The End of the Beginning

Times are rough my friends. Here are a few tips on how you can hustle your way through NYU and New York when your pockets are feeling a little bare.

1) Participate in Psychology Experiments: I get made fun of for this one, but in all seriousness, participating in an experiment is a great experience for a student, and often very relevant to social work and welfare. I've participated in several experiments with the psych department - some of them have been really easy and short (sometimes you just fil out a survey and they'll give you about 5 to 10 dollars), while others can be more complex. One of the most incredible experiences I had was a cognitive neuroscience experiment where I got to get an MRI and actually see AWESOME photographs of my brain! I won't lie, I was scared at first, but once the experiment started it wasn't bad at all, AND they paid me 50 dollars. Ballin'. Email the researchers using the psych department website, or check out the fliers posted in the Meyer building.
2) Go to the Wasserman Center: Nevermind that it's a great resource for anyone in need of career-related info (you can actually walk right in and there will be counselors who can help you write a cover letter or perfect your resume). This place has FREE coffee and tea. And it's delicious. BYOMug and be earth-friendly.
3) Ticket Central is your friend: Yes, I know, some of their prices are still pretty ridic, but if you sign up on their listserv, they'll hook you up. One time I got free tickets to see The Drowsy Chaperone on Broadway. Score.
4) Don't buy your textbooks: So unnecesary - a ton of our social work books are on reserve in Bobst Library, and (especially for undergrads) it's pretty easy for us to share them since we're a pretty small group. I didn't buy any books for social work classes this semester because they were all so accessible at the library. If there is a book that you need that isn't in the library, try chegg.com. You can rent books instead of buying them, and then send them back at the end of the semester. It saves tons of money.
5) Get your stretch on: Yoga to the People offers yoga classes on a donation basis, and they seriously don't judge you if you can only afford a small contribution, or even nothing at all. The classes are amazing, and an incredible way to recharge from all of our social work stress. If you don't have a mat, you can rent one there for 2 dollars.

Have a wonderful, cheap week :)

While taking the 6 train to Union Square last week, I found myself eavesdropping on these four Chinese women sitting across from me. They were speaking very quickly in what sounded like Mandarin, and they had several shopping bags at their feet. Two of the women were holding twenty dollar bills and trying to shove them into the hand of their friend, but she was refusing. They looked like kids playing Hot Potato. It seemed that she had purchased something for the friends to share, but she did not want them to feel obligated to pay her back for it.
After seeing all of this, I was reminded of my mother’s dinner parties. Whenever she would invite a few of our family friends over for a meal, one of her friends would try to pitch in by helping to wash the dishes or clear the table. “Try” being the key word – my mother would literally fight them for the sponge if her friends tried to do anything other than relax and enjoy themselves. She never expected anything in return for inviting people into her home – it was a constant theme in our household for my mother to feel comfortable sacrificing herself to make others happy.
I never understood why my mother felt so strongly about taking so much upon herself all the time. While I still find myself telling her to chill out whenever I’m home, I can see how I’ve inherited some of her selflessness. And I’ve learned that investing yourself into the well-being of others is not necessarily tantamount to sacrifice. Even when it is difficult to realize the impact that we make on others (and in our field, it’s an everyday challenge) I have realized that taking the time to truly listen to people, and to genuinely care about whether or not they have a good day or a crappy one is a mutually beneficial relationship. Being involved in the life of another, and taking the time to focus on something other than ourselves is something so beautiful, and it’s what makes me love this field so much.
While you probably won’t find me doing my clients’ dishes any time soon, working with people has made me see how everyone can benefit when we put aside our selfish tendencies for a little while. After all, no one throws a better dinner party than my mom.

Every week or so our advisory group for blogging sends us some suggested topics to write about in case anyone is having writer's block. Here's one of the questions that they posed recently:

What are your expectations of your program if you are just starting out and if you've been at it for a while, how did the program match up to your expectations?

Since the social work program is pretty much a mystery to a lot of my friends at NYU, I get asked about what the classes are like all the time. The one thing about them that surprises other people, and that surprised me a lot at first, is how much the first few social work classes (Skills in Interpersonal Communication, Ethnocultural Issues, and Human Behavior in the Social Environment, to name a few) focus on the students in the class. I can't speak for everyone, but a lot of what drew me to study social work in the first place came from simply enjoying listening to people. I preferred immersing myself in others' stories rather than focusing on my own issues. My social work classes really taught me how dangerous it is to enter the field without fully exploring your own history, and thinking about how personal experiences will shape each of our practices. Having to talk about my own experiences in papers and class discussions forced me to step out of my comfort zone. It was hard, and it required much more than just memorizing lists of social welfare programs or writing about alcoholism. My classmates and professors helped me realize that neglecting to acknowledge my own role in future therapeutic relationships would limit my ability to be an effective social worker. While having to explore myself pushed my expectations of social work school, I am glad that I'm in a program where I am constantly encouraged to understand myself. I have come to realize that my experiences are rich with ideas and perspectives that will help me develop a powerful social work practice, and I'm so grateful to be surrounded by people who have helped me to realize this.