1st Week of Graduate School

Hey everyone! Life has been so crazy! Since my last post, I have moved from New Orleans to Oxford, Mississippi (which has been a HUGE adjustment in itself) and also started graduate school. I've had to deal with somewhat of a culture shock during my transition here, and a terrible bout of homesickness. Nonetheless, school eventually started and I had to kick everything into super high gear and get my life together. This post takes you through my experience during my first week of graduate school.



My first "real" week of graduate school was actually the 2nd week of August. During that time, I took care of the boring things. I had to fill out paperwork for Human Resources, get parking passes, go through an obnoxiously long safety training for my laboratory, get transcripts, register for classes, all of that.  During that week I also took a series of preliminary exams which allowed my advisor to see where I was academically and place me in the appropriate classes. So I'm going to pick up on the following Monday (my first week of class) and skip all of the boring stuff.

My 1st Week of Graduate School

Monday

So Monday is definitely one of my busiest days. I have 2 classes: Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry. Then I am the Teaching Assistant for Organic Chemistry Lab. I was also expected to be in the lab working on my project as well. So on Monday, I arrived to campus at about 8 am. I then had to go and make sure all of the combinations were correct on the drawers for each of my students that I teach. That took an hour and a half. It was very tedious, but necessary for later in the day. This first day, I didn't do too much in the lab. I primarily went to class and sat at my desk in my office (yes! I have a  desk in an office space! It's amazing!). After I went home, I began revising my notes and reviewing the information I was taught that day. *Comment below if you would like a post on how I study or organize my notes*

Tuesday

Tuesdays and Thursdays are by far my favorite! Because I have only one class and it doesn't start until 5pm. Not only that, but it's a seminar. So I don't TRULY have to take notes, or study, or prepare ahead of time. So I get to spend all day in the lab and focus on my research. I spent all day at my desk and worked on developing my project. It was great! This is literally the day that I thought graduate school isn't going to be so bad. 

Wednesday

Then Wednesday happened! I had my normal classes: Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry. And I also had my 2nd section of Organic Chemistry Lab to teach. Because this was the first week, my students just had to check in and then they could leave. Directly after that, I had a TA meeting where all the TAs for Organic Chemistry come together and discuss the upcoming lab and go through the procedure for it. This is where I learned about what my true duties as a TA are. So every week (for all 48 of my students) I have to grade 4 assignments, I have to give a pre-lab lecture, make sure the students don't blow themselves up, create quizzes, and answer questions. This was definitely a bit overwhelming for me. It had just hit me that on top of all my school and lab work, I had to grade and actually be a teacher! But this wasn't the worst of it.

Thursday

Thursday was another easy day. My plan was to go to the lab all day, go to a meeting, then go to my seminar class. This particular day, I found out that I had to tutor organic chemistry once every week. This was a free service provided to the undergraduate students...sort of at the expense of the graduate student's time. Not only that, but I am also expected to proctor 3-4 exams for the professors throughout the semester. This is on TOP of everything else that I had to do. Honestly, I had a slight break-down when I realized how much I had to pack into my schedule. Everything just hit me all at once and I was not 100% sure that I was going to be able to handle this. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day and somehow I was expected to be awake for ~27 hours each day. I seriously have no clue how there are people with their PhDs and they had to do all of this. 

Friday

Friday was actually a really good day for me. I had my normal classes, but didn't have to TA. I was able to go to the lab and get some work done. I also had a very motivating talk with my research advisor about how overwhelmed I was about the things I had to do. I just felt as though it was too much and I wouldn't be able to handle it. She reassured me that I would be fine as long as I managed my time wisely and kept up with my coursework. She said that as long as I do that and maintain my mental health, everything else will follow suit. This talk definitely eased my mind of how scary graduate school is going to be. I know that I am capable of earning this degree. But I have to understand that if this was going to be easy, everyone would have their doctorate. 

So, here I am actively keeping my mental health by way of my blog. Graduate school is definitely going to keep me busy,  but I know that I can manage it as long as I keep my eyes on the bigger picture. I will post updates throughout my Graduate School journey and answer any questions that you all may have. This blog serves as an outlet for me and will hopefully inspire someone to continue their education, or maybe even start a blog. 

Also, here's a photo of my class schedule if you want to see how crazy my week is going to be.

How was your first week of school? Leave a comment below and don't forget to subscribe!