Good
In my attempt to avoid the real world for as long as possible (and lets not kid ourselves, there are no jobs out there- more on that later in the post) I've decided to finish my college education by participating in a study abroad program in Milan, Italy. Working with students from the Politecnico di Milano, I'll gain hands on historic preservation experience. The work is at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Crespi d'Adda, which is a little known "model town near Bergamo built between the 19th and 20th centuries for factory workers."

Besides gaining invaluable experience, I'll have the opportunity to travel most of Italy, which just happens to be the next destination on my "to travel" list. Furthermore I am extending my stay two weeks beyond the 4-week program to meet up with friends from undergrad to visit Munich, Berlin, and Prague. Please tell me any and all must see sites and adventures in any of those cities.

Bad
Today was the second day of the job fair. There were more firms represented today than on Monday but maybe as some sort of omen the fire alarm went off near the beginning and the architecture building had to be evacuated for about 30 minutes. Fortunately it was the nicest day Muncie has had in months, so it was a nice escape.

Ugly
Nobody is hiring. At least not any firm that bothered to show up at the BSU job fair. Okay so maybe there was a firm or two looking to hire a May graduate for full time work. But in all reality if a firm was even considering a hire it was simply for a summer intern position. I talked to the firm I worked for during the summer and most of their projects dry up after May. There are a few small projects on the calendar beyond May, but for all intents and purposes the works isn't there. It's a stark and sobering reality of the current situation. One that is hard to believe considering I could have worked 60 hour weeks all summer had I wanted to. And now there's nothing. And they opened up a small branch office at the end of summer.

Luckily for me I have no intent or desire to remain in Indiana a second longer than I have to. So I wasn't particularly interested in any firms at the job fair since 99.9% of the firms were Indiana based. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure this is an accurate picture of the situation elsewhere.

I'm going to enjoy month 6 weeks of traveling Europe!