Friday, November 12, 2010

and now...good-bye for 2 months

I just officially registered to take my PhD exams (we call them "prelims" here) in January. Two months from this week.

I'm frightened. I have my schedule of what I need to read and study, and it's a LOT. And will take a LOT of time. And my friends who've already gone through this process and passed prelims have told me that I need to give up on having balance in my life until after prelims are over.

Sigh.

And I've been feeling a little of this recently.

Send help...??

7 comments:

Rachel said...

Best of luck! This too shall pass, and so will you!

Erin said...

Best to get it done with. Some people, like a certain person that I happen to be married to, still haven't done that yet.

Crystal said...

OOohh fun! (I know not really...) Have fun studying ;). I never envied the grad students in our department having to take their prelims.

t said...

You'll do great!! :) Bonne Chance!

What sort of help would you like? I hear they discourage sending ice cream in the mail, but one could always try...? :)

Amy said...

Okay, so here's my deep and profound idea: if you're going to do extended life imbalance (meaning less than ideal socializing time, etc) then there are things you need to do to keep sane and relatively healthy: SLEEP. EXERCISE (not necessarily at maximal levels, but regularly; it'll keep your body feeling good and it'll be a GREAT, low-time-commitment de-stresser). And ALLOW YOURSELF SOCIAL REWARDS;(DO hang out once a week, or whatever. Call your family - not a ton, but sometimes). It's got to be a system that you can sustain for two weeks, even if it wears on you a bit.

Aren't I wise? Let's see how I do in a year or two. :)

Also, I seriously suggest that you maximize Sundays. Go crazy; be social, talk to family, nap, do all your calling stuff; make it GREAT and don't do homework. Look forward to it and savor it. :)

Sorry. I can't stop. But I love you!!

Amy said...

Sorry, that was "two months," not "two weeks." Ha ha.

Unknown said...

Wow. I'm impressed and amazed. You'll do great and deep down, you KNOW it's true.