Wednesday night we had this fabulous plan to leave our Super 8 room at 6:45 am on Thursday morning and arrive in Columbia, MD at 8 am in order to interview Ann Paxton, a government events planning recruiter. With our trusty directions from MapQuest in our hands, we headed towards MD 3 South and actually went onto the exit for Bowie, MD because MapQuest told us to! Due to intense amounts of traffic and our horrible sense of direction we ended up driving about 15 miles the wrong way. We had to stop at a Jiffy Lube and beg for directions…the man named Pete was very helpful and friendly and made our tiring experience a little bit brighter. So, after getting on the COLUMBIA side of MD 3 South we arrived at National Conference Services headquarters, which is BEHIND the Exxon, not to the right of it…apparently. Unfortunately we were about an hour later after our appointment and went in to apologize personally to the very lovely Ann Paxton, whose time we certainly did not mean to waste. When we arrived she was engaged in another appointment and we left her a note with the secretary, went outside, filmed a bit, and laughed at our stupidity. Little did we know that this was only the beginning…So sorry Ann!
After leaving Columbia, we headed towards Baltimore,MD which was a smooth ride on I-95 North. At around 11:00 am we parked near the Inner Harbor and decided to take in the sights and sounds of the Bay. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and our McDonalds meal was especially delicious. To add to the entertainment, Kelly was being stared down by a very handsome Naval officer, which kept us laughing during our later trials. After our lunch, we decided to head to the College Park to interview Dr.Bonnie Thornton Dill and Dr.Jack Blanchard, both faculty at the University of Maryland who graciously allowed us to interview and film them. First we decided to take the metro into College Park via the Camden Line. After about an hour and a half and asking many questions and receiving many different answers, we were told that the Camden Line only ran in the early morning and then again at 3:30. Oh, that would have been perfect…if our first interview wasn’t at 3:00 pm! Frustrated and tired we got Sarah’s car and got onto I-95 South, which was jammed packed with trucks. SOMEBODY, who will remain unnamed, thought it would be a good idea to take the Baltimore-Washington Beltway and get off at Exit 27 at College Park. This is where it all began. I had to call Dr.Dill and very regretfully tell her that we could not make the interview and that we were so very sorry. Let us list all of the roads that we took in order to arrive at UMD: I-95 North and South, 195, 295, 495, 695, Route 1, 3, and MD-32! Phew! It was crazy and we felt that we were either going to laugh or cry. After calling Dr.Jack Blanchard about 3 times he very graciously agreed to wait for us, as he was writing grants all day in his office and did not mind the break. Finally, at 5:30 pm we arrived at UMD; an hour and a half later than we were expected. Sarah parked the car and Steph, Kelly and I ran inside the Biology Psychology Building and frantically searched for Dr.Blanchard. He found us outside of his office like three little lost lambs and laughed at us, as I’m sure we were entertaining. The interview was very informative as we discussed his role as the Head of Clinical Programs in UMD’s psychology department. It was our first interview and we were ecstatic about making one out of three that day.
After the interview we headed back into Baltimore for dinner and then headed to Felton, PA…after hitting about an hour back up of traffic on 83 North. When we arrived at Sarah’s house we were absolutely beat! Being nomadic is difficult, especially directly after completing finals and school, but it was worth it to be able to obtain the valuable advice that Dr.Blanchard gave to all of us. We have some great footage from the interview and some the most valuable advice was to pursue your goals, no matter how intense they may seem and to have a plan of action about grad school. Research the programs that you would like, definately gain experience in your field, be committed and make contacts within your field. Your future begins now…make sure to think ahead!
