The Passage

Nearly 5 years ago I was riding this bus for the first time. The only other passengers were a couple returning to the city from a trip to Europe to visit family. I told them all about the IGERT program I had applied to and how, if accepted after my visit, I would earn my PhD in sustainability and live in Brazil for a time.

They told me about the city's gems including the very first view I would get of the downtown, lit up as the sun set. They exited the bus well before my stop and wished me good luck. I was overly hopeful about the program but didn't dare believe they would take me- and couldn't possibly fathom how I would grow once they had.

Now I'm at a new stage of anticipation, hope, and naivety. There seem to be both more options and more obstacles to becoming a professor, and with each step, I cannot predict where I will land- or whose paths I will cross along the way.