I'm tempted to say that my first year of grad school was even more of a train wreck than my first year of undergrad, but that might not be true. They may be equal.
First of all, I hate Florida. I hated Mississippi the first year too, but I really just hate Florida. It's hot, it's rainy, there's a ton of half naked undergrads who don't know how to drive (LITERALLY I cannot believe how people drive here), the pollen is awful, and there's no parking anywhere. It does, however, have a lot of cool thrift stores and coffee shops and bars. I can't speak on the public library, BECAUSE THERE'S NO FREE PARKING FOR IT.
Anyway.
School.
There are a lot of parts I do like about school. I love the readings, I love the discussions. I love my thesis (usually), and I'm actually excited about what I'm doing. But there's so much more outside of all of those things that I hate and don't know how to do or just can't do correctly. It feels like everyone expects me to know how to do a lot of things already, but I don't.
Also, suddenly everything is written in Chicago style instead of MLA? Why did I spend four years memorizing every detail of MLA if no one uses it in grad school????
I've been thinking that maybe I'm not suited to grad school, but I'm halfway done now and in plenty of debt already so why not just get her done, y'know? My brain can't really handle it, I don't think. I'm constantly confused and I suddenly find it difficult to focus on four different final projects, and I feel like I haven't always had that problem. I used to be able to write twenty pages on something I didn't care about, but now for some reason it feels impossible.
I don't really know who I've become this past year. I've done really shitty work, missing some assignments completely just because I somehow forgot about them or got confused or couldn't keep track of the weekly syllabus changes.
Growing up I hated asking questions in class because I thought I should already know the answer, and usually I could go find the answer myself instead of having to ask. Even in undergrad, I could usually get away with it, though I did get better at asking questions. Now, all the questions I have can't be looked up. I can't google which syllabus is correct, I can't google the exact parameters of an assignment, I can't google how exactly the inner workings of the school function. So I tried asking questions. And it feels like every other question is met with disgust and awe of my ignorance. Or I need to check the syllabus. Which I already have, but am still confused.
It's also very hard to make friends in grad school. I don't know why. I honestly don't know how I made friends in undergrad or at any point in my life. But I don't see anyone outside of classes, so I know virtually no one who isn't an FSU grad dance student. But they all quickly formed friend groups and found besties and now I'm like, awkwardly part of some friend circles but not enough to actually do anything with them.
I'm used to that. But it's still hard.
And it's really really hard to have a shitty year and not have anyone there with you.
At the end of the first semester, my beloved car finally died. I spent several weeks with no mode of transportation and walked a few miles to campus every day. Okay, I know that's not that bad and now I'm really just showing what a wimp I am. But seriously, my body is falling apart. I'm depressed all the time so I'm already exhausted and low on motivation. And it's fucking hot outside. But it wasn't as bad as it could've been.
With an amazing stroke of luck that is absolutely unheard of for me, my grandfather gave me one of their old cars that's just been sitting in the yard for years. It's super old and doesn't run great, but I love it. It's an awesome little car.
Then, I got the stomach flu the last week of classes and felt like I was actually dying. AND THEN the flu left me with an intolerance for lactose.
Guys, I fucking love cheese.
I accidentally had some cream cheese and seriously nearly died.
But that semester did finally end, with an awesome little car and lactose intolerance..
Second semester was an absolute disaster. I almost failed one class and I'm not sure why I didn't fail one of the other ones. It felt like I couldn't do anything right, which just made me lose any motivation to do anything well. I just got more and more depressed and more and more anxious.
No, part of that definitely was my fault. Since moving to Florida, I have been pretty bad at regularly taking my medication. See, one symptom of anxiety is gagging in the morning. Literally every morning, I gag half a dozen times. I also reflexively gag almost every time I enter a bathroom.
Now, one of my daily pills tastes absolutely awful and dissolves really fast, so the taste just gets worse and worse and stays in your mouth for ages if you don't get it down fast. But sometimes I can't, because I start gagging before I even try to swallow. I have to hold my hand over my mouth, and sometimes it still doesn't work and I have to spit it out and at that point I can't face trying another pill and potentially wasting it. So the more anxious I get, the worse I gag, and the harder it is to take my medication, so I get more anxious, etc. etc. It's a great loop I have going.
I could also talk at length about my roommates and everything they do to make my life miserable, but I'll save that for a fun table book or something.
This past semester I did get to go to a conference in Indianapolis and present some of my own research, and that was pretty cool. I do love conferences. Except for the people who said, "Wait, you're a dancer but you don't like people?" and "You can't be a teacher if you don't like people!" and "One day you'll just have to get over it." Like, thanks tech guys who know nothing about me or my area of work. I just asked you to fix my nametag, but thanks for also telling me I'm a failure and can't do anything (I could write another fun table book about all the people who have told me I can't be a dancer and/or a teacher because I'm too shy, anxious, introverted, etc.).
The last week of classes, I was seriously considering taking myself to the emergency room. I was beyond stressed, super anxious, super depressed, and I had no one to talk to. However, my roommates were downstairs having a party, so I wasn't about to walk by them in hysterics to go to the emergency room, with no idea of what would happen if I got there.
When school finally ended (half a week after finals), a huge weight passed of my shoulders.
This last semester definitely turned me into someone I don't want to be. I don't want to turn in shitty work and I don't want to miss assignments and I don't want to disappoint professors or anyone. The stress also made me a really shitty partner to my boyfriend, and our relationship got super strained for a while. I was constantly having a crisis (which, let's be honest, isn't that unusual for me), and it was affecting more than just my schoolwork.
So... now what? I'll be working on my thesis all summer and would like to get some kind of job, but I don't have a lot of expectations there. Grad school has severely lowered my self esteem when it comes to me being capable of doing any kind of job.
But then school will start back in the fall. Will this whole cycle start over? I like to think it won't, because I'll be taking different classes and should be spending more time on my thesis and on stuff I care about. But I think I said that about grad school in general. That's what people told me about grad school.
I'm going to try to see FSU's student counselling, which is apparently free. Maybe I can get that sorted out of the summer or something. But I really, really hate therapists. I have had incredibly bad experiences with them.
I originally wanted to go straight to PhD land after grad school, but now I don't know. For one thing, I don't think I could do all the applications and take the GRE while still finishing my MA. Plus, I just don't know if I can do PhD school anymore. I still want to teach at a university level, so I'm required to have a PhD (not just an MA), but I really just don't think I'm good enough anymore.
I felt very supported and loved during undergrad. Maybe I'm romanticizing it, but it's at least partly true. I had professors who supported me, other people who supported me, an actually decent roommate. At FSU, it feels like I have...nothing. That's one reason why I want a job, to just get out of FSU.
I'm not trying to shit on FSU or anything. It's a great school and a great dance department. I'm just not so sure that I fit in or belong.
Sorry for the crazy long post, but oh well.
--Dexter
