We’re moving again! This is good news, but anxiety inducing nonetheless. After one year of working on my dissertation from my hometown, our family will be moving to the incredible city of San Francisco. Now, this move isn’t a total surprise, since I did apply for the Ethnic Minority Dissertation Fellowship at the University of San Francisco and was awarded it. However, it did seem too good to be true at first. In the past few years we’ve experienced several great joys, and of course some disappointments, but overall we’ve been incredibly fortunate! I just couldn’t believe we would be lucky enough for this to actually end up happening.
Perhaps it would be best to back up a bit. When I was only 19 years old I moved to San Francisco and spent 2 semesters at USF as a student. I was living with my very best friend and fell deeply in love with the City. For circumstances that should only occur in your 20s I moved to LA and finished my bachelor’s degree at the University of Southern California. Every time I visited the City, I missed it. I was always a little sad to be heading back to wherever I was visiting from, but inevitably made peace with the fact that I never live in SF again.
Imagine my surprise when in February 2014 I saw a call for applicants for a dissertation fellowship at USF. After a very quick conversation with my husband, I decided to apply. To be honest, at the time I saw the call, I had just worked through the harsh reality that I wasn’t far enough in my dissertation writing to be on the job market and was feeling lousy about that. I am going to take 6 years to finish my PhD and I expected to take 4, then 5, and now 6. I kept working to remind myself that what matters most is that I continue to make progress on my research and that I set myself up to be a strong candidate on the job market for the coming year. My husband and family remained incredibly supportive despite my slow pace this past year, and to be frank, we were enjoying the extra family time, but it still wasn’t exactly what I had planned. So, again, imagine my surprise when I saw the call for the dissertation fellowship.
For those outside of academia, a dissertation fellowship is basically a gift. I’ll be employed by USF and will teach one class in the fall and one in the spring. The rest of the time my job is to work on my dissertation research and writing. Plus, we get to live in SF! We have an apartment across the street from the beach and just a few minutes from Golden Gate Park. Of course, it’ll be hard to leave family again, but it is infinitely easier to move 3 hours away versus across the country!!! Plus we already have some family and friends in the Bay Area! So, while I was lamenting the fact that I didn’t make it on the job market last fall or spring, I think it was meant to be. Whether it will be for one year, or for several years, San Francisco is again, going to be home.