Oral Assessment prep session

I'm here in Chicago, happy to watch the cold snowy weather from inside my warm hotel room. On Wednesday I arrived in Chicago and went straight to my Oral Assessment prep session. I'm really glad I went. It was great meeting others who are preparing and I really enjoyed meeting the Ambassador in residence. I do have to say, I feel both better informed and more intimidated. I feel confident I now know what I need to do to prepare effectively, which is a good thing too because my assessment is less than 3 weeks away! But at the same time, I feel a little intimidated. The Foreign Service has high standards, rightly so, and that means some additional pressure to do my best. Additionally, I think it's really hitting me that I might get in. And that thought is both exciting and scary. So needless to say, I have a lot on my mind. But at times like this, the best thing to do is to focus on what I need to do and on doing my best. See you next in DC!

Chicago

In a little less than two months I will be winging my way to Washington DC for the Oral Assessment. But before that, I will be road tripping it to Chicago for a prep session at the University of Illinois - Chicago. Ironically, I probably wouldn't have signed up for the prep session, despite how useful I think it will be, if I wasn't already planning a trip to Chicago in January. After all, I will spend more than 12 hours total in the car for 3 hours in a prep session. But hey, two birds, one stone. I'm super excited. I get to visit Chicago, do the tourist thing, and hang out with friends. Plus, I get to meet other Foreign Service hopefuls, be better prepared for the Oral Assessment, and learn from someone in the Foreign Service. I can't wait.

3 1/2 months

So I was bad and forgot to update the blog on my signing up for the Oral Assessment. Fall is always super busy for me and I got distracted. But enough about that. Registration for the Oral Assessment opened on Sept. 28th and I decided to wait until I got home from work to sign up. Little did I realize that I was the only one waiting. In 9 hours all the assessment slots for November, December, and even most of January were already taken. Sigh. I was hoping to get a slot in December. On the bright side, this will give me more time to prepare. I'm all signed up, booked my flight, and even found a hotel within walking distance of the test site. I'm even looking forward to meeting up with some friends in DC while I'm there. January 27th is the magic day so I better work hard so that I can do my best!

Hello Washington DC!

When I got home today I had an unexpected surprise waiting for me; I am being brought in for the Oral Assessment! I am soooo excited! In about two weeks I will get to sign up for my assessment date and book my trip. I'll likely pick a date in December as that would work best with the temp gig I just started today. That means I have 3 months to prepare for the Oral Assessment so I really need to work hard. This is one more hurdle I've jumped over but there's still more.

Julie & Julia

The husband and I went to see the movie Julie & Julia today. I went in expecting a cute and touching movie about Julie Child and a blogger whose blog was inspired by her. And it was both cute and uplifting. Being a blogger myself, both here and at my HR blog, I expected the movie to be relevant to me. What I didn't expect was that it would be relevant for more reasons than that. You see, Paul Child, Julia Child's husband, was a foreign service officer.

How cool is that? I never knew that the reason Julia Child was in Paris in the first place was because her husband was a diplomat. Of course, the movie didn't really focus on that much, but it was great seeing them interact at embassy parties, Julia speaking with other diplomats wives, moving to different countries, etc. So many things to look forward to if I get through the rest of this process. Just two more months to go until I find out if they are bringing me in for the oral assessment. *crosses fingers*