A Little Life Update
Posted November 10, 2025 by Brooke Thomson
Hi readers! It’s been a little over two months since I moved to Boston and started my program, so I wanted to give you an update on how things are going for me now.
First Things First: Have I Found a Job?
Tragically, no. My plan was to allow myself a one-month cushion to find one, but you know what they say about best laid plans and all that. September came and went. Then October too. I didn’t get any offers. Today, November 7th, is actually the first time I’ve even made it to an interview: your girl applied to be a Counter Team Member at Tatte Bakery & Cafe! The interview took an hour and I feel pretty positive about it. I won’t hear back about a decision until sometime this weekend. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!
Up till now, I have been spending a lot of time and energy applying to entry level positions at local libraries, museums, and historical institutions because those are the places I need to start getting experience for my career. But once November came around with nothing to show it, I decided it was crucial that I land any job. I’m grateful to have made it to an interview with Tatte, and I hope I can start working there before I completely drain my bank account.
But! I have a very big interview coming up with a cultural heritage institution in Salem, MA next Wednesday! No names yet because I don’t want to jinx anything, but I’m very excited and nervous about it. It’s an opportunity to partake in a fantastic year-long internship. I don’t know what to expect at the interview, so I’ll be studying as much as possible to prepare this weekend. Fingers crossed for that one too!
Have I Made Any Friends?
Kind of! I would say my roommates are the closest things I have to friends here. Since moving in together, we’ve gone on some excursions and gotten to know one another better. Our first trip was an evening of light bites at the Trillium bar in Seaport. One of the girls was dog-sitting an adorable puppy named Juniper (Junie for short) and the owner encouraged us to bring her around town to socialize. It was nice to catch up and people watch while Juniper said hi to everyone around us.
Later on, we drove to New Hampshire and hiked the Welch-Dickey Loop Trail, which practically killed me. My only form of exercise is usually a ten-minute walk to and from campus twice a week. I was not prepared for this. We went with around twenty other girls from Hey Girl Run Club, and trust me when I say I was regularly in the back and waaay behind everyone else, struggling to breathe. By the time we made it back to our apartment that night my legs and feet hurt so badly that I had to lay down on the ground to take off my clothes. Then I propped my legs up on some pillows, tried valiantly not to move a single muscle, and cried myself to sleep. But at least I got some good pictures!
More recently we all went to the Boston Book Festival together and wandered around Beacon Hill looking at Halloween decorations. The Book Festival was honestly pretty overstimulating and crowded, so after mingling at a few tents I retreated into the building to browse through DVDs. Writing this blog made me think I should figure out how many movies I’ve borrowed from the BPL so far: the answer is 10! My latest acquisitions are Anora (2024) and Clown in a Cornfield (2025).
The Sunday we chose to visit Beacon Hill happened to be the busiest I’ve ever seen Boston so far. We took the Green Line (E) over to Copley, and the train was so packed I thought I might fall out the door. Before hunting for Halloween decorations, we bounced from a tiny, hectic little coffee shop called the Thinking Cup to an outdoor used book sale, where I purchased a copy of The Satyricon (late 1st century CE) for 50 cents. It was a perfect day to be outside. The weather was gorgeous, the trees were turning colors, and the woman at Nino’s Pizza on Charles Street let me buy a slice of pepperoni pizza for $4 when it was supposed to be $5. My award for most impressive Halloween decoration goes to the Toy Story house!
Has Anything Surprised Me?
Yes, my own family! My mom and cousin (AKA my New York Mom, Mom’s best friend) showed up at my door one day to help me paint my room. I accidently left them waiting outside for twenty minutes because I was still sleeping at twelve, like a worm. But once I saw all the voicemails, I knew what was up! They came bearing paint rollers, a basket of Fall goodies, some groceries and big smiles. I was really touched that they would come and spend time with me, especially in the case of my cousin. She had just suffered a devastating personal loss, but she said hanging out with my mom and I was exactly what she needed then. It was a short but very sweet visit. And now my room looks a thousand times better!
What Am I Looking Forward To?
Next week’s schedule is pretty stacked with excitement: Spring registration, a class field-trip to the BPL Central Branch, my big interview, Panopticon’s Book Club, a play about Boston’s female abolitionists…Tomorrow I’ll be in the Public Garden taking pictures of an acquaintance amid the Fall foliage too. For fun, I’ve been reading Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and catching up on the final season of My Hero Academia (2016). The closer we get to December, the more excited I am for some highly anticipated theatrical releases: Avatar: Fire and Ash and Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution!
For the Spring semester, I’m hoping to land LIS 415: Information Organization, LIS 438 Intro to Archival Theory & Practice and LIS 505-OL02 Special Topics in Library Science: International Archives. We’ll see how it all plays out!