Fancy Living.

This week I have been thinking a lot about money, power, prestige, and status. Its funny, I've been going to school for what, 15 years now? I've spent hours upon hours stressing out over grades and attending classes, and I guess most people do those things to one day land a job that will give them a higher salary, right? Well, strangely enough when I picked my degree, chose my activities, and live my life in general, I hardly ever, if ever, think about the money that all this work will one day make me. When I think about my future career I am usually thinking "will this job make me happy day in and day out?" All I really want is to do something that will matter in the grand scheme of things, and if I am going to be devoting 8 hours per day to my job for the rest of my life, I should love it, right?
This was "restaurant week" in DC where participating locations offer dinner for $35 or lunch for $20 with a fixed menu. My poor roomies and I decided that this would be a good time to hit up a fancy French restaurant in Foggy Bottom. Not only was it delicious, the entire staff spoke in French accents. Very fancy indeed. Naturally, we nearly yanked off a table cloth and spilled a full glass of water in the first five minutes of being there but hey, what were they expecting letting the normal folk into a fancy place like that? I looked at the people around me and thought about what it might be like to be able to afford to eat their regularly. To look at the clothes in the mall and buy them because I like them not because they are on sale.
Last weekend we visited the American History museum, which was absolutely fascinating. I looked at all the memorabilia from all these people that have changed history and thought really hard about where I currently am in my life. Am I on the path to doing something worthwhile? Am I on the path to working somewhere that will eventually let me buy the fancy clothes in the store windows? Then, while I was sitting at my desk at work looking over some finance notes from the last few months, it hit me.
Prior to this internship I had planned to apply to master of public health programs this fall at various prestigious universities. Now, I am thinking, do I really want to research my entire life, write papers, publish, etc. And hope that they will inform policies that will change the world, or do I want to be a more influential piece in the process? So, I decided to change my graduate school plans to pursuing a master's in public policy, instead. Now I am really excited about the idea of one day possibly working for the United Nations or  foreign affairs in some capacity. Instead of applying to graduate school this fall I will most likely need to take at least two years and get work experience before I will have a competitive application to get into public policy school.
This is a big decision. This is the rest of my life. Will this degree and hopefully one day career make me a decent amount of money? Maybe. Will I be able to afford the fancy stuff in the windows? Who cares. Will it mean I am doing something worthwhile? That's the goal here. So I guess you could say, after visiting the fancy stores and the fancy restaurants, I still want to devote my life's work to what will make me happy, and what will be worthwhile to the world in the long run, even if it means skipping out on the fancy French restaurants