Well I think the last time I posted was a few days before my oral defense, and here I am, done with that, done with finals, done with teaching, and freshly graduated :D
My oral defense on April 23 went rather well. There were a few challenging moments and I really had to dig far into my brain, but my committee was pretty good to me. Not easy, not at all, but I think they knew the areas of communication studies that I am passionate about and thrive in so they focused their questions and the discussions on those.
After finishing my comprehensive exams with the defense, it was REALLY difficult to stay focused and motivated for the last couple weeks of classes. I sort of mentally checked out for a couple days after my defense, but got back on top of it so that I could still get the grades I wanted. Graduation week was great. Two days before graduation was the Graduate Honor's ceremony for those that maintained a GPA of 4.0 throughout grad school (my bragging rights for the day :), which was pretty neat to be recognized that way.
I was seriously nonstop throughout Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Wednesday I had to drop off all 640 COMM265 exams (the classes my fellow TA's and I taught [I am the administrator for the course which is why I was in charge of this]) at the grading center, collect them later, sort them, make copies of the results sheets, make copies of the answer keys, and distribute them to all the TA's. I also administered the exam that I am a teaching assistant for as an independent study. Thursday I had to finish calculating all the final grades for the classes I taught, drop off the Wednesday night exams at the post office to be mailed to my instructor in Lubbock (she taught over Skype which is why I was her teaching assistant). I also cleaned our apartment. Then the honor's ceremony was at 7 PM, and afterward I went to a going-away dinner for my friend and fellow TA Hayley, who moved to Pittsburgh on Friday. Friday all the TA's met in the morning to record final grades for COMM265 and download necessary files to the speech lab computer. After that, I went to a final lunch with other TA's, came home and cleaned a little more, went grocery shopping with Jake for my graduation party, went to my office mate Mario's graduation party, then went and met my family, who got into town at about 6:30, for dinner at St. Clair's restaurant. That evening Jake and I prepared for the graduation party a little more. The next morning, my family came to our apartment about 9 AM to help prepare for the party (chopping food, decorate cupcakes, etc.) and I mostly pampered myself before graduation and played with my niece :)
Finally graduation time came! I was so busy for those few days that it all seemed very surreal. I ended up sitting right next to my office mate during the ceremony, which made the time go by a little faster because we played Draw Something on his iPad. Hah. After graduation, we had my party at a local park and grilled burgers. Several of my friends and some family members, including Jake's mom and stepdad, came. It was really fun and relaxing. After that, we cleaned up from the party, and later that night Jake and I went to my parents' hotel to swim and hang out. The next day was Mother's day so we had brunch with my family and said goodbye to them :( On Sunday after my family left Jake and I made it a point to be really lazy all day, because we'd been so busy and nonstop that we needed it. We watched a lot of TV shows and I started reading the Hunger Games, and I am so hooked already.
I think it still hasn't quite sunk in that I am DONE with school. I am so used to always having a paper to write, stuff to grade, and assignments/tests to do, that I can't quite grasp that I really don't have anything to do anymore, school-wise. That was my life for four semesters, and I really don't know what to do with myself now! (Besides job hunt). I am planning our trip to San Diego next week, figuring out what we will be doing there. A few days after my oral defense, I was talking with one of my committee members, Dr. Flora, and told her I was relieved, but at the same time I felt kind of empty, like I didn't know what to do anymore. She laughed and compared it to Olympic athletes; sometimes athletes get depressed after the Olympics because they train and train for it for sooo long, and then it's over, and they don't know what their life is anymore because they were so focused and dedicated to it. It's funny but true; grad school has been kind of like that, an Olympic event! I really do feel a little lost.
I have severely mixed feelings about ending this chapter in my life. I am definitely relieved to be done with the stress, but in a way I thrived on that. I will seriously miss being in the classroom and learning from all my brilliant professors, and I will so miss the friends that I made in the department, specifically the other TA's. We were all very close in proximity during those semesters, all in our little offices in the little TA hallway in the Speech Building, and that proximity made us really close as friends. We were all there for each other during all the challenges and highlights of grad school and teaching, and I really miss our tiny, tight-knit community already. Some have already left Las Cruces, and for those that are still here, I want to make the most of hanging out with them before we are all dispersed across the country.
Anyway, this has been a really long post but I feel like this landmark in my life deserved a long post. Serious shout-out to my Communication friends who laughed, complained, and freaked out with me every day during the last two years. We all put up with each other's psychotic-ness and built friendships out of it. Also to my family members who supported me from a distance and believed in me, and to my Jake, who deserves a medal for putting up with me when, every day, I wailed about how I'm going to fail and how I "can't do this." I love you all!!!
