I did it! I survived the first full week of grad school + working full time! Last week had Labor Day, so it wasn't a full week.
The first couple of days were pretty overwhelming coming back to school. I hadn't been in school for three years. Isn't that crazy that I graduated three years ago!? I felt like everyone in my classes already knew what they were talking about, and I didn't remember all of the terminology from years ago. I felt like a lot of things were really over my head. It was also really difficult having such long days (still is, but I am getting used to it). I start working around 8 every day, take breaks for my classes, but then work until around 6. I also am really used to the luxury of not having homework. Now that I have it, I have to be a lot more careful with scheduling my time. So, things are kind of challenging, but things are also starting to feel more comfortable and familiar and are falling into place.
I am really loving my classes. I love learning and being in class and learning from the professors, who are seriously so incredibly knowledgeable and impressive. I get really excited to do my homework for my sounds class because I am a nerd and find phonetic transcription to be a super exciting thing. :) Although I can't say I love every page of everything I have to read, I do love learning about language from so many different perspectives and being able to see connections. I love having classmates who have different perspectives and personalities that I can learn from and build relationships with. I also find campus to be quite lovely. I feel like although things have been much more stressful and difficult than I am used to, I have also had so much happiness in just my two weeks of school. Walking on campus makes me happy. I love the environment here.
I feel like there are many challenges ahead of me in grad school, but I'm kind of just taking things one step at a time. I have a calendar that helps me remember when things are due and when I have happy plans with friends. I am happy to be in grad school and feel like I have learned so much in just these two weeks! And this makes me feel really grateful.
Life is pretty cool.
