The first thing I need to say is that I now work in an office that sits behind a door which is clearly (and sparsely) labeled "STI" in big red letters. There are also numerous posters and pamphlets on how to recognize syphilis (hint: your downstairs is in an advanced stage of "OMG...what is that?") and what to do if you have TB. (Take your meds. Everyday. Try to avoid coughing on friendly neighborhood peace corps volunteers whose only mistake was to share a kombi with you on one fateful day...)
The above visual markers are a sign that I have begun my transition from random grad student researcher to person-with-actual-job-dom. I think I like this state, I've never experienced it before. For one thing, it comes with a salary which I find awfully novel and exciting. For another it kind of makes me feel like all those late night hyperventilations over biostats and car trips to Trader Joes whose sole purpose was to memorize/procrastinate on memorizing all the different classes of ARVs might actually have paid off. Who knew?
I will be enjoying this salaried state of existence for another 6 months here in good old Swaziland. (Sorry mom. At least its not the DRC!) After that...more grad school. I decided that what I really, really want out of life is a PhD. And to spend 3-4 more years being broke and living in a classroom/committee setting. But it turns out I really like research, and if I want to keep doing research, then I'd better get a degree that says I'm good at it. Besides...how awesome does Dr. Fielding-Miller sound? Pretty good, right?
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