Pre-DMP
Everything started sometime in late March, right before spring break. My friends had planned on going on a roadtrip, but in an ironic twist of events, Miki's car broke down the one night the two of us decided to drive down Route 116 and never turn back. Katie and Charlina ended up going back to NYC to stay with family and relatives. As for Miki and I, well, being the generous roommate she is, she offered to let me stay with her family up in Maine.
One day, while checking my email in Miki's study (her mother and her will tell you it's filled with good energy, and I'd have to agree), I noticed an email from the DMP waiting for me--lo and behold! I was accepted! I was relieved to know that I'd be doing something this summer, and incredibly grateful to my faculty adviser, Lisa Ballesteros, for strongly encouraging me to apply. I screamed and called Miki, then we jumped around the room a bit. "Where are you going? Do you know yet?" she asked. The answer would come a day later...
The next time I checked my email, I was told that I was paired up with Jessica Hodgins from Carnegie Mellon University. Again, I went through the celebratory motions with Miki, and then I called Joseph, a friend at CMU. Knowing that I had applied to transfer there, Miki congratulated me and remarked, "Hey, maybe that's a good sign!" And it was. Sort of.
I completed the paperwork as soon as I could, but was concerned about room and board in Pittsburgh. Fortunately, Joseph pointed me to the FrontListings site for CMU. After a few phone calls, emails, and a week of waiting, I had settled on sharing a house with two fellow DMP interns: April Wensel and Raye Gomez. All the CMU DMP participants had been put in touch thanks to Jessica and the other DMP mentors at CMU, although most of the girls had already made housing arrangements. The three of us had managed to nab the 15th house on the right side of Beeler St. for $400 a month, supposedly including utilities.
All that was left now was to make travel arrangements. Calling Uniglobe was fairly painless, and the agent was very helpful. I was going back to Hawaii to stay with my parents for two weeks, just in case I was accepted at CMU, which started exactly at the end of my 10 weeks. With everything in place, I looked forward to my first summer internship.
