TLDR: I'm 27, I work at a university as a web editor, my boyfriend is a professor, I want to get a master's degree or PhD in higher ed admin or linguistics, and yeah, my life is full of academia so I wanted someone to talk to about it. I also like talking about self-help-y things, like videos from YouTubers like Ali Abdaal or various self-help books, and big-picture topics like life, the universe and everything. Below is all of this information, basically in the form of an informal letter. If you can't read until the end, we wouldn't be a good penpal match. But if you can, message me, maybe?

Hey all,

I'm a 27-year-old French-American woman in Florida. By French-American, I mean I was born and raised in the U.S., but my father is from France and I still have family over there, who I haven't seen in ages. We were supposed to go for a family vacation last year, but you know, COVID and all...

Anyway, I have a Bachelor's degree in French, though my work is unrelated--I'm the web editor for my alma mater. I've been editing for about...9 years now? It's getting tiring. But I started this new editing job at my alma mater about a month ago. (I'm actually here right now, but work is slow, so I'm working on this instead!) Previously, I had been working remotely for years (even pre-COVID), and I'm happy to be in a workplace with colleagues again. Social interaction and all that jazz, it's nice!

I'm not entirely sure where my ambitions lie, probably don't want to do web editing forever, but I really enjoy academia. The whole vibe about it, it's a mood (do people say that anymore?). A mystique. I want to get a master's degree, and if I get one here at my alma mater, it would be free, though they don't offer many programs. I was going to do the Higher Ed Administration program, which, ironically, my boyfriend is the program director of.

Yep. Bit of a tangent: He's a professor here (came here in the year I graduated, though we never crossed paths), and we met on OKCupid about 5 months ago. I had thought to apply to work at my alma mater before, but since my boyfriend works here, I figured I'd double-down on my efforts and I got a job. Woo-hoo! Anyway, that's that.

So, I could get a higher ed admin degree (I'd just need to take a lot of independent studies for ethical reasons, since my boyfriend is the main professor and all), or I could go a completely different direction and go for a linguistics master's or even PhD at a university a few hours from here. A strain on the relationship, but linguistics is a passion of mine. What to do! If I went that route, though, it'd be a few years from now. I need to stay in this job and pay back some of my crippling debt first.

Anyway. That's what's going on in my life. As for my hobbies, I really enjoy journaling constantly and watching YouTube videos. My boyfriend thinks I don't know how to relax, since I'm always watching Ali Abdaal on YouTube or doing some random planning/organization activity. So last night he told me, "Just read. Just lie in bed and read for an hour." And I did! And I really enjoyed it! So I think that's going to be a thing now. I used to be a big reader in middle school, but dropped off, like most of us did. But I want to read more self-help-y books and linguistics books. Currently on my list of books to read is the rest of the book I was reading last night (Grit by Angela Duckworth), as well as Mindset by Carol Dweck, and some linguistics books by Steven Pinker.

Oh, also, I kind of want to make a blog. I don't even know what I want to make it about, I just like web design. I think I like writing, and people say I'm good at it, but honestly, I like writing letters and that's about it. I find it's easier to talk to someone than to talk to "an audience." But I like the idea of making something cool for the world to see. I just feel like everyone would think it was lame if I just wrote my thoughts down. You need a "niche," you need to have a "value proposition," blah blah. Sigh.

I could talk about myself forever, but I'll end it here. I can promise long letters, although the frequency may be a bit random. Sometimes I might email back the day after I get your email, sometimes it may be a week or two. Depends on how busy life gets. But I just really enjoy talking to people via writing, I'm just better at writing than talking.

If you have any questions or want to become penpals, or just get to know me a bit to see if I would be a good fit for you, shoot me a message! Btw, I don't really respond to "hey!" or "how are you?" or anything. Send me a letter of response, at least a paragraph or two, telling me about yourself. Tell me what we have in common/what makes you think we'd be a good match. Tell me what you do for work or what you're studying or would like to study. Tell me about your favorite YouTubers. Your biggest ambitions. Your dreams. Idk. I just thought to myself the other day, "what do I dare not dream to ever achieve?" and I realized that one thing that never crossed my mind was that I could one day afford to pay someone to clean my damn house for me. Wouldn't that be a dream? I've somehow tried to "open my mind to the possibilities" by thinking of, idk, becoming a digital nomad, but something so simple never even crossed my mind as possible...

Anyway, I'm rambling. Hope we talk soon!