This one flew by way too fast.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so…disgruntled about coming back. I feel that there should be this excitement about graduation, of finishing undergrad, of moving on. However, it’s impossible for me to think about these things (and my uncertain gap year plans…) without groaning about all of the work I still need to do this upcoming semester.
Last semester sucked. I had no time to myself. I was literally scheduling showers, debating on whether to eat lunch or volunteer, whether to spend money (and save time) by eating at work or waste time going to the dining hall. I was in High Stress Mode pretty much all semester. My workload was overwhelming, and I struggled with feeling that I was never enough, that I could never meet the sky-high expectations from family and outsiders. I had at least one mental breakdown–and several close calls–along with periods when I was physically ill from the lack of sleep. My grades did dip a tiny bit, but to be honest, they were still higher than I expected for this semester. Given how many times I wanted to cry myself to sleep (or really, just sleep), I am beyond happy with what I got.
- CHEM 322B Ochem II: A-
- PSYC 437 Adolescent Development: A
- WRIT 340 Writing for the Health Sciences: A
- CHEM 203 Chem of AIDS: A
- MEDS 490 BioMedical Research: A
- Semester GPA: 3.93
This upcoming semester, thank goodness, will be a bit easier. I won’t be doing clinical research as a course anymore, because I hate presentations, and so my hours will be more lenient. I’ll only be going once a week for 5-6 hours, so that would be 7-8 hours/week rather than 11-12 hours/week. We finally hired a new RA, so I won’t be pulling double committee shifts anymore. Aside from Biochem next semester, my course schedule is pretty relaxing (2 Psych courses, an online Gero course, and ballroom dancing?! Yus.). Finally, some breathing room.
I guess the most stressful things will be asking professors for letters of rec, narrowing my list of schools and pre-writing essays, and making the preparations for my business. Wish me luck!
Goal: No break downs before graduation.
