The end of my academic career is drawing to a close, but I still am having trouble seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. For the past two weeks it has felt like it's been just...out...of....reeeeeaaaaccchhh.
BUT.
It WILL be over soon. I just have to stay focused. I will have my oral defense in 3 (!!!) days, and assuming I pass, I will only have to think about one big paper, one small paper, and one written final exam. And for my bragging rights of the day, I got through all of my written comprehensive exams with NO rewrites! It seems most people have to rewrite one or two, but I passed them all on the first try! I think it's the perfectionist in me, and the slightly obsessive-when-studying personality that did it. But I don't feel relieved yet, because of my oral defense, for which I am terrified. And everyone who has done theirs so far has said it's really not that bad, and you don't need to worry, but that's what I do best. As my adviser has frequently told me, I am probably just "Pulling an Erika."
I hopefully will get a job not too long after I graduate, but I am SO looking forward to not having to think about homework and or having to do work on the weekends. I plan on reading the Hunger Games series, the Harry Potter series again, some Jodi Picoult books, and maybe some other recent best-sellers or recommendations (put any book suggestions as a comment!). I also want to pick up my violin and bust out some tunes again. Poor thing, it's probably so out of tune right now. Maybe I will also make a bunch of gel candles. I bought a big bucket of candle gel months ago but haven't made any in a long time. Maybe I'll sell some! Because the last thing I need is to light the apartment on fire because I've made too many candles and feel the need to burn them all.
I also have mixed feelings about this chapter of my life coming to a close. While I am definitely ready to say good riddance with all the homework and paper writing and stress over exams, I will actually miss being in the classroom. I will miss learning really great things from my brilliant professors. And I will really, really miss the friends I've made in the program and department. I don't want to say bye to them!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Better than last time!
When I wrote my last post, life was pretty stressful. Things just kept piling up on us and it felt like God was showing us no mercy. But times like those are necessary for making people stronger. Since I wrote that, though, things have been looking up. Our next door neighbor and his cousin have been quiet, and supposedly the tenant called our apartment management out of the blue and basically said, "Ok, we'll be quiet." And so far, they've kept their word. No eviction, but they're on serious probation.
I got through probably the worst part of my comprehensive exam process. I finished the last one of all 8 yesterday! It's such a great feeling, and now I feel like the rest of the semester will seem easy compared to comps (I hope). Now I just have to wait to find out if I need to rewrite any of them (I know I have passed 3 of them so far, yay!), and then pass my oral defense on April 23. I also got an email inviting me to an Honor's Graduate Ceremony, for grad students that have maintained a 4.0. This email reminded me about what I've achieved the last 4 semesters, and although I still don't know what I want to do "when I grow up," I have accomplished a lot and will have a degree to show for it.
Jake and I are going to Tuscon tomorrow night for a concert, and coming back Saturday. It will be nice to have a night out of town together. I'm not sure what we're doing for Easter yet, but hopefully it will involve relaxing! We also booked our flight for our anniversary trip in May! We're going to San Diego for 8 days and visiting Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and who knows what else. We were going to go the Redwoods originally, but figured in order to do everything and see all the places we want to on the Redwood Coast, we'd have to have a car rented for at least 10 days, which would have been pretty expensive. So we're still going to go sometime, but after we have saved up more so that we can take that long Redwood trip financially guilt-free.
So, life has been pretty good this week, and I look forward to finishing school and taking on whatever else is next!
I got through probably the worst part of my comprehensive exam process. I finished the last one of all 8 yesterday! It's such a great feeling, and now I feel like the rest of the semester will seem easy compared to comps (I hope). Now I just have to wait to find out if I need to rewrite any of them (I know I have passed 3 of them so far, yay!), and then pass my oral defense on April 23. I also got an email inviting me to an Honor's Graduate Ceremony, for grad students that have maintained a 4.0. This email reminded me about what I've achieved the last 4 semesters, and although I still don't know what I want to do "when I grow up," I have accomplished a lot and will have a degree to show for it.
Jake and I are going to Tuscon tomorrow night for a concert, and coming back Saturday. It will be nice to have a night out of town together. I'm not sure what we're doing for Easter yet, but hopefully it will involve relaxing! We also booked our flight for our anniversary trip in May! We're going to San Diego for 8 days and visiting Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and who knows what else. We were going to go the Redwoods originally, but figured in order to do everything and see all the places we want to on the Redwood Coast, we'd have to have a car rented for at least 10 days, which would have been pretty expensive. So we're still going to go sometime, but after we have saved up more so that we can take that long Redwood trip financially guilt-free.
So, life has been pretty good this week, and I look forward to finishing school and taking on whatever else is next!
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