The Little Grad Student Who Could

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving...

I am at home, ready to spend the next few days with my family, all of whom I have missed terribly this semester. I feel like this has been the hardest semester in my academic career thus far, but perhaps it's because so much time has passed since I was in college. Well... technically I graduated 5 years ago, so that's not so long ago. But it feels like quite a bit of time has passed since my freshman year ('00-'01). That was a hard year (finding my feet). And my senior year ('03-'04) was hard too (dealing with a major break-up). Now that I think about it, most of college was peppered with struggles and strife, usually caused by lack of money or the boyfriend. Yes, things probably would have been a lot less stressful if I had had a bit more money and a bit less boyfriend drama going on. I would like to say that now that I'm in grad school, my problems are much more sophisticated and mature -- but they aren't. :-) I'm broke once again (when have I not been?), and yet again, I'm fretting over boys (mostly over one, a little over a few). A job would have helped tremendously in the money department, but I was afraid I would be sacrificing my grades, so I decided to go without. I'm hoping and praying it was worth it. My goal is to graduate with a 4.0 -- a fairly lofty aspiration for someone like me (I have a tendency to procrastinate). Speaking of school work, I have a lot to work on over the break- two major papers, two presentations, and two projects -- and they're all due over the following two weeks. The downside to this is that I won't get much sleep between now and the end of the semester. The upside is that my last day of class is December 8th. ROCK ON. I suppose one of the perks of being a graduate student is that the semester ends a week early. All I have to do is get through the next two weeks and I'll be golden.

As the semester draws to a close, I find myself thinking more and more about The Little Engine Who Could, and it inspires me to keep chipping away. It was one of my favorite stories growing up. I'm glad my mom read it to me, as it's helped me to keep going. Everytime I feel overwhelmed I picture the little blue engine and remember his words, "I think I can... I think I can..." It's amazing how something as simple as a little book can have an impact on someone. Thanks Mom.


PS- I turn 28 in 24 days. Hmmm...