Shalom my friends and welcome to the glorious month of June! It's officially summer! Actually, I don't think it is, but June equals summer in my book, so summer it is!
Every six months us flight attendants at Emirates take a turn being on reserve for a month, where rather than having a set schedule we serve as substitute flight attendants. June is my reserve month, and so far I've only worked two turn around trips (flights with no layovers); one to Hyderabad, India and the other to Kuwait City, Kuwait. Easy peasy!
Although the weather in Dubai has been hot with a side of really hot, it has been nice to be in the same time zone for one week straight. The highlight of this past week's stay-cation was checking out Wild Wadi Waterpark for the first time. After spending my entire summer of 2006 rescuing some of St. Louis's finest citizens from the violent tides of Raging Rivers Water Park, I vowed to never step foot in a water park again. There's something about obese African American woman, who are unable to swim, repeatedly mistaking your pony tail for the rescue tube, and physically attempting to climb on top of your head, that just forever changes a person's enjoyment level of all things waterpark. Luckily, I was able to suppress my memories for a few short hours, and enjoy the day with my friends.
This past week's lack of work came at a great time, as I really needed a few free days to do some good ol fashion, uninterrupted, nose to the grind stone studying!
When I graduated from Western Illinois University three years ago, I knew that I'd most likely end up going back to school at some point, but before I embarked on a full time career or a graduate degree, I wanted to enjoy a few years of pure fun. Hi, I'm Kelsey a former Walt Disney World employee, turned flight attendant living in the middle east who on any given week can be found jumping off bridges, riding camels, or partying on yachts. Yep, that part of life's going according to plan, if I do say so myself! As much fun as I am having, this lifestyle isn't exactly sustainable, and thus why I'm s-l-o-w-l-y starting to think about my post fun years' plan.
Although there are aspects of my undergraduate degree in social work that I love (it's focus on social justice, human development, and social policy), for various reasons, I'm not exactly sure I would want to get my masters in the exact same disciplinary, however, I'm not completely ruling it out. When I really think about the components of social work that I'm passionate about, the area of study that seems most inclusive of my interests is law.
As cool as I think it would have been to have always known from age five that I wanted to be a firefighter, grow up, and become said firefighter for 35 years, that's just not me. My career path will probably forever be a bit of a winding path, and I'm kind of okay with that. Going to law school has been in the back of my mind for quite sometime, but I always dismissed the idea, thinking it was simply too tough for me and I wasn't smart enough.
Over the past three years I have not only had a crap ton of fun (actual amount), but along the way I've also overcame an obstacle or two, and gained a lot of self confidence. Without sounding like a complete walking motivational poster, I really have discovered that there's not a whole lot I can't do if I really set my mind to it!
So with this mantra in mind, I signed up for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), and began studying in March. I may decide this whole law school thing isn't for me and not even apply to one single school, but I'll at least have the option available by completing the exam.
After months of studying, or perhaps more accurately, thinking about how I should be studying, I finally took the exam this morning. The entire thing was brutal, and after the four and a half hours test I walked out of the room looking like I had just left a prisoner of war camp. I have no idea how I did on it, and at this point I don't care how I did on it, I'm just happy to have it over! I'm using a trick from the U.S. Navy's deck of cards, and enacting my very own policy, Don't ask me how I did on the exam if I don't tell you first. I get my results back in July and if I did well I'll shout it from the Burj Khalifa, and if I scored lower than a mentally handicapped monkey, then we're just going to pretend like it never happened.
The only place the LSAT was being offered in the middle east was in Abu Dhabi, a city about an hour and a half away from Dubai. Thankfully my friend Sara lives in Dubai, but works in Abu Dhabi, and she graciously allowed for me to a bum a ride with her between the two cities. Sara has a super cool job in which she works for Hedayah, a global center for countering terrorism and violent extremism. Like most people do, I celebrated my completion of the LSAT by attending a farewell dinner party for a U.S. embassy official that was hosted by the C.E.O. of Hedayah. Dinner with fascinating people AND a goodie bag, don't mind if I do!
Have a great week, everyone!
Every six months us flight attendants at Emirates take a turn being on reserve for a month, where rather than having a set schedule we serve as substitute flight attendants. June is my reserve month, and so far I've only worked two turn around trips (flights with no layovers); one to Hyderabad, India and the other to Kuwait City, Kuwait. Easy peasy!
