me, myself, and their money

got 13 questionnaires back so far, from grad and undergrad international students. should get some more tomorrow. plus one interview and a second one next week. useful stuff! the interview was interesting because i didn't know what to expect, hadn't prepared questions or anything, but the guy just went through the questionnaire and answered the questions one by one, and it helped me realize which questions were confusing or not asking what i wanted to ask. so far the students don't seem to understand that i want feedback on the QUESTIONNAIRE itself, not on the answers, that this is a pilot study and not the real thing... but it's working! another thing i noticed by looking at the answers so far is that some students might be US citizens or green card holders even though they don't speak english well. so i have to add that answer option on my questionnaires.

haven't done anything on the article, am hoping i'll do a lot this weekend!

got my law paper back, B+, and a note on it that i didn't like AT ALL and which pisses me off! it said something about me not being a US citizen and how it influenced the grade i got... anyway, i really shouldn't care about that since i'm getting a pass/fail grade anyway and i'm still good for pass! i missed last class period and i'll miss the next one, and i have to admit that this class is the least of my concerns right now, and it's hard to keep up with it. thank goodness i dropped the other one!!!

had an interesting lunch with the dean of graduate school, the director of fellowships or something like that, and about 6 other students who had won the e-porfolio award. i didn't think i'd go and at the last minute i did... free (and good!) food is always nice, and it was in the director's room of the "nice" purdue union restaurant. the fries were delicious! had to leave before desert... but we had some good conversations about reaching out to students, how to get scholarships and fellowships, how to know about what's available, etc.. i have to say that it's too late for me now, but there ARE several things available to graduate students for more money and to get more involved with the academic community, and i did not really get to learn about those things until it was too late. i think they should have some kind of workshop for NEW grad students (especially international students!) to tell them about what's available and what they need to start doing NOW (and not wait until the last year) to get involved, apply for awards, organize workshops, get extra training in stuff, build their CV, etc.. anyway, that was my two cents. another thing is that APPLYING for an award is such an american thing!! i never thought you could nominate yourself for an award, i thought other people would notice your work and select you... but no, here, you have to apply, write about how great you are and why you should get it and no one else, and that is just weird to me... and it feels uncomfortable too. had i known earlier about that, i would have applied to more stuff! anyway, i got a few awards last year and this year, it's good.