New Developments

Well the first quarter of graduate school education is growing to a close and I must say it has been far better than anything I had expected. When people would tell me about grad school it was always in an ominous or impressed tone. As if to say, "Well look at you, don't worry grad school will knock you down a peg or two." This resolved me early on to prove them wrong.

But what I really wasn't expecting was the camaraderie. No time was this more evident than in the last week.

The week began fantastic, last Monday I got the final ok on a thesis chair! WOOOOOOOO! Lets just say the rest of the week kind of went downhill from there. Since the quarter system is so short there are only two weeks post Thanksgiving, 1 week of class then finals. The combination of jet lag, a take home final, and 2 presentations didn't bode well for my week. What actually happened was so much worse...

Tuesday started like any other day, up early and planning to stay at school till 5 due to classes and meetings. I was feeling a little under the weather but I had a lot do work on. As the day went on though it became a bargaining game.

10 am- "If you get through today you can just relax all night"
2pm- "If you make it through today you can sleep all night"
4pm- "If you make it through this meeting without throwing up that would be a miracle"

In trying to keep that bargain to myself, I left my last meeting at 5 and promptly threw up in the hallway trying to get to the bathroom. Fantastic.

Did I also mention, it happened to be Snowpocalypse in Spokane? At this point my cohort found me practically dying in the hallway. But no fear! As Matt called it, Operation Hayden Evacuation had begun. While digging everyone out of the snow my beloved cohortlings also parked my car in a lot and then Andrew drove me home in the blizzard.

The rest of the night consisted of me running a 103 fever and throwing up. Unfortunately I couldn't just sleep off the sickness. I had to get up and present in a final group presentation in the morning. Luckily Adrienne also came and picked me up, even though I looked like death warmed up. I also had a test on Thursday, which I completed practically in a coma.

The weekend I spent sleeping made up for it though, and I am now currently in the thick of finals. My last one is tomorrow, and consists of my professor pretending to be a patient which we have to diagnose. Sounds fun but it's a lot of points so ehh? It's just another example though of my cohort coming together, when as a group we did practice rounds of this, including Matt presenting with Beiber Fever. Gotta enjoy the method acting on that one.

This quarter is all coming together though on Friday when I'm having a Christmas party at my new apartment with old and new friends! I'll be sure to put up some pics of my bedecked apartment, but for now here is my Christmas tree.