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Graduated again, not sitting in a field this time, AMA
Last year I ran an AMA while sitting in a field waiting to graduate from my undergrad program. I had planned to do the same thing again as I graduated from my master's program but was foiled by the 502 Bad Gateway last week, and then forgot to do it after as I was busy with moving and celebrations.
So, 1 year older (and wiser? -ish?), with deeper eye bags and less sleep, AMA
If you aren't sitting then you must be outstanding in your field! Grats!
Harharharhar
When it comes to dad jokes, a groan is as good a reaction as a laugh.
Thank you! Thankfully all standing and/or sitting was done inside this year
Congrats! Good luck with whatever your next steps/plans are!
Edit: Forgot to ask a question…what’s your favorite summertime meal or beverage?
I’m partial to cold chili oil noodles. My preferred noodles are udon or flat noodles (he fen, biang biang, etc) with a beer (I’ve been drinking Cass recently)
Do you know that your name means fortune in Turkish?
Congrats on graduating. I did my undergrad and masters in a somewhat similar field and it wasn’t easy to adjust to the post-university life. Job market can be tough for socsci graduates.
Wishing you good fortune.
I didn’t actually know that, I’ll have to confront my Turkish roommate for withholding this info from me.
Yeah the job market is pretty abysmal right now but I’m looking to stave off unemployment by doing a PhD (though it’s tough getting anything there too right now). I will have a year before I could even start doing that so I’ll be looking for research jobs anyways 😔
Thanks for your kind words!
I would assume they know, because all words come from Turkish. A classic example: onu yiyin (eat it) -> onion.
So true kardeş
Ha! Where does cowboy come from, kovboydan? ;)
Well that makes sense. Fal 'Ngeestra in the Culture series is precognizant (of a sort) which would fall into the meaning of fortune, to a certain extent.
I'm impressed with the linguistic skills of a big, dumb, balding, North American ape ;)
Unfortunately (I guess?) I am only big and dumb, but also a Simpsons fan. :)
Well, clearly not a short temper. Are you sure you're really a kwyjibo (¬_ ´¬ )
I do have a short temper that I am trying to get rid of and certainly not proud of, but there’s only so much an ape can do!
Well, this fish-bulb believes in you!
Do you like doughnuts?
Yes. My favorite flavor is maple
Shoutout my favorite rapper T-swizzle
Congratulations on another graduation! 🎓
What's your favourite memory about meeting/seeing/interacting with a wild animal, in real life?
Hi chocobean, nice to see you here!
I went to school in San Diego, which has a huge variety of bird species. I had a really cool experience where a red shouldered hawk landed on the fence on the other side of the backyard from me and stared at me for a while. I unfortunately wasn’t able to get a pic, but it was duly logged in my Merlin Bird ID bird tracker
Congratulations! Are there any classes where you would like to burn the textbook(s) with a full ceremony so you never have to think about them again?
Cheating a bit since this was an undergrad class, but my introductory macroeconomics class was one of the worst organized and taught classes I’ve taken, despite not being particularly difficult. As far as graduate classes, I’d have to say international law for similar organizational reasons, even though it was cool in concept and the teacher was really passionate
Congratulations Fal, what languages do you speak?
Thank you! I’m a native English speaker, and I’m conversational in Mandarin. I also took French in high school but would be hard pressed to recall any of it
Cool, how many time did learning Mandarin take for you?
I'm half Chinese so I already had tones and grammar down from talking with family, but I took 2 years of Mandarin courses in college since my vocab was pretty limited.
:extreme Tom Ellis voice: What do you desire?
By which I mean what do you want to do with your degree?
I'm going to be applying for PhD programs this fall, focusing on either international relations, comparative politics, or likely some combination of the two. Most of my existing research has been on US-China competition, especially in Southeast Asia, and the effects of public diplomacy, and I'd like to continue that research.
Until then though, I'm trying to find some research work I can do while applying and waiting to see if I get in anywhere (I'm a bit doubtful, but fingers crossed). If any of you are professors or work at a thinktank and looking for research assistants/analysts hit me up :p