funny

so this morning i'm calling people... i called about 20 schools, got secretaries, wrong numbers, people not there, people in meetings... but i managed to talk to a few directors. one was really nice and said that yes, she'd help me after she checks with her IRB, one didn't say no, one said no, a few said maybe... i even made an appointment to go to one school in chicago at the end of june to do it myself there, so that's good.

the funny thing was that i called this one school in florida and the director was there IN A MEETING with another associate director of the program TALKING ABOUT MY RESEARCH! hah. the associate director was about to leave and the director called her back and said wait wait, it's lucie.... huhuh... that was funny. so he put me on the speakerphone and they both asked me questions about everything and talked about the research, the issues, the hiring situation in the US and the world... and then he asked me what i wanted to do when i graduate and i said i want your job! so he told me to send him my CV! that was SO nice! and they said they'd do it with me and would check with their IRB for me. even if my research ends up being one big disaster, a few phone calls like that will make it worth it all! suddenly i realized that i would have a doctorate in ESL and many of these directors don't have doctorates, that i am becoming an "expert" in my area and know a lot of stuff about the field that other people don't know, and that working with tons of people like this, even if they end up refusing to help me, will be good for when i am looking for a job! hah. that was cool :)

so, here's the first guess: i have about 8 schools who haven't said no for sure. of course, the big issue is the IRB. but even if only 5 schools let me go without too much difficulties through their IRB and have only 2 teachers participate, that'll already be 150 students. far far far from my initial goal, but excellent as of today!

let's continue the phone calls...