(Belated) Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

It was an odd Christmas for me- traditions had to be shifted a bit to meet everyone's schedule- so Christmas felt rather un-Christmas-like. The only tradition I managed to fulfill was getting sick. It seems like I am sick every year for Christmas- a glance back at photos of the recent-Christmas past reveals me with a red nose- every year. I have to say this is one tradition I wish I could fore-go.

I've also been feeling rather blah. I had hoped that reaching the milestone of being done with course-work would be more exciting- or maybe more fulfilling somehow. I mean it's a major milestone- it should be exciting right? Well, it just seems kind of anti-climatic. This may be because I now feel the pressure to dive headlong into reading for comps- which is terrifying. Everyone is giving me advice on how to approach the readings but I haven't really figured out a system yet which is a bit frustrating and the whole process feels very intimidating. It also doesn't help that I still have my language exam hanging over my head. Don't even get me started on that- I'll save my rant on the language exam for another post- right now I'm trying not to dwell on it as it makes me very angry and it's counter-productive to fall down that particular rabbit-hole.

So for me, it was a rather strange, somewhat melancholy Christmas- that was made better by being in the company of family and friends... and of course Rusty.

Cinema Class

i miss my students. They were a lot of fun. So in honor of them here is one of my favorite scenes from a movie we watched this semester.

Mascot

William & Mary is looking for a mascot- we're called Tribe- but what mascot goes with that? Anyhow, here are the finalists. They made me giggle. I can't decide which is the most appealing/funny. What do y'all think?

I should be working on my last paper- my LAST paper- but I'm writing this and looking at mascots instead. I am the queen of procrastination. Hey- maybe we should go with the king and queen mascots!

ending a chapter

This is my last semester of coursework.

I remember talking to my fellow TA last Fall, my first semester here at W&M, about the end of coursework. It was his last semester and he was looking forward to being done with classes. At the time I couldn't imagine life without class- I love going to class, although I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I miss lecture courses- most graduate classes (well- all that I've taken) are seminars- where the students talk as much if not more than the professor. I love leading discussion sections as a TA but there is something special about listening to a (good) professor's lecture. And now that I'm getting closer to a point in my career that I will be giving lectures- I have started appreciating the skill and preparation that goes into a lecture. I gave my first lecture the week before Thanksgiving and I spent 5 full days working on it and preparing my visuals. But back to my original point, I wouldn't have been able to last this long in school if I didn't enjoy going to class- seriously, I feel like I've been in school forever- I hardly remember what life was like before my return to college.

My feelings about school have shifted since then. Now I cannot wait for coursework to be over. I am sick to death of writing papers on things I have no real interest in- I want to be able to do the research for and to write my dissertation. I am so happy that classes are coming to an end!

I'm sure that I will be reminiscing more about this as I move on to the next chapter of graduate school- but right now I'm too busy since I still have more books to read and papers to write- and of course, preparing for my colloquium- the fist official step towards my comprehensive exams. Yikes!