Semester's End: a brief reflection on blessings and challenges

November has ended, and with it my first semester of grad school. I have a take-home final due Monday, which is really just a paper, and isn't hard except for the making-myself-sit-down-and-actually-do-it part.

Monday was my last day of classes, and I must admit that I felt strangely melancholy that day. Partly because I have genuinely enjoyed both of my classes this semester, and partly because I am not as young as I used to be, and the rhythm of adopting a new schedule every few months doesn't come as easily as it once did. It took a while to get into a comfortable routine this semester (although I suppose moving apartments in September didn't help), and now come January, I have to adapt to a whole new routine-- one involving a class that goes until 9:30 at night, which I am NOT looking forward to. I also rebelled and signed up for an extra class next semester, and I need to talk with the professor and make sure she's okay with me being in her class.

(sidenote, apropos of nothing: a rerun of Yes, Dear is on my TV right now, and Mike O'Malley is teaching Chuck Norris the words to "Little Bunny Foo Foo.")

The Blessings of My First Semester of Grad School
~Professors who challenge and inspire
~Classmates who also challenge and inspire, but also provide laughs and sounding boards
~Golden Roast: right across the parking lot from the Social Work building, supplying me with delicious vegetarian soups and a house mocha to die for
~a library with its own Starbucks
~lots of new information that I feel like I can actually use in life
~being surrounded by like-minded individuals-- we may disagree on specifics, but our end goals are always the same

The Challenges
~Re-learning how to balance schoolwork and the rest of life, now with added adult responsibilities
~being a fish out of water at a big University
~parking at said big University... I think the night class is going to force me to give in and purchase a commuter's parking pass
~a small number of classmates who do the opposite of challenge and inspire
~the toll all those cups of coffee have taken on my bank account!
~my aforementioned extended study blues

But in their own way, as cliche as this is to say, the challenges are blessings too. I think I made the right decision going into this program.