And We Celebrated at the Zoo

Those of you whom I keep in touch with already know that I have been searching for a new job since Christmas. Upon moving to the Twin Cities, I thought I would like working at a non-profit organization which dealt with European-American relations. However, this has not been a good job at all. Since last fall I have learned the difference between well-managed/successful non-profits, such as the Center for Victims of Torture (a human rights organization where I do volunteer work), and dysfunctional/poorly managed non-profits, such as the Germanic-American Institute (where I will soon discontinue my work!). It is not only frustrating to work at a poorly managed non-profit, but at the organization where I work, there are absolutely no health care/paid time off benefits. This is probably appalling to my European audience :-)

So I will now finish my lamenting and deliver the good news: I have been writing job applications and going to interviews for the past seven months. I have had plenty of time to think about what direction I would like to go in with my career. As an undergraduate/graduate student I was very  interested in economic analysis. I also had a course in quantitative research methods as a graduate student and became more interested in  quantitative data and statistical analysis. I had several internships/fellowships in which I conducted various types of quantitative/qualitative data analysis. I discovered that these skills were much more applicable than my language skills/policy analysis skills, so I began searching for jobs in this field. And starting in a few weeks, I will be a research analyst at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, working on quantitative and statistical analysis. I will not be in an academic department, but I will work in an academic unit which conducts research projects for academic departments and administrative units. I am excited to be working with a team of research analysts who will be able to mentor me and help me continue to develop my skills. I am hoping that I also might be eligible to take courses at the College. The College is located in downtown Minneapolis, approximately 1.5 miles from my home. I should be able to bike there in about 10 minutes!

The good news I received last week naturally calls for extensive celebrating. There have already been several celebratory dinners, post-dinner cocktails, and a trip to the Minnesota Zoo. It is so exciting to know that I no longer need to spend my evenings/weekends searching for job openings, writing cover letters, and preparing for interviews. This week I will also be taking out David and his physicist friends for beer floats (that's right, beer with scoops of ice cream - sounds disgusting, tastes delicious). I think David and I will continue to celebrate by taking some trips in the coming months, hopefully to Lake Superior - and Disney World, of course!

Here are some photos from our lighthearted Sunday afternoon at the Minnesota Zoo:

                          Snow monkeys: they can entertain you for hours.

                                                          Mangy moose

Gophers, also known as prairie dogs. Due to the abundance of them
in western Minnesota's plains region, Minnesota is called the "Gopher State."

                                                         Grizzly bears