Bureaucracy: 1, Me: 0

I got a summer internship at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies. Vehicle dynamics and propulsion. It’s genuinely cool and I’m genuinely excited.

Northeastern, however, has a departmental rule that blocks CPT for my situation. So I applied for Pre-OPT with premium processing, which is fine except that while it’s pending, I can’t travel internationally.

My best friend’s wedding is in Brazil. My dad has surgery coming up. I won’t be at either.

The authorization will probably arrive before the internship starts. Probably. In the meantime I’m just sitting here, not traveling, missing things that matter, because an institution decided its internal rules are more important than the people following them.

Anyway. Rivian. Cool internship. Very exciting. Everything is fine.