Current happenings

Kaixo!

Ok guys, I know I have not written much about my life lately (or the articles I lose time with), but I briefly wanted to tell you about two things that have happened to me last week:

1) I met Nev Schulman!
Guys, grad school is not eventful. Nothing out of the ordinary happens. EXCEPT IT HAPPENED. Last Thursday, Nev Schulman, the host of Catfish (you've all seen it, don't lie), came to U of I for a talk. At first I was not gonna go because I was nervous about thing 2 below, but Michaela from The Monogrammed Midwesterner convinced me to go. Also, we finally met in person, and I'm so glad! Shout out to you lady! :)

We need more pictures

When Nev came in the room, we all lost our shit minds. He started the talk by posing for us so that we could make our friends jealous, and then introducing us to Bonnie, the lady who was interpreting him in American Sign Language. So sweet. The way he talked was impressive, I wish I had that charisma and that savoir faire, seriously. His talk was not about the show, but about his road to starting it, his life path. It definitely clicked. I always struggled with the idea of getting attention from people, being the most likable person, and with being myself. I always thought that who I was inside was not enough. Through his story, he reminded me that being myself was the best choice, and if somebody doesn't like me... Well haters gonna hate. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

After the talk was over, Nev had a meet and greet with some people who were chosen at random (not us, ugh) in another hall, but Michaela and I, and 30 other crazy psycho fans, followed him. They would not let us in , but Nev came out and said he would meet us after. We waited, and waited and waited. I was losing faith, but eventually, HE DID MEET US AFTER! In fact, he took selfies with everyone there!

And also, this gem for my students (and for everyone in general, I'm cool you guys!):

He said my name, and he pronounced it right! My nerves for thing 2 below were gone, and I went to bed ecstatic. Although I didn't sleep much because...

2) I presented in a conference!
This summer, my MA thesis was accepted to a huge conference in my field, the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, which turns out, was held at U of I! That meant not spending any money for traveling (seriously, I walked from my apartment to the venue) and having a lot of my friends show up! I woke up at 6am all nervous last Friday, and got there at around 8am for breakfast. Many of my friends were there, and many were presenting. But I was the first one to present at 10am. If I think about it, it's the best to be done with it soon, but at the same time it was terrifying. Luckily, many of my friends, my roommate, and many professors from my MA degree showed up. I felt so loved and supported, seriously. If these people take 30 minutes of their time to come see me present about a topic that's totally foreign to them but so dear to me, they are definitely keepers. Thank you guys, LOVE YOU!

#Profesh

I felt like a rockstar after it. I was wearing an outfit that I picked out right when I was accepted, I taught in it (the amount of confidence heels give you while teaching is astounding), went to other presentations and had Chipotle because I deserved it. After that, I basically died and went to sleep for the entire weekend (#worthit).

It was a great weekend and I hope it gets repeated soon. Now you tell me! Have you ever met anyone famous? Have you ever presented in a conference?
Love,

- Ane