New Semester, New Study Habits

Today begins another semester of grad school.

I took the summer semesters off because my work schedule is intense. I won't lie: I loved coming home, having dinner, and spending the rest of my evening doing whatever the heck I wanted. But the nerd in me is missing the academics.

I only take two classes each regular semester. I could probably add one more to the mix, but I'd like to have some sanity in my life. The program I'm in requires you to finish the degree in 7 years - while I hope it doesn't take me that long to complete, it makes my two-classes-per-semester the perfect pace for me. I like that there's wiggle room in the program because life happens.



My study setup last fall. Our poor dining room table.

Our fall schedule in our home is hectic. Richie's high school start started back, which means fall and winter sports are about to kick up (he also works for the high school's athletics department). I try my best to go to as many games as I can. With his schedule and my schedule during the week, my intention this semester is to reserve Saturdays as my "big" schoolwork days. Our weeks get too busy for me to stay up until the wee hours working, so my prayer is to knock out the upcoming week's work the Saturday before.

Do you have any study/schedule tips for me?

First Year of Grad School? Done!

I just finished my last class of this semester, thus solidifying the completion of my first year of graduate school. How do I feel right now?

Source

Except I don't party because I'm old. Instead, my celebration will take place this Saturday. This will be the first Saturday in over a month where I have not had a commitment. My plan Friday night is to turn off my cell phone, nix any other distractions, feed the cats a late dinner so they aren't pestering us in the morning, and sleep until whenever I feel like getting out of bed on Saturday.

Sleep, I'm so excited to be reintroduced to you again. (At least for the next few months.)

Three Awesome Things

Recent awesome in life lately:

- I'm done with one class this semester. I'm one small paper away from finishing the other class. This girl is not taking summer classes because of my work schedule, and I'm pretty excited for the break.

- Oh, and we bought another car last week. We have been a one-car family for 5 years and it feels pretty awesome to have flexibility in life. I want to do a large post about this, so I'm going to leave you in suspense right now. 

- A little girl I hadn't seen in over 6 months reappeared in my library this week. She saw me sitting at my desk and exclaimed, "Miss Olivia!" A little later, I was working at the circulation desk when she came up and said, "I really missed you." Sometimes I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have the job that I do.

Tell me something awesome going on with you!

YouTube Study Break

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for this semester. I'm physically and mentally exhausted, but I'm almost there. When I take a break, I get on YouTube and gravitate towards music videos to get pumped up for the next round of work.

Tonight during a break, I found this.



And now I will return to working with tear-stained cheeks and a smile on my face.

Winning at Time Management

I have hit that point in adulthood where I realize just how valuable my time is. So when my library closed late this morning due to icy conditions and we all went home for the rest of the day, I dedicated three hours of my afternoon to knocking out school work. I could have goofed off with Richie (who had the entire day off because he works for a public school) and watched copious amounts of Netflix... but I didn't.

And thanks to this extra time devoted to school work, I might actually be able to enjoy my weekend.

First Day of Spring Semester

Today is the first day of my second semester is graduate school. The first semester was rough, but I nailed it with straight As and a huge sense of accomplishment. There has been a small voice in the back of my mind that whispers that going back to school wasn't the best idea. I've had this voice since I applied for this program at the start of 2012.

That little voice has been fear.

It's been a rough adjustment to introducing two graduate-level classes into my 40-hour work week and other obligations. I've lacked sleep, eaten poorly, stressed myself out beyond limitations... but I made it. I survived. I can do this. That little voice won't bother me this semester.


Image courtesy of web.stagram.com

Here's to an excellent spring semester!