there

wow, i need to write some things down before i forget them, but i feel stoned, exhausted, drained! got stuck in detroit almost 5 hours before the plane was de-iced and allowed to leave... and i was sooooo air sick!!

first. i met some incredibly nice, fun, kind, interesting, talented, and wonderful people. except for the first five nervous minutes of the first meeting in the morning, i never felt scared or uncomfortable or unwelcome. that includes meeting with the dean of the department. i would have loved to talk with her for hours! it was an incredible feeling. i would absolutely love to work with these people!

second. the university in itself is amazing. i was impressed before i went there, already, after i had done some in-depth research on their website, but what i learned about where it comes from, where it's going, how they are doing things, i can only think that that university is a model university in many ways (for example how they work with new faculty, their tenure review system, etc.). (ok, maybe they didn't tell me about the less exciting stuff, hehe...)

talking about self-esteem, i think i did pretty well. ok, my research presentation was a disaster and at the end of the two-hour interview, i couldn't speak english or come up with half-decent answers to their questions. but the teaching presentation went well (i was nervous so i didn't really follow my lesson plan and it was all over the place, but the students were fun and i felt as if i were in front of my 106i students). and i did know the answers to some of the search committee's questions! if i could go through five campus visits that, i'd be absolutely brilliant at the end. yesterday i was able to sound proud of what i've achieved, but with practice i'd really be able to talk about ALL the things i've done. for example, to the question, "have you published anything interesting?" i could respond "yes, i have published an article about my master's thesis" AND i could add "and i already know what my next article will be, it's about blah blah and i have already collected the data." WHICH IS TRUE. but i don't think about saying stuff like that often enough.

fourth. i like the city very much... huhuh, a bit cold and snowy i'd say... but pretty much what i expected. when we were ready to land there i felt like a little kid in front of the christmas tree. i've been wanting to go to back to canada for so long. i loved to watch tv in french, i loved to hear all those different languages in the street, i loved to eat civilized food, i loved to be surrounded by people who hadn't voted for the buisson ;) 1991 is when i fell in love with canada... and although the initial object of my love is now married and living in chile, i still feel the same excitement when i'm there!

this trip has been a breath of fresh air (literaly too!) for me. even if i don't get the job, i will have met wonderful people, i will have had a taste of what it would be to work and live in canada, and i will have had fun! yes, it was exhausting, my feet are killing me, i don't know why i'm so air sick when i fly these days, and i found 69 emails, two pouting cats, and no food waiting for me at home, but i just want to go back :) i want to go baaaaaaack!!!! (this is an excellent incentive to stop writing idiotic things on this blog and FINISH MY DISSERTATION ASAP so i can get out of here!!!)

ok, something intrigues me and i didn't have an opportunity to ask about it. from what i understand (maybe i misunderstood), this new university has a deal with the older university in town that they wouldn't create "majors" that already exist in that other university. for example they can't create the type of english major that they would like to create because it already exists elsewhere in town. that sounds really weird to me. i mean, what about simon fraser and UBC in vancouver? what about the UQAM, the university of montreal, mcgill, and concordia? they can't be all teaching something different!! anyone?

oh, and this is the first time, after an interview, that i didn't spend the following night excruciatingly thinking about all the stuff i did wrong and all the things i could have done better! maybe it was exhaustion... but maybe not...