Sunday, November 16, 2014

What to do while waiting for the Foreign Service...

So, I'm still in a holding pattern waiting for my "call up" to the Foreign Service (my fingers are crossed for the January 26, 2015 foreign service specialist orientation class).  I thought I would make a list of what to do while waiting** -- in no particular order.


  • Commiserate with others who are also waiting by checking online forums and yahoo groups.
  • Read blogs about how others waited -- yeah, real exciting stuff.
  • Watch old seasons of The Amazing Race on Hulu and think:  would I want to be posted there?  The answer mostly is Yes.

  • Finish up grad school.  I'm in my last two classes and have been accepted to graduate at the end of December.
  • Procrastinate working on my final, final group project of grad school.
  • Start working on things that should have been done long ago, but will be really important once I get into the Foreign Service:  make a will, make a healthcare directive, check life insurance, setup a revocable living trust..fun stuff like that.
  • Procrastinate on all that stuff above while I read other FSO/FSS blogs, especially ones about Flag Days.
  • Start thinking about what goes, what stays with Mark (at least during training in DC), and what can get tossed, donated, or recycled.
  • Work on hobbies.  I made this jacket:


  • Determine to hit the gym or exercise more while I still have time before an orientation class starts
  • Procrastinate on that by planning upcoming trips:  Madrid for Thanksgiving and Oklahoma City for Christmas to see my family.
Gotta go, the Racers are off to Estonia (YES, I would like to be posted there) and I have to check the forums at careers.state.gov for any updates.



**Assuming one is not already working.