing two careers at once (if you can call mine a career) is trickier than I once thought it would be. Inevitably, one person gets the shaft career-wise, and it's logically the one whose career path is either less well-established or less lucrative, or both. As a feminist, I feel a sort of responsibility to have a career, and my feminist self feels a bit guilty for following a man around from state to state.
What it basically comes down to is this: which is more important to you - a relationship or a career? A few years back, I would have said unhesitatingly that a relationship is more important. I still suspect that a good relationship is harder to find than a good career. But a good career (one particularly suited to one's own interests and personal strengths) is also hard to find, and it can be as much or more of a time investment as a relationship. However, I probably have more options within a particular career than I do within a single relationship.
Still mulling over the Fulbright catalog...
Mainly, there's Matt. It was horrible enough not seeing him for three months; I can't imagine not seeing him for six to nine months. He wouldn't be able to go with me - I wouldn't be able to support him, for one thing. Also, how would I react if he told me that he wanted to leave the country for several months and that I couldn't come? People are forced to do that sort of thing if they're in the military, but I think I would be rather upset if he did something like that voluntarily (unless of course I could go, too).
Managing two careers at once (if you can call mine a career) is trickier than I once thought it would be. Inevitably, one person gets the shaft career-wise, and it's logically the one whose career path is either less well-established or less lucrative, or both. As a feminist, I feel a sort of responsibility to have a career, and my feminist self feels a bit guilty for following a man around from state to state.
What it basically comes down to is this: which is more important to you - a relationship or a career? A few years back, I would have said unhesitatingly that a relationship is more important. I still suspect that a good relationship is harder to find than a good career. But a good career (one particularly suited to one's own interests and personal strengths) is also hard to find, and it can be as much or more of a time investment as a relationship. However, I probably have more options within a particular career than I do within a single relationship.
Still mulling over the Fulbright catalog...
posted by jessica rabbit at 8:52 AM
2 Comments:
I think you're right about applying.
I also think that the emotional rewards of a good relationship at least equal, if not exceed, the intellectual and emotional rewards from a career.
However, you can also look at it from the standpoint that relationships are primarily selfish; that is, they benefit me and hopefully the other person. A career, however, should ideally be beneficial to far more people than just two.
Furthermore, if you go with Berdyaev's (sp?) idea that the purpose of life is to create, then a career almost becomes a responsibility.
I do believe in balance, though. Everyone's seen people who are so devoted to their work that they neglect their families, and that's no good, either.
I don't think that everything we do is based on greed; that's a very negative viewpoint, I think. The reality is something much healthier - most things we do are based on a healthy self-interest, maybe? In any case, I don't think we can exist healthily without relationships.
Why do you think that going into academia as a career doesn't give you the opportunity to make a positive impact? Even if you don't ever do any ground-breaking research or make any earth shattering discoveries, you're influencing a lot of students, maybe getting some of them to feel enthusiasm about your subject.
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