I went back to Charm City and classes after winter intersession with a nice, relaxed 'holiday' feeling and with the impression that these 2 last semesters would be, finally, a bit more grounded.
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| Charming Baltimore welcoming me back from its best side. |
Now. There is a reason for why my last blog post was *hiding under a blanket* more than one month ago. It took about two days and the carousel here was spinning again, faster than ever. As we entered 2012, it's all of a sudden the year when we are suppose to graduate and the MPH cohort has turned into 380 career hunters, finishing up capstone's (master thesis) and figuring out our next steps in public health.
Yesterday, the school of public health career fair was on and where ever you looked, people were mingling around dressed in suits and with business cards ready for distribution.
My highlight of the day was talking to a recruiter named LEIF
(traditional Swedish name).
I am not so sure whether it was a good thing or not, but we ended up discussing his name more than my merits.
I also got the chance to hang out with mayor Bloomberg. Or at least with his h.u.ge. oil canvas hanging at the Hopkins entrance. As some of you may have noticed, our school is called Johns Hopkins Bloomberg school of public health, well this is for a reason (called donation of money).
Some day I want my name on a public health institution as well.
First I have to change my name though. Larsson is way too in-exotic. And then I have to earn some money. Gus and I are currently fighting over what our common last name is going to be, once we get married 'again' in a year or so. I know I will end up winning the fight, but he is pretty persistent.
Anyway, that was a side track. Since this post already has a career track, I'll stick to the topic. On Monday, JB Grant Global Health Society where I have been VP during the year, organized a field trip to a bunch of organizations in New York. We left at the comfortable time 4.30 am and had a terrific day exploring future employers such as the UN, Human Rights Watch and Earth Institute.
The main take away message from most organization was that it is a 'challenge' to get a job there, unless...
... you are willing to work for free while living in one of the world's most expensive cities (this is called 'internship')
... your parents know at least one person high up in the system
... you speak at least 7 languages fluently
... other mysterious reasons
So far, neither of the above is an option for me (except perhaps the mysterious reasons) so I'll stick to posing outside the building. Some day...
At Human Rights Watch, I felt terribly unique being the only one who could read the Nobel Prize hanging in a corner in one of their conference rooms (as underscored by the director: 'we focus more on our work than displaying prices').
I then realized it was in actually not in Swedish, but in Norweigan (peace price!), but fortunately, I could still read it. I THEN realized that so could most people around me, as it is really not that tricky to figure out "27 November, Alfred Nobel".
Apparently, Hopkins has
36 Nobel laureates. 36 (!). As with most price winners, approximately 8% are women. The rest? Yes, men.
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| Stockholm concert house |
I noticed a similar trend at the Nobel price ceremony in Stockholm last year which I was fortunate enough to visit with Fulbright.
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| Do you notice a trend here, in terms of hair color and gender...? |
Apparently I have to wait until I get white hair and a beard before I stand a chance to being appointed such an honor. It's more likely that I will land a job at the UN first - perhaps even a necessary step?
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| No white hair or beard in sight, just yet. |
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| Fellow U.S. and Swedish Fulbrights, a.k.a. future Nobel Laureates. |
