First year of Grad School

So now that I've had a decent break from school (right before my summer class starts, haha), I thought I'd do a little reflection on my first year of grad school. 

In a lot of ways, it was what I had expected, but in some ways it wasn't. My first semester was far better than the second. I had an American Lit class and an editing class and enjoyed both of them. It got a little stressful at times, but I managed. And I got A's in both classes. I was proud of myself for accomplishing that in addition to the stress of moving back in October and adjusting to much, much longer days and a really long commute. It was exhausting. But I made it work. 

Second semester came around and I was a little nervous. I took poetry, which I was excited about, but I also had to take that dreaded research class and I had heard many, many terrible, horrible things about it. And it lived up to just about every one of them. It wasn't a particularly hard class, but it was extremely time consuming. Which meant for me that I spent all day Saturday and sometimes Sunday doing homework for just that class, plus occasionally making trips to the library during the week. 

That class was horrible and stressful and made me consider quitting a couple times. And, as it turns out (and as most people had warned), the class was pretty useless. Most of the people I heard that from were people doing a creative thesis. Which meant that the class was even more useless for me because the editing project I'm going to do is brand new so my teacher really didn't know what I should do or how to help me. That made it even more difficult for me to stay focused and put in all the effort I needed to in that class...why should I if it isn't helping me in any way? 

But, I did. I worked my butt off all semester--now not only did I have long days and a long commute, but my night classes were back to back (Wednesday/Thursday) which was even more exhausting, plus I had a puppy who really got a kick out of interrupting my homework time with all her shenanigans. 

In the end, I got A's in both classes. And I'm proud of myself. Toward the middle of last semester I had to really figure out what I'd be doing for my thesis. I went back and forth for a while between doing a creative thesis or doing the editing project, mainly because the editing project hadn't been approved yet, and I didn't want to get started on it only to find out I couldn't actually do it. 

Eventually it did get approved, so I decided to be the pioneer of the editing project. Seriously. I'm the only person currently in the program who is doing it. No pressure. So I have the book that I'll be editing. I've done a little research (which I had to do for that god awful class last semester--about the only thing that class was good for). Now I just need to actually start it. I'm having trouble motivating myself to do it though. After editing and stuff at work, it's hard to want to do all that work on my project later when I'm at home. 

Plus, my online class starts next week (I should probably figure that out for sure), and I'm working from home on Fridays. I'm guessing what I really need to do is just pick a specific time(s) each week to work on it. Part of me wants to wait until my class starts to see how much I'm going to need to do for that, but another part knows that if I do that, I'll just make more excuses not to get started on it. 

I have until Fall of next year to finish it though. And I know the longer I procrastinate, the worse it will be later and I'll have to become a hermit just to get it finished in time. Yikes. The good thing is that I'm not taking an actual class next summer. I'm taking my "thesis hours" so I get credit just for working on my thesis all summer. That should help a little. 

And I'd like to thank you all for taking time out of your days to read about all this nonsense. I do appreciate it! :) 

Copper loves her blankies :)

Grad School Crises

So I've had a few freak outs since starting grad school last semester. Although I think all of them have occurred this semester.

1. Trying to figure out what to do for my thesis. Not a terrible one, but it was stressful for a while.

2. Trying to figure out what to do for my thesis intro for my research class. I'm still not 100% sure what it is I'm doing, but I started it...and I'm still stressed.

3. Registering for my classes for next year. First, I thought my only other option besides the required Advanced Publishing class on Wed. nights was a Brit Lit. class offered by the same teacher who teaches the research class I'm currently in. So my schedule for next semester would have pretty much been identical to this semester. And I have never hated having two night classes in a row so much in my life. It sucks.
After I talked to my boss, she told me there were two classes offered during the day that I could take because neither interfered with her teaching schedule.
I want to take both.
The problem? They're only offered in the spring of odd years. So they aren't offered again until Spring 2015. Which leads me to number 4.

4. Far too many of the graduate courses are only offered every other year or whatever which makes it so hard to plan your schedule and makes it even more difficult to take classes you might actually enjoy for your electives.

5. I eventually made my decision based on whether I wanted to take a morning or afternoon class. And I went with the afternoon class.

6. Trying to figure out what I need to take to graduate and when I can possibly/hopefully graduate.
I'm still not 100% on this, but I'm signed up for a class to take this summer. Then I'll have two classes each semester next year, and an independent study that summer. I should only need one or two classes in the Fall of 2014 and then I can graduate! (I'm trying really hard to avoid staying until 2015 because I'd only need 1 class that spring semester.)

7. Aside from the constant worry/stress over homework assignments, tests, my thesis, and trying to make sure I have my schedule planned out correctly so that I meet all the requirements, I think that's about it. No pressure.