Graduate Assistant

I left work early on Tuesday, wearing my nicest blue button down blouse and black dress pants, to drive over to my university for a meeting with a professor in the psychology department. A few months ago, I submitted an application to be a graduate assistant at my school. I didn't hear anything back before the school year ended, so I forgot about it, but Monday morning I received an email from the department saying that I would be awarded one for the upcoming Fall. I did a happy dance in my room that morning when I read the email. (To be fair, it was a pretty pitiful dance since I hadn't had my coffee yet, but I was truly excited). Not only would this help out a LOT with my tuition, but it would be great for me to gain experience in research and network with other people in academia.

When I asked my boss to leave early so I could meet with Professor O'Conner, he was extremely supportive. Even though Todd liked me as an employee, he didn't want me there forever. He wanted me to continue with my education and ultimately see me succeed.

I arrived at school and quickly checked my phone as I walked to the building. I had a single text from Justin reading, "Good luck today... Not that you need it! :)" Ever since we cleared the air over dinner, things seemed to be better than ever. We usually only text at night, once we were both home from work, which I felt was appropriate since I told him I wanted to take things slow. He didn't seem as anxious about our situation anymore and I was glad to have some time during the day where I could kind of miss him.

By the time I reached the third floor of the building, I was embarrassingly out of breathe. I had to take several seconds to catch my breathe before walking down the hallway to the professor's office. I didn't want him to think that my low physical endurance level meant that I was lazy.

I reached Professor O'Conner's office and knocked on the slightly opened door. I heard a friendly voice call, "come in!" I instantly felt tension release from my shoulders at the sound of the happy voice. This wasn't really an interview since I already had the job. But if Professor O'Conner didn't like me for any reason or didn't think my research interests matched his, he would be able to request a change. Even though that was unlikely, I had other concerns. I had a fear that he would be an extremely demanding professor, asking me to do ridiculous tasks that yielded few real world advantages. If he only gave me extremely stressful, time consuming tasks, all I would gain from the experience would be major headaches.

"Hi, Professor," I said as I walked in with my hand extended. "I'm Caroline."

"Yes, yes, how are you?" he asked reaching out his hand and firmly shaking it.

I sat down on a brown leather couch he had facing his desk as we began to converse. He asked me about my research interests and told me a lot about his own research. I felt extremely comfortable talking to him. Some professors are very intimidating and can come off as condescending, but Dr. O'Conner was a genuinely down to earth, caring professor. I told him about my interests in interpersonal relationship research and my hope to continue to the doctoral level.

"Well, they are very competitive," he began as he leaned back in his chair. "But I think we can get you there."

"I really appreciate that," I said with a smile. He could have assigned me mindless office tasks, so I was truly excited when he assured me that everything I would be doing in the Fall would be beneficial on my resume.

I left feeling great. I would continue to work at my present job for the rest of the summer and then cut down my hours for school in the Fall. I would be an assistant for the full year until I graduated. I took out my phone to call my mom when I saw a group message from Jessica.

"Hey girls :) So pool extravaganza at Josh's house Thursday night? There will be lots of wine! Caroline, make sure to bring Justin ;)"

I was a little surprised to see the text. I didn't really know if Jessica was serious about the pool party, or if Josh would even agree to have us over. Nevertheless, I would go and give Josh a chance to redeem himself. At the very least, we would get some wine out of the deal. And as much as I hate to admit it, I would like the opinions of my friends about Justin. After calling my mom and telling her that the meeting went amazing, I sent Justin a text about the meeting and asked him if he had plans for Thursday night.

"Free as a bird ;)," he wrote back. I texted him the details before arriving at my car. I thankfully still had my gym clothes in the trunk. If Justin was going to see me in my bathing suit in two days, I needed to hit the treadmill hard.

I forced myself to actually drive to the gym. Once I got there, I settled on a treadmill that provided me with the best view of TBS. I decided to do some interval running, since I was definitely not capable of running for more than a minute at a time in my present, potato chip loving state. After 30 minutes I decided to call it quits. As I walked out of the gym, sweating more than I care to admit, I saw that Darlene and Anna both confirmed that they would be coming to the pool party. Neither of them contributed any negativity to the message thread. Maybe the party wouldn't be a complete disaster.