It’s official. I have graduated.
Last week I finished up the last exams, presentations and papers for my undergraduate career. I couldn’t relax and celebrate though, as I had two looming projects that were due on Thursday which had been thrown on the back burner during finals. Finally though, those projects are done and I can sit back and relax and reflect on graduating and whatever that means.
On the whole though I find graduation to be really rather anti-climatic. Maybe it is because I figured I would be headed to graduate school right away, maybe because I thought I would see a clear path forward for some reason. Whatever the case there is no real sense of accomplishment, victory or whatever. Not sure what exactly I thought I would feel, but whatever it was, this ain’t it.
Actually I feel a bit of a loss if anything. No more classes, no more twice a week seminars and no more access to so many journals.
As for graduate school, well, things haven’t worked out quite so well as I wanted there, at least not yet. It looks like I will be working as a tech at Avery Point on a couple of projects for the summer. Not full time work, but enough and most of it dealing with deep sea and ecology, and one week at sea, so very enjoyable.
After that things are rather undecided. There is a potential position for the fall working on a GIS project, and I’m sure something would come up for the spring. In the mean time in the fall I will reapply to work with the professors of interest and look at jumping straight into a PhD program. In the mean time I have been accepted at UCONN, though the project didn’t work out and there is no funding. But maybe I can get one class in each semester, since the state will pay the tuition fees (Combat Vet benefits). We’ll see.
The good thing is I have more free time now to dedicate to spending with my family and doing more photography and blogging again. I also plan to try and do some of the experiments I planned for my masters thesis at home with Tammy and Johann, just for the fun of it. We should be able to get the organisms and we can set up the experimental aquaria. We just won’t be able to do it on a larger scale for the replication needed to do the stats.
8 Comments
Congrats Eric and good luck on the job search. I hope you find something that makes you happy!
Congratulations on graduation nonetheless! Its a huge milestone. I’ll put on my job forwards list and keep you in the loop if anything opens up here.
First, congratulations are certainly in order for having completed this portion of your life trek. You don’t feel any “real sense of accomplishment” because you know you are just on a stop along the way to your final goal–whatever that may be. My feelings were similar when I got my undergraduate degree, although you were too young to remember.
Nonetheless, it is an accomplishment–a family accomplishment of all of you to get to this point. It is hard to get to this point with a family–totally different than doing it as an 18-22 year old!
And things will work out–and you’ll be happier–going down the path you are on.
Hals und Beinbruch!
Thanks All!
I am proud of the achievement, just no more so than at the end of every other semester. Weird.
Yeah, for some reason all I recall from those days is swimming pools (chlorine smell?), tiny bubbles (the song), grandpa’s pool table those horn rimmed glasses and fresh chipati. I don’t understand it all, but those are the main memories from that period.
Gee, Dad those (us?) Germans are a bit over the top! Break your neck AND a Leg?!
Yup–probably where the stage “good luck” of “Break a leg” comes from.
Idiomatic German to be sure! (Or is it colloquial??!!)
Congrats! Let’s celebrate somehow. But not by breaking body parts. Maybe breaking bread or getting a break or breaking habits or breaking all hell loose or breaking out in a rash (of happiness) or breaking the mold or make or break or getting a lucky break or taking a break or breaking news or breaking through or breaking with tradition or breaking wind…
Happy Graduation and congratulation. But your journey in life doesn’t end with your graduation. This is now the start of new level in your life that you need conquer what ever it takes. As of now enjoy your vacation and don’t break your neck and leg Ok, Just kidding.
Brilliant, the form of the derivation of a point of view.
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