So, an undergraduate roommate of mine reminded me that I needed to update my blog about what's been going on in my life since I returned from New Orleans at the end of July.
Let me start by saying this: Being in a city that is a world of its own, really makes you learn a lot about yourself and your view of the world. I'd never been to New Orleans before, but it is an experience that I will never forget. If nothing else it was a learning experience not only as being an archaeologist in an urban setting, but as a black woman and a graduate student. Through the field school I met a lot of amazing individuals whom I've been able to keep up with since I left New Orleans. Some of my experiences there I have shared with the people closest to me, but for now I'll just leave it at by my being an educated, young, successful African American woman makes people uncomfortable and feel like they can say a lot more to me because of how I carry myself. Thankfully, I wasn't alone and was joined by a dear friend who explored the city with me. One of the most memorable aspects of the trip outside of the research was that I was able to participate in the 13th annual MAAFA event, which is commemoration of the African lives lost during the Middle Passage. If you're interested in learning more or what to participate here's the link :MAAFA Commemoration
Fast forward, I ended up driving back from New Orleans and going to New Smyryna Beach, FL for vacation with my family. It was good to finally unwind and relax a bit before school started. And boy when it started it started. I'm a McKnight Doctoral Fellow and as part of this fellowship I'm required to take twelve credits in the fall/spring and eight credits during the summer. If you're an undergraduate you would probably laugh and say you're only taking 12 credits, I took 18. I was one of those students but in graduate school this is grueling. Like the overachiever I am I decided to take one of , if not the, hardest classes in conjunction with two historic preservation classes, and a class on historical ecology. I knew the archaeological theory class was going to be intensive but in combination with the other classes and the reading load I really haven't had a chance to sit down and catch my breath much less update my blog. For the first few weeks of school I struggled to manage classes, a relationship, being a pet-mom to an active 14 month old lab, and sleeping. After the first month or so I found my groove and I'm finally able to get at least six hours of sleep a day. This is a big difference from the eight hours I was getting as a first year grad student when I had time to take my dog, