Whirlwind

Wow! What a week this has been. The fun all began two weeks ago when Harvard finally called me to let me know they wanted to set up my interview for just one week later. This began a flurry of activity as I began setting up flights, trying to contact friends in Boston, and figuring out where I would stay while in Pittsburgh for a week.

So Sunday came around and I went to morning worship service with my parents, came home, finished packing, and headed off to Pittsburgh. Once in Pittsburgh, we ate dinner and went to the church I attended while living in Squirrel Hill. My parents then left me with Lois, my host for the week, and I had the most fun I can remember having in quite some time. I thought Lois to be about 70, but it turns out she is actually 83! I couldn't believe it. I had such fun running around with Lois and her friends, going out for ice cream, shopping at Wal-Mart, playing dominos and eating a free dinner at Applebee's. I also spent a good bit of time at the Preservation Lab repairing and photographically documenting a book for a class of second graders at St. Mary's School in Marietta.

In the midst of this time of fun and games, I hopped on a plane, flew to Boston, took a taxi to Harvard University, wandered around at night hoping to find something to eat and L.A. Burdick Chocolate (sadly I failed with the latter), returned to my small but posh room for an early bedtime and a much-needed chat with a good friend. The next day was a 6.5 hour interview, beginning with an hour-long lunch, and followed by half an hour with human resources, half an hour touring the conservation lab, 1.25 hours in the actual "interview" part, and a fifteen minute break wherein I spilled milk on myself while no one was around. I then began again with a half hour presentation of my portfolio which HR forgot to mention until they called to set up the interview, half an hour of questions with the conservation lab staff, an hour and a half lunch, and finally a half-hour wrap-up with the search committee. I then left Harvard Square, headed to the Harvard Museum of Natural History to visit with a friend who works there for a few hours, walked back to my hotel to pick up my bag, took a taxi to the airport, and flew back to Pittsburgh.

I had fun. The entire week was fun, even the interview. I left feeling good about it, though, of course, the search committee really gave me no indication of how I did. I can say with confidence that I didn't do anything embarrassing ... when anyone was around to see it!