Friday, May 1, 2009

The Journey Begins

Welcome to my first entry! Lets begin, last September I submitted my application for Semester At Sea and patiently waited with high hopes. SAS had been a dream job for the past three years after learning about it shortly after I arrived at LMU. After not hearing anything for months and finally getting an e-mail in mid March telling me that they had closed their process I was disappointed and trying to figure out what else I was going to do.  Obviously things worked out, a position reopened and I received an e-mail asking if I was still interested and available for the fall journey. Now, I got this e-mail on March 31st and on April 1st I sent set up an interview for the next day.  To be honest I thought that maybe someone was playing a very cruel April fools trick on me, but I was going to be ready for my 5pm phone interview.

Cut to Thursday, 5:00…5:01... I told myself ‘Patrick, don’t freak out’ 5:05…I checked my e-mail to make sure I had the correct day.  5:08 I my heart started to race, ‘You have got to be kidding me’ I thought.  5:11 the phone rang! Ok here we go!   As I told everyone weeks earlier that I didn’t even get an interview much less the job I felt that had nothing to loose.  I was calm and ready to give it my best shot. It is such a great interview. Dr. B and I had a fun conversation and I felt very comfortable talking with him. Half way through I told him that I thought this whole thing may have been a joke and that his calling late almost sent me in to hysterics. He apologized and laughed at me some more. As the conversation continued he told me that he wanted to move the process along quickly and I told him that he should offer me the position that evening, I would immediately accept and the process would be complete. He appreciated the idea but with a laugh said that he couldn’t move that quickly.  He did mention that if necessary he would be contacting my references when in mid sentence he cut himself off and said, “Patrick, I don’t know why I am trying to be coy with you, tell your supervisor I’m calling her in the morning” With that he said his plan was to be in touch by the following Wednesday.  I only told a few people, as to not set myself up for another disappointment but come Monday night Dr. B gave me a call and offered me a position as one of the eight Living Learning Coordinators on the Fall 2009 journey!

While I don’t set sail until August 24th, there is a lot to do before hand. Visas, inoculations and flight arrangements not to mention figuring out where to live for the summer, as I have to be out of my current apartment June 15th.   But first the fun stuff… the journey and the ship! 

2 comments:

  1. You are going to have such an amazing adventure!

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  2. I like your comments to the interviewer. A little power of positive thinking, suggestion and maybe even hypnosis all rolled into one! The force is strong with you.

    Joe

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