Would you like to dance around the world with me?

So many things

I just got back from a 6 day trip to a NASA-sponsored student conference at Cocoa Beach, FL where I gave my first technical presentation at a conference. It was quite the experience, and we did pretty well, apparently, because our team won the "People's Choice" award. We also had 2 days to chill on the beach, 3 days of conference (and we went out or chilled on the beach at night), and we went to KSC yesterday where we got to be within about 100 yards of the shuttle! Normally you can only get about 3 mi from it, so that was awesome. Another cool aspect was meeting people from other schools and talking to them about their programs and projects. So overall an excellent experience. I'll pick a picture up this weekend.

But so many other things have been floating around in my head lately.

I really want to go abroad again. Maybe to study or to live, but neither option is very feasible at this point. I just found out about a program at the International Space University (isunet.edu) in France, but it's only a Master's program in space sciences and space management. And even if I got that Master's, it would be hard to do a technical PhD afterward. What I would really like is a technical Master's with a more management/policy-focused PhD, but where can I get that? Let's hope MIT.
As I was in the DC airport last week going to Cocoa Beach, I was filled with the excitement of going someplace new, but I wanted it to be another country. There is excitement in the language barrier, in learning about new cultures and new languages, and in spending some time away from the parts of your life that are so normal to you now. But then again, I dislike the expense and not having enough time to really explore a new place. And then I realized that I was going to Florida, and couldn't I just be happy with the amazing things that I have. But we only live once... suggestions are welcome on how to do aerospace and travel. One person suggested traveling for a while before I get a full time job, but that's possibly 5 years from now... maybe a summer before then it can happen.
I also want to learn another language. French maybe? I'm not all that into Russian or German. But it seems that French might be valuable in the future of aerospace.

I started work again at the Aerospace Corporation on the 16th. I'm in the Performance Modeling and Analysis group with great supervisors, great pay, hopefully a clearance soon, and some interesting (although slow) work so far. I'm a little worried about fitting in enough work weeks while taking the time off I need to go on various trips (like Katie's wedding, the NASA fellowship orientation, and the beach with Lindsay). I should talk to my boss, but I hate bringing stuff like that up.

posted by Biff @ 2:25 PM