Placements.

The morning of my graduation (at midnight, to be exact), I got an e-mail saying I was placed at a high school in Detroit for my internship. I immediately burst into tears. I was upset. I'm honest, i can admit that I was judging the school by its location.

It took me a little while to adjust. I was freaked out, imagining all the bad things that could happen, while ignoring the good things.

But I grew up. I stopped judging and as I learned more about the school, I got excited. It was a specialized school and the programs looked great.

So, I called the school to set up a meeting to talk with the teacher. Nothing in response. I figure she is busy, misplaced the message after a week of holding on to it, so I called again.

Yep, no response. I wait another week before e-mailing the coordinator for the Detroit area. I let her know what was going on and how I was getting nervous. She e-mailed me back and said she would look into it.

A week and a half goes by and I hear nothing. I get a random letter from Detroit Public Schools saying that they "Accepted" me as an intern in their school system. Well, that's fine and dandy for them, but MSU's paperwork isn't done, as I have not met or talked with the teacher, so technically, I'm still not placed.

I had this dream, a long while back (actually, the night before I got my placement) that they wouldn't find a place for me down here. It was a horrid nightmare. Instead of having a placement in the Detroit area, they had to place me in Lansing, and I made the drive back and forth every day. Some nightmare, huh?

Anyways, I was thinking about that nightmare today as I drove back from Lansing from class. I was singing along to my radio while I pulled onto M-59, when my phone rang. It was a 248 number, but not one I recognized. Normally, i don't answer numbers I don't know (and let's be honest, I just plain don't answer my phone), but I picked it up.

Good thing I did. I was offered an internship in a different district, Ferndale and at a high school. The teacher, who I will dub Scott*, was really friendly and very welcoming. Then he says, "This might be creepy, but I know who you are."

Err.

Turns out its not creepy. I went to high school with his son at Rochester, who was two grades below me and in marching band. So, Scott has known me from when I was drum major, etc, which is awesome. He also lives in Rochester, so he gave me good directions on how to get to the school and such.

I'm pretty stoked. I'm meeting with him next week to get a small tour of the school and to talk with him. Hopefully we'll get along (which I think we will based off our phone conversation), so I will be actually placed in that school. The classes he's teaching next year are awesome as well: He is for sure going to be teaching an hour or two of 9th grade english, an hour or two of American literature, and a new class that is designed for students who failed english the first time around. In the second semester, he is for sure teaching an Ethnic Literature class and a humanities class. He said he might also have an hour of AP English, but he wasn't positive. Essentially, he's going to have a mix of classes, which will be awesome for me to learn from.

Anyway, I am so glad to "have" a placement that seems to be working out. It's closer to home, I know what the classes are, I already have a small relationship with the teacher, and i know what's going on. Let's all just hope that our meeting goes well!!!

*I changed his name for protection.