Although the weather in Dubai has been hot with a side of really hot, it has been nice to be in the same time zone for one week straight. The highlight of this past week's stay-cation was checking out Wild Wadi Waterpark for the first time. After spending my entire summer of 2006 rescuing some of St. Louis's finest citizens from the violent tides of Raging Rivers Water Park, I vowed to never step foot in a water park again. There's something about obese African American woman, who are unable to swim, repeatedly mistaking your pony tail for the rescue tube, and physically attempting to climb on top of your head, that just forever changes a person's enjoyment level of all things waterpark. Luckily, I was able to suppress my memories for a few short hours, and enjoy the day with my friends.
This past week's lack of work came at a great time, as I really needed a few free days to do some good ol fashion, uninterrupted, nose to the grind stone studying!
When I graduated from Western Illinois University three years ago, I knew that I'd most likely end up going back to school at some point, but before I embarked on a full time career or a graduate degree, I wanted to enjoy a few years of pure fun. Hi, I'm Kelsey a former Walt Disney World employee, turned flight attendant living in the middle east who on any given week can be found jumping off bridges, riding camels, or partying on yachts. Yep, that part of life's going according to plan, if I do say so myself! As much fun as I am having, this lifestyle isn't exactly sustainable, and thus why I'm s-l-o-w-l-y starting to think about my post fun years' plan.
Although there are aspects of my undergraduate degree in social work that I love (it's focus on social justice, human development, and social policy), for various reasons, I'm not exactly sure I would want to get my masters in the exact same disciplinary, however, I'm not completely ruling it out. When I really think about the components of social work that I'm passionate about, the area of study that seems most inclusive of my interests is law.
As cool as I think it would have been to have always known from age five that I wanted to be a firefighter, grow up, and become said firefighter for 35 years, that's just not me. My career path will probably forever be a bit of a winding path, and I'm kind of okay with that. Going to law school has been in the back of my mind for quite sometime, but I always dismissed the idea, thinking it was simply too tough for me and I wasn't smart enough.
Over the past three years I have not only had a crap ton of fun (actual amount), but along the way I've also overcame an obstacle or two, and gained a lot of self confidence. Without sounding like a complete walking motivational poster, I really have discovered that there's not a whole lot I can't do if I really set my mind to it!
So with this mantra in mind, I signed up for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), and began studying in March. I may decide this whole law school thing isn't for me and not even apply to one single school, but I'll at least have the option available by completing the exam.
After months of studying, or perhaps more accurately, thinking about how I should be studying, I finally took the exam this morning. The entire thing was brutal, and after the four and a half hours test I walked out of the room looking like I had just left a prisoner of war camp. I have no idea how I did on it, and at this point I don't care how I did on it, I'm just happy to have it over! I'm using a trick from the U.S. Navy's deck of cards, and enacting my very own policy, Don't ask me how I did on the exam if I don't tell you first. I get my results back in July and if I did well I'll shout it from the Burj Khalifa, and if I scored lower than a mentally handicapped monkey, then we're just going to pretend like it never happened.
The only place the LSAT was being offered in the middle east was in Abu Dhabi, a city about an hour and a half away from Dubai. Thankfully my friend Sara lives in Dubai, but works in Abu Dhabi, and she graciously allowed for me to a bum a ride with her between the two cities. Sara has a super cool job in which she works for Hedayah, a global center for countering terrorism and violent extremism. Like most people do, I celebrated my completion of the LSAT by attending a farewell dinner party for a U.S. embassy official that was hosted by the C.E.O. of Hedayah. Dinner with fascinating people AND a goodie bag, don't mind if I do!
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| Sara, Me, My Goodie Bag |
Have a great week, everyone!
I just finished up the bar exam in February, and am finally ready to practice! I feel ya on the LSAT, I vaguely remember wandering into a sandwich shop, somehow ordering, and then crashing under a tree on campus. I enjoy the practice I work at, but am hoping to find more international opportunities. Good luck with everything!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on passing the bar! I'm always picking law students/lawyers brains about their experiences. Feel free to pass along any advice :)
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled upon your blog (thanks SR!) and I'm in the process of reading all of your posts... I love them! your life is so awesome. I just graduated with my BSW and I feel the exact.same.way about my graduate degree/future career. I really don't know what I want to do, but I've had the same feelings about law school as well. same concerns, too.
ReplyDeleteanyway, I want to see the world before I make my mark on the world as well. your story is definitely helping me see there is a plethora of options out there before I go back to grad school/law school/whatever. :)