Spring has sprung (or is springing) at Penn! Granted, there's definitely some rain heading our way, but all of us are SO glad to shed our winter coats and hats. There are little sprouts and buds popping up along Locust Walk and I have gotten TWO granola bars this week just from having good timing while walking on Locust.
It is also Policy Brief cram time! The official deadline is April 10th, but we are all eager to finalize drafts and turn it in. I am at the point where I just need Friday to do a full edit after getting some great feedback from a professor, and hopefully another exchange just to make sure there are no odd-spellings/sentences, and then....maybe I can submit it early next week. IEDPers have been getting together for some writing sessions. They are always kind of late for me and I just cannot function after class ends at 7pm, but here are some gems from a writing session last night:
The new IEDP motto "Done is better than perfect." Yes, we are all kind of perfectionists in some way, but considering all the things we have coming up this month...the motto holds true. I feel like I have an assembly line of assignments and readings, so I just do one and then submit and onto the next one! Grad school teaches you how to: prioritize, label documents correctly, be efficient and purposefully skim...and take advantage of anything free!
They ordered five pizzas from Zesto. So. Yummy. I was jealous...the veg pizza is super amazing. The admissions team had ordered some at the end of last semester.
Critical opinions, probably regarding formatting.
Besides everyone's focus on the policy brief, we are also realizing that in five weeks--WE WILL BE DONE WITH SPRING SEMESTER. It really has sped by. I was reflecting back on how I felt in September and was like "policy brief? concept note? log frame? Whhhaaattt???" and now I feel so much more competent. The only real way to learn is by doing, and that's a component of almost all GSE programs.
Yesterday we met with someone to discuss the international internship paperwork that we need to do prior to departing to our various locations. Gosh, it was overwhelming, but we were also in disbelief practically. Some people still have no found out where they are going, most have been placed or have solid leads. At the beginning of the discussion, someone shouted, "It's finally happening!!!" All this year, we have discussed the internship and it is a large reason many of us chose IEDP and not it IS finally happening. Some are even leaving late-May since many go on vacation in August so there is not much activity. Thankfully for me, that is not the case and I will be leaving later than most. One component of the internship experience is to blog about it so I am looking forward to reading about my cohort member's experiences.
There is still a lot that must happen before departure and there are still loads of assignments to complete and presentations...but at this point, we know how to work smart and it will get done because it must.
On that note....HAPPY SPRING!!
It is also Policy Brief cram time! The official deadline is April 10th, but we are all eager to finalize drafts and turn it in. I am at the point where I just need Friday to do a full edit after getting some great feedback from a professor, and hopefully another exchange just to make sure there are no odd-spellings/sentences, and then....maybe I can submit it early next week. IEDPers have been getting together for some writing sessions. They are always kind of late for me and I just cannot function after class ends at 7pm, but here are some gems from a writing session last night:
The new IEDP motto "Done is better than perfect." Yes, we are all kind of perfectionists in some way, but considering all the things we have coming up this month...the motto holds true. I feel like I have an assembly line of assignments and readings, so I just do one and then submit and onto the next one! Grad school teaches you how to: prioritize, label documents correctly, be efficient and purposefully skim...and take advantage of anything free!
They ordered five pizzas from Zesto. So. Yummy. I was jealous...the veg pizza is super amazing. The admissions team had ordered some at the end of last semester.
Critical opinions, probably regarding formatting.
Besides everyone's focus on the policy brief, we are also realizing that in five weeks--WE WILL BE DONE WITH SPRING SEMESTER. It really has sped by. I was reflecting back on how I felt in September and was like "policy brief? concept note? log frame? Whhhaaattt???" and now I feel so much more competent. The only real way to learn is by doing, and that's a component of almost all GSE programs.
Yesterday we met with someone to discuss the international internship paperwork that we need to do prior to departing to our various locations. Gosh, it was overwhelming, but we were also in disbelief practically. Some people still have no found out where they are going, most have been placed or have solid leads. At the beginning of the discussion, someone shouted, "It's finally happening!!!" All this year, we have discussed the internship and it is a large reason many of us chose IEDP and not it IS finally happening. Some are even leaving late-May since many go on vacation in August so there is not much activity. Thankfully for me, that is not the case and I will be leaving later than most. One component of the internship experience is to blog about it so I am looking forward to reading about my cohort member's experiences.
There is still a lot that must happen before departure and there are still loads of assignments to complete and presentations...but at this point, we know how to work smart and it will get done because it must.
On that note....HAPPY SPRING!!
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