What I Have Learned From Grad School So Far

I've been in grad school for just over a month now. I know I still have an incredible amount to learn, but I do feel as though I have already learned quite a bit!

1. If you think you've completed and printed all your homework, check again. Two weeks ago, I had to scramble at the last minute to finish all my readings for Teaching College Comp because I forgot to read my syllabus and last week I missed turning in an assignment. I did it, but I forgot to print it. 

2. Reread everything. We typically have to read 4 stories for fiction workshop every week, sometimes more. In the past, I've been able to get away with reading assignments only once but when it comes to these in depth class discussions and analyses we have,  I've found that reading everything twice—if not more—is essential.

3. It's ok to step away every so often. It can become really stressful when you sit down to start working and your mind becomes overwhelmed by every assignment you realize you have to do. Take it one task at a time and when you feel like you need a break, take it. You'll find time to finish the rest.

4. Naps are good. It's crazy how tiring writing and reading can be! I'll do a few hours of it straight and need a nap to go on. Usually, I try to resist napping because I feel like there are too many other things I should be doing. But I always find that after I sleep for 20 minutes (sometimes 60) I feel more aware of my work and can focus even better.

5. Sometimes, you have to drink coffee at 9 pm. Especially if you are in class until quarter 10 pm and your eyes won't stay open.

September Update

I've been neglecting my blog again! I hate when this happens—and it seems to keep happening—because once I go a few days without blogging, it becomes even harder to get back into it! But I'll try to now.

The past few weeks have been buys ones for us. Two Sundays ago, AJ went back to CT for an appointment he had and stayed there for 5 days until I met him there. I went back on a Thursday after class and stayed until the following Monday morning. While there, I had a few appointments to tie up some wedding details and spending time with the people I missed. On Monday, Mom drove AJ and me back up to Boston. I brought quite a few more shower gifts and more clothes to have here at the apartment so it took me a little bit to unpack, not to mention I had a lot of homework to get done over that weekend.

We had a few days to get settled back in and then this past Friday, AJ's parents, siblings, and grandmother came to visit! We spent this weekend showing them around the Public Garden and Boston Common, eating at Quincy Market, going to Mass, eating Upper Crust Pizza on the roof, and spending time talking and hanging out together. It was really fun and it's hard to believe that the next time we'll see them it will be at our wedding! Which is 20 days away, by the way. Crazy!

AJ's family just left about two hours ago and we promptly fell asleep watching football. Tonight we're going to a Black Keys concert and tomorrow we'll be back to our normal routine. It's crazy how quickly the time is flying by.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

A Reading Challenge

I am the kind of girl who looks forward to the start of each school year and since I'm starting graduate school this year in a new place, a new city, with new people, and a new focus, my excitement has only tripled! As soon as I got to register for classes in July, I checked for any updates on my class schedule multiple times per day, hoping and waiting to see what classes I would be put into. I wanted to know what time my classes would be and where they would be held and who my professors would be so that I could try my best to visualize what these next three months of my life would look like.

When I finally got my schedule and eventually my teacher assignments, I researched them and found that I was already familiar with my fiction workshop professor, Daphne Kalotay. My mother gave me Kalotay's novel, Russian Winter, for Christmas two years ago and it has since sat on my shelf waiting to be read. I was extremely surprised and delighted to find that I would be studying under a writer whose work I was aware of and who I  knew was an accomplished and respected writer.

My first day of class with Daphne Kalotay is just under a week away and I've given myself a goal of reading all (or as much as possible) of Russian Winter by the start of class. It's a long novel, pushing 500 pages, but its content is intriguing and it jumps between settings—one of which is Boston—so I know that I will have no problem staying focused and interested. Not to mention AJ and I are in that place where we are waiting for time consuming distractions (school for me, work for him) to take over so I should have ample time to read, read read!

