One Fine Day

Let’s bring these back, shall we?

Obsessing Over: The fact that I’m leaving for an 11 day trip in exactly two days and have no idea how I’m even supposed to start packing for it. But oh boy, am I excited.

Working On: Eating a delicious breakfast. Afterwards, I need to review a manuscript. 

Thinking About:  The meeting I have with my advisor this afternoon, in which I get to tell her about my ‘plans’ for the next two years. Yikes.

Anticipating: The massage I’m about to get this afternoon. :) 

Listening To: The morning silence. 

Drinking: Stumptown’s Hairbender coffee. Yum. 

Wishing: That I hadn’t managed to somehow get a ‘mid-foot sprain’ and could actually do some running now that I have time for it. 

Life on the other side.

I’m a week removed from the end of my comprehensive exams, and it seems like the dust is finally settling around me. The celebrations have died down, and I seem to be regaining some of my energy - with the help of lots of rest, of course. I’m trying to get back into the swing of writing, and want to try to get back on here more regularly (as I’ve said so many times before). 

I’d like to write a longer post on the whole comps process at some point, but for now, let me say…whew. Those were something else. While I’ve heard of programs with harder processes, and many with easier processes, mine consisted of three days of written exams, with each day including four straight hours of writing. After finding out the results of my written exams at the end of that week, I had my two-hour oral exam with my three-member comps committee. Thankfully, the process went smoothly for me. 

I’ll be doing some traveling this upcoming week, and anticipate taking a good deal of photos along the way. My first stop: Los Angeles for a conference. Number two: San Francisco to visit a dear friend. And finally: home to Michigan for my partner’s brother’s wedding. I’m so excited to learn, grow, relax, and unwind on this trip, and be in the company of friends and family. 

By 2pm tomorrow, I will be free.

I’ve officially passed the written portion of my comprehensive exams. (YIPPEE!!!) Tomorrow at 12pm, I have the oral portion of my exam. I’ve been incredibly relaxed and happy all weekend…until this morning, when it settled in that I actually wasn’t finished. Cue the anxiety and stress all over again. My body isn’t going to know what to do when I’m officially DONE with this tomorrow afternoon. 

Where I’ve been the last two and a half months. (Alternative title: Comps.)

Oh boy. I told myself I wasn’t going to let this little blog go, that I’d come back to my tiny corner of the internet for solace during my downtime. And that just never happened. It was easier to sit silently in the background and watch everyone’s updates, while feeling like I had nothing to say myself. 

Grad school has effectively consumed my life these past few months. I’m going through just about the most difficult and trying time of my grad school career (I can only hope this is the worst of it!) at the moment. Since the beginning of January, I’ve been studying for my comprehensive exams, which will take place next week. For the last 15 weeks, I’ve been studying the entire field of I-O psychology for anywhere from 20 - 30ish hours a week. As it’s gotten closer, this is now basically all I’m spending my time on - for the first ten weeks or so, I was also taking a class and working on a manuscript and research project. 

I’ve been fortunate enough to be going through this process with a group of close friends, so there’s always been someone there with a shoulder to lean on when times have gotten tough. My guy has been absolutely incredible throughout this whole process as well. I’ve had my fair share of crying fits and times I’ve wondered why I’m doing this at all…and then he sets me straight, and I’m good to study again for at least another hour or two! I should be fair, it’s also been somewhat enjoyable at points - I’m literally being paid to learn everything I possibly can about my field at this point - and that’s pretty cool! Our professors joke that we’re the smartest we’ll ever be at this point - and while I find that somewhat inspiring, I also find it somewhat sad. I’m only 24! Here’s to hoping I’ll be this smart again at some other point in my life as well. 

I’m entering the very last week of preparing before our exams start next Monday. I’m trying my very best to balance studying hard with taking care of myself - my body chose the last few days to come down with a nasty cold - but of course. I have three days of written exams next week to get through (four hours each day!) and then a two-hour oral exam the following Monday. And then I shall be post-comps! A.B.D.! 

I can’t promise I’ll be back regularly at this point, but I will be back after things are all said and done on the 6th. I have some exciting travel plans coming up next month that I’m really looking forward to, and hopefully I’ll have some time to share some pictures of things I’ve been up to over the last few months (that will include more than just pictures of coffee shops and journal articles - I hope). 

Obsessing Over: The fact that I’ll be in Seattle in just a few short days! My guy and I are taking a train ride up there on Saturday morning and staying overnight, and I’m really looking forward to introducing him to the city and getting to see a bit more of it myself!

Working On: Trying to get the majority of my work done in the next few days so that I can seriously unplug for a little bit this weekend. I stayed up way too late on Sunday, so I’m already trying to catch up on my sleep (not possible!). 

Thinking About: When I’m possibly going to have time to do my laundry. Oh, and when and where I’m going to be able to get around to buying a couch. I’m excited to buy some furniture, but yikes, big purchase! 

Anticipating: Seattle. Seattle. Seattle!

Listening To: Good Morning America. 

Drinking: Orange Spice Black Tea. Yum.  

Wishing: That I could realistically squeeze in a bikram class this week. Doubtful.

Obsessing Over: Nothing new here - the sheer amount of work that is involved with studying for my comps. The first week I felt like I spent too much time studying, and not enough time taking care of all of my other responsibilities - this week, I feel the exact opposite. I need to do an actual separate post on what this all entails, but suffice it to say, it’s a real pain in the butt. 

Working On: A million different things - reading journal articles, writing outlines, reading more journal articles, and trying to brainstorm ideas for a research project.

Thinking About: How lucky I am to have my amazing boyfriend here, who’s been incredibly supportive of me these past several weeks. Also the really fun and busy weekend we had with close friends. (Happy hour and brunch and hiking and dinner oh my!)

Anticipating: Mid-May when I can have my life back.  

Listening To: A quiet apartment; a murmured phone conversation in the other room. 

Drinking: Nothing…though I should probably get some water in me! 

Wishing: That I could spend the rest of the night knitting. 

Working On: Trying to perfect my study plan, and then maybe getting back to reading! 

Thinking About: How lovely this past weekend was, and how much I’d like to go back and re-live it - if only for the fact that I could live in the post-quarter-starting-bliss that would return with it. 

Anticipating: Working from home (mostly) tomorrow. 

Listening To: Silence!

Drinking: Nothing at the moment. 

Wishing: That the next 5-ish months aren’t as awful as I’m anticipating them to be.