No pain, no gain!

- What are you going to school for?

- T&I...

- Ohhh, cool!... What's that?? --> This is the typical question I've had to answer at least 100 times in the past 2 1/2 years...

What does T&I mean?

T&I is waaayyy more than Translation and Interpretation.
T&I is SLAVERY!!!!!!

T&I is having absolutely NO life whatsoever!

T&I is forgetting what a weekend is, because while every single person you know is out, partying, drinking, or doing anything related to FUN, you're at home, studying, interpreting, or reading hundreds of pages so you can "increase your vocabulary and have a better register"!

T&I is studying every possible glossary you can think of, and when the time for the midterm or final comes, you stand in front of that podium and get so nervous you can't even pronouce a single word.

T&I is listening to Obama, or Amma, or any other United Nations representative talk about biofuels and how they affect the environment 1000 words per minute.

T&I is drinking with your friends after exams and laughing at every single grammar/vocab mistake someone makes. It's interrupting a conversation every 5 seconds because someone said the wrong verb tense, or placed the adjective where it wasn't supposed to go, so the sense of the sentence changed completely!

T&I is listening to newscast while in your car so you can start shadowing; or even better, listening to speeches in your iPod because you need to step up your pace and not be so far behind the speaker.

T&I is almost fainting because you have to take notes for 10 minutes and you don't even know what the symbol for "agreement" is. It's beating yourself over and over because you said ALCA instead of FTAA.

T&I is reading a book, ANY BOOK, and thinking about syntax and semantics. It's doing sight translation when you look at any sign on a public display...

T&I is getting excited because Al Gore is coming to your country, but not only because he's a U.S. former Vicepresident, but because you can get to see how REAL LIFE simul works! And, to top it off... Think about words the interpreter said that you could've or would've said better if you had been doing the job...

Some people call us geeks, some call us nerds, some may even call us losers...

The truth is, it takes more than just being "bilingual" to put up with what we put up.

It takes more than just balls to love this kind of pain and suffering. It's giving masochism a whole new meaning...

But just like that, just like you beat yourself over and over for saying a word in a lower register than you should've, T&I is coming out of the classroom with a smile on your face because you were able to keep up with the speaker and you didn't use any fillers...

T&I is more than just a major in school. T&I is dedication; it's passion; it's being a perfectionist; it's being anal about stuff most people don't pay attention to... T&I is a way of living... T&I is going to bed dreaming one day you'll be in a booth at the UN Headquarters and waking up the next morning with new ideas for symbols.

T&I is the reason I wake up in the mornings and the only reason I keep going to school every single day... T&I is what I was born to be.

There may not be that many of us, but we're the best there is! :)