MFA Stuff

A little update. As some of you may know, the day that AJ and I moved to Boston for his internship back in March, I found out that I was accepted to an MFA Creative Writing program in Boston. From the moment that I received my acceptance email, my mind has been preoccupied with MFA related thoughts: what my classes will be like, all the writing I'll be doing, and what my future will look like upon graduation. If there's an article that has the letters MFA in the title, I read it. I can't get enough.

So, a few days ago, on a whim, I checked to see if any changes had been made to my previously blank class schedule for grad school. I was oh so pleasantly surprised to find that it was no longer blank! I have a schedule! And it's a wonderful one, too. I am taking two classes (they suggested only 2 for your first semester). One is Teaching College Composition and the other is Fiction Workshop. Each class is once a week for 3 hours and 45 minutes. I have class Tuesday night and Wednesday night and that's it!

Having my schedule makes me realize how soon school will be starting and that it is very real. It's coming! And it just so happens that in the same week I got my schedule, Bustle.com has put out two great articles regarding books and writing.

The first is about books that you should read before starting an MFA program. It's a great article but it freaked me out—I haven't read any of the books listed! I have to get on that. Now.

The next article is also about books. These, however, are books that you should read before writing your first novel. This might not be universal for all MFA students, but one of my goals is to write a novel (at least a draft) by the completion of my degree so this is a handy list!

I love articles that suggest great books for different reasons. I hope you enjoy these, too!

AJ Graduated!

Sorry for the not so great photo quality, but that's usually what happens at graduations. Dodging other people's arms and cameras to get your shot in before the graduate leaves the from, hence the photo on the bottom right. But the photos are only a very small part of the big day that was had yesterday. On May 22, 2014 AJ graduated from NCC with a degree as a Physical Therapy Assistant after many years of extremely hard work! It was such an exciting day because he worked so hard to get here. I can't stress that enough and it seemed like the celebration and acknowledgment of that was long over due.

First, there was his pinning ceremony with the other students in his program. The families were able to attend and we sat in the PT room at their lab tables and had a little lunch before the professors spoke and then AJ even delivered his own speech that had many in tears! Everyone came up to him after to tell him how great it was and I was, of course, very proud.

After they were all pinned and many photos were taken, AJ's parents, siblings, and I headed outside to the tent where the entire school's graduation was held. It was long and crowded but I would have sat there for days just to see AJ's happy face when he walked across the stage and his full name was read correctly! I stood up and shouted as he got his diploma and he saw me and waved.

Just as everyone was leaving the tent, it started to thunder and downpour so we hurried to his family's house, changed into sweats. His mom started making us soup to warm up and AJ poured us glass of Hoegaarden beer (it was my graduation gift to him—he got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers that included my favorites, ranunculus!). His mom and I split one, and he and his dad each had their own.

Tonight is his real graduation party and it is only fitting that this celebration last more than just one day! I am so proud of his hard work and I am extremely proud to be his fiancee!

I Graduated!

Ok, so I really graduated in January but on May 18th, 2014 I walked across the terrace of Bellarmine Hall at Fairfield University whilst my name was read into a microphone and I shook the hand of our school's president, Father Von Arx.



I wasn't sure if I was going to walk because I had already graduated and I've been away from school for so long anyway, but it was important to my mom and grandmother and it was actually important to me, as well. It's a big life moment and it really is an experience. It is something to be savored and recognized. College was hard work and it is nice to have it be celebrated.



I LOVED my time at Fairfield. I transferred there at the beginning of the second semester of freshman year and I was a commuter student. Because of these factors, I don't feel like I was a huge part of the Fairfield community. I was only on campus for my classes and occasional lectures throughout the semester. I didn't go to parties or live in the dorm but I still loved my college experience, it was the perfect fit for me. I can not even describe all that I learned while at Fairfield. I read Dante, Shakespeare, Joyce, Woolf, Dickens, and the Bible. I was introduced to ideas and thoughts and practices that I was never privy to before. I owe a lot to my education at Fairfield. I had wonderful professors who really love their area of expertise and who you could tell love teaching. I had so many experiences that are priceless and will aid me in my future as a student, as a writer, and as an academic.