I’m officially done with school for the foreseeable future! I took my last final last Thursday, after which I visited some friends in New York for a couple days.
Now that I’m back in my empty apartment—my roommates are away—I figured I would do my final review of the past semester.
- Spend my time deliberately. I think I did a pretty good job with this goal. I set aside time to finish different tasks, and I stayed committed to those plans.
- Listen to podcasts and read books. I started quite a few books but didn’t actually finish any of them unfortunately
My goal between now and commencement is to actually finish some of those half-read books. - Hang out with friends. I was pretty successful at this goal, too. I grabbed meals with several friends throughout the semester, and even made trips to New York to visit my friends there.
- Make steady progress on and eventually complete my thesis! Sometimes I’m still amazed that I actually completed and submitted my thesis. I had days when I doubted myself, but in the end, everything came together 😅
- Exercise regularly. I lifted weights two days a week and played volleyball two days a week up until mid-May, which is pretty good for me. Volleyball was a blast, and I definitely felt like I was a part of the community this semester.
- Cook better (maybe). I’m still no master chef, but I did pick up a couple new recipes, including one for Chinese watercress soup with pork ribs. I made it twice, and in my opinion, it tasted just the way my mom makes it.
- Be an effective TA. Piazza was relatively quiet compared to last semester. There weren’t as many questions, which I think was a result of students being more relaxed this semester, and the problem sets having better scaffolding and clearer instructions.
- Speak up during seminar. The prison class that I took this semester was actually a different format than the inside-out class I took last year. Our role was more as observers in the classroom than as actual students. At the same time, I still learned a lot about the criminal justice system and various differences between the different security levels. Also, I learned how to approach teaching for a different audience than I’m used to.
All in all, I would say that this was a good semester to end my academic career. My classes were great; I finished my thesis; and I still had time to exercise and spend time with friends.
Onwards and upwards! 🤞
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