Sunday Social Post!! Week of 9/29!

Hey all! Sorry I took a break from Sunday Social! This teaching 3 classes and taking 1 six credit doctoral class thing (while taking care of a 4 month old and doing my second exam) is KILLING ME SOFTLY :). But I love you guys too much to have too long of a post drought.... so please! Enjoy the latest addition of mine to the Sunday Social link-up!


1. What is your dream job? Here comes my nerdiness! My dream job would be a tenured epidemiology/public health professor, where I could teach any subject within public health that I love, I could spearhead some awesome maternal and child health epidemiology projects that I have dreamed up, and I could spend my summers off in a foreign country like Italy with my family, working remotely :)

2. If you had just won the lottery and didn't need to work for money, what would you do with your time? Unfortunately, my work really isn't for money. I would still go to school and finish my doctorate, to be the first doctor in my family. I would still teach and I would still do research, but I wouldn't worry so much about overworking myself. I would do it for the love of the subject... but I would definitely pay off all of my family's bills and have them help me with child care lol.

3. What piece of career advice would you give to someone just starting out in your field?  If you don't have a Master of Public Health degree, go get one because you need it in public health! Beyond that, do whatever internship or low paying public health job you can get your hands on out of school. You never know what connections you will make that will get you to your next job, which might have a nice sized paycheck. 

4. What would be your ideal "just for fun" job? I could never not work in public health - it really is my lifeblood - but a long time from now when I have a plethora of published papers and have taught my fair share of college classes, I can imagine me and hubby opening up a lucheonette. He is such a great cook and I really love baking. I miss it!!

5. What was your first "real" job? My first job with a W-2 and all that was a bookseller at Waldenbooks right out of high school in 2001. My first actual grown-up job where I was salaried was the Program Director of the now defunct Putnam County (NY) Cancer Services Program.
If you would like to participate in a future "Sunday Social", head on over to Ashley Lately's Blog for next week's questions and link-up!

My first class without my daughter

Your Hosts

Shannon at GrowingSlower

Jennifer at Every Breath I Take

Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama

Christine at African Babies Don't Cry

Melissa at Adventures of Captain Destructo

Tomorrow is the beginning of a new semester for me. I am an adjunct college professor at 2 area colleges, and will be teaching epidemiology and nutrition to formidable, undergraduate minds. This is my 3rd semester teaching college, and this one is much different than the previous two. Yes, the excitement is there, but (thankfully) a lot of the nerves of how I would be as a teacher aren't. There is also one more notable absence that I can't stop thinking about, however. Tomorrow is the first class I will teach without my daughter inside of me.

The first class I taught, August 29, 2012, was actually when I was 2 weeks pregnant (and even though I wasn't officially preggers at that point, we all know that the first day of pregnancy begins with the first day of your LMP). The last day of the spring semester, which I spent feverishly grading my class' online finals, was also 2 days before my due date (and 5 days before I actually gave birth to my little girl). This past year, I taught in East Harlem, and the commute from where I am to where I teach door-to-door is about 2 hours. Every step that I took, every song I listened to on the train ride, every thought that crossed my mind while passing by all the towns so beautifully placed along the Hudson river, my daughter was in my belly. She was the frequent subject of my thoughts, especially because I didn't find out her gender while I was pregnant.

The bigger I got, the more I enjoyed looking obviously pregnant. The more I enjoyed teaching thinking to myself, "Wow, I wonder if she is absorbing any of this!" and "I bet this will make her one smart cookie!" It was especially fun when I would feel her kick or move around when I was teaching - she never liked when I wasn't talking so she would get active if it was too quiet for her liking!! There was just something so special to me about experiencing the journey of being pregnant for the first time and teaching (almost) every single week while pregnant.  I got to foster a love for epidemiology in my students and watch them grow, and they got to see me grow as a professor and of course, quite literally as a pregnant person :).

But tomorrow, there will be no sweetheart in my womb. She will be at grandma and grandpa's house, having fun with them as well as her godmother/aunt (our blog co-writer, Sara). I am trying to just embrace my enthusiasm for teaching this class, as it will be the first time I am teaching at this particular college. While it may be hard to forget the emptiness of my womb, it is easy to recall how full my heart is with love for my little Valentina. That's an occupation that will never leave :).

~Tia