Big News

So my thesis is finished and turned in. (I will try to write about it more in a different post.)

My written exams are completed, with just some less stressful oral exams to take at the end of this week.

I am set to graduate college on Sunday, May 29, in less than two weeks. (And I will definitely be dedicating a post to my school in the near future.)

In short, I am on the brink of being a college graduate and entering the real world. And it really will be a huge transition, because Swarthmore is nothing like the real world. It's its little bubble of intellectualism, tolerance, liberalism, and idealistic determination. There will be no place like it elsewhere, but here's to hoping that wherever I go, with whomever I meet, I will try to find a little bit of Swat with them.

We all know that today is tough times for finding jobs, and so I've been lucky enough to be set on that front. Starting in July, I will be in Shanghai, China, working as an Educational Consultant at the company Taurus Education. We help top Chinese high school students research, apply to, and adjust to American universities, helping bridge the gap between Eastern and Western education.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you know me halfway well, you will know that this is quite possibly the perfect job for me. It's a combination of education, literacy, teaching, college counseling, and marketing. I have long been interested in working in college admissions, because--let's face it--that transitional period of people's lives is hard. I always wondered if it would be possible to help students go through that process... and now there is this wonderful opportunity for me to do so.

tripadvisor.com

Of course, graduating college and moving to a totally different country are huge changes, not the least of which is that it will affect my blogging. It will make blogging more difficult, because not only is it probably harder to acquire new YA releases in Shanghai, Blogger is also technically blocked by China's policy of Internet censorship. (Apparently this is easy to overcome with a simple and affordable VPN, so I wasn't too worried. I was so relieved when I found that out!)

So, by necessity, the nature of my blog will have to change. I will still try to keep up as best as I can with the latest in YA. I will do my best to acclimate myself to reading eBooks, since it will be MUCH more difficult for me to receive physical ARCs abroad. (Unless you are, like, really, really nice and are willing to pay the shipping? *hopeful look*) My reviews will probably feature older books in my collection--basically whatever I can get my hands on in Shanghai. Against my public journaling nature, I will try to write periodic updates on life in Shanghai--to tempt you into coming to visit, of course. :)

Therefore, for the month of June I will scramble to read as many books as I can before I leave. I need to give away an extraordinary amount of books, so look out for many giveaways and/or sales in the future. Review copies that I am not able to get to will find a happy home with another blogger, I promise. All of this is made more challenging by the fact that I also want to try to spend time with friends, and I am quite suddenly addicted to the TV show Castle and seem to be blasting through the DVD sets quite rapidly, which, naturally, takes time away from my reading.

But all will be well! I am truly excited at this next chapter in my life; if I weren't I wouldn't go to Shanghai. Things will change, but I feel certain that this change will not be for the worse. I want to thank you all for being so supportive of me and my blog, for being the crazy and lovable and wonderful YA readers that you all are. I hope you will continue to stick around my blog as I figure out what new and exciting direction it--and I--will take.

Love always,

Steph