Courtenay Brown

I’m in Salt Lake City. I’m flying from San Diego (yes I know I just got there) to BWI, connecting through SLC, but there’s a delay, thankfully before we all got on the plane. Of course I’m in the airport where you have to walk across two concourses to find the Starbucks, which is shoved in the corner by a giant men’s restroom, so all you smell is disinfectant, I do think this was intentional here in Mormon-land. But, I found it! And used my $7 stuck-in-the-airport meal voucher on a cappuccino and bran muffin. Thanks Delta! Also there is free wifi here so that’s exciting.

My first few days in San Diego were awesome. I’m staying at my aunt and uncle’s house in the Mission Hills neighborhood. I’m not in my cousin’s room (btw the whole family is still talking about how the girls did not pack a single thing), but I do get to use her bathroom and borrow her millions of nail polishes. My uncle Tony is a structural engineer, and Betsy is an art conservator, both really cool professions in my opinion. Tony is doing a retrofit project on the Balboa Park Tower, which dates back to 1912 and is home to the Museum of Man. Betsy will be engaged to restore some of the paintings, and yesterday I went with them on a site visit. Tony has a key to behind-the-scenes, which gave us access to the million narrow stairways up to the very top of the clock tower! Betsy and I gripped the railing and gingerly admired the view. Tony showed us how he clambers up to the outside precipices to investigate the structure. We shrieked. I wanted to take a photo of him, he was having so much fun making us scream “TONY GET DOWN RIGHT NOW” as he balanced on one foot, etc. But I was too busy screaming and covering my eyes!

Here’s a photo I took with my phone as I slowly made my way back down:

Then we nosed around the museum for a second, they went back to work, and I went home to pack. Very exciting.

I love my uncle’s youthfulness. He has to be the youngest and most enthusiastic late-50-something I know. I am doing my best to emulate him… how long can I go before turning into a grownup?! Speaking of which, here is the latest on grad school:

CU Boulder: possibly the front runner because I already visited and really liked it, plus I have a great offer for a PhD there. My degree would be in the Political Science department, which houses their Policy program, and there is a lot of opportunity for interdisciplinary work with the Environmental Studies and the Economics departments.

Johns Hopkins SAIS: oh look, another front runner! Visiting on Thursday but I already know a lot about the program because I have friends and relatives (go Mom!) who went there. Most internationally focused of all my programs (London! Vancouver!), has a good energy and environment department. This is a terminal Master of Arts program.

Duke: I am thinking I should have applied to a different program… I was accepted into the Sanford School’s Master of Public Policy program, now I wish I had applied to do a joint program with the Nicholas School’s Master of Environmental Management program (although it may not be too late), and I *really* wish I’d applied to the Nicholas School’s PhD in Environmental Sciences and Policy (definitely is too late). All that said, I’m visiting on Friday, and am prepared to suddenly un-regret my application path. Who knows, it could be a perfect fit!

University of Washington: I was really excited to be accepted and to be offered a research assistant position! But my enthusiasm has waned slightly – partly thanks to the glorious sunshine in San Diego, partly also to the news that research assignments aren’t made till summer, so there is no real way to gauge whether I’d enjoy my project. To be fully Scrooge-like and honest, there are areas of public policy that have little or no interest to me, maybe that’s a sign?

UC Santa Barbara: another front runner! (Pending the financial aid information I will receive next week, and the visit I’m planning for April 12. Which is the day after my first triathlon of the season! Here’s hoping my legs and lungs survive all this travel.)

Columbia: even though the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia’s SIPA program was once my first choice, and I was so very excited to be accepted, I turned them down. I just couldn’t justify going into ~$50k of debt when I had 4+ other offers that didn’t require any debt at all. So. I could rant about Ivy League being for the very rich, the very poor, and the very stupid to think that the degree will pay for itself when you graduate and get a job in local government… but I won’t.

Harvard: speaking of the Ivy League… I wasn’t accepted. This was my only rejection of seven programs. I felt I was fully qualified, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe it came through in my application that I desperately hate Harvard and didn’t want to go, maybe the Ivy League schools really do talk to each other and you can only get accepted at one, either way, I am relieved, and so is my sister (herself an Ivy Leaguer, currently living in Boston), who spent three days preparing a speech to tell me that I absolutely shouldn’t go there. Our two great minds think alike.

OK, I’m going to go do another lap around the Salt Lake City airport. My 10:15 a.m. flight out of here, delayed till noon, is now delayed till 2 p.m, putting me into BWI at 8:30 p.m. at the earliest. Endless travel days make me want to quit absolutely everything in life but rather than getting too dramatic, I’ll just quit typing for now.