LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
Winter Hibernation Comes Early This Year

The colors of the leaves have hardly changed but already we here at The Observer have noticed students disappearing into their dens for the winter.

Despite elaborately planned Happy Hours by the East Asia Society and the Foreign Relations Career Club, attendance at our traditional weekly gatherings has been sparse. Even on normal weekdays around school, loafing has been at a minimum.  We don’t even hear the Bologneses ciao-bella-ing in the cafeteria anymore.

For the past months the only notable social events (at least the only ones we’ve been invited to) were the batch of Halloween parties in the last weeks. And though they brought out even some of the most hermetic students, we felt like we barely knew anyone at these parties – and not only because of the costumes.

Of course, we blame this on internships. While the first years have been busy applying for the State Department’s unreasonably early deadline (sorry to break the news, but you won’t be getting your security clearances until mid-July), the second years have been spending 20+ hours per week at their places of employment hoping to impress somebody (anybody!) as they pursue post-SAIS employment.

While we at The Observer understand your desire for gainful employment after graduation – though we don’t plan on it for ourselves – this is getting a little ridiculous.  Last year’s second years knew the importance of loitering in the cafeteria and spending Friday nights drinking to inebriation in Kenney auditorium.  And while we suspect they paid for it in unemployment, we think they were on to something.  Because when your current boss is long-retired and you’re looking for a new job, you’re going to wish you had paid a measly $3 to buy a beer for those other SAIS graduates who will be running the world.

So our advice:  Have fun now.  You might pay for it in the short-term, but we don’t think you’ll regret it.  And besides, we miss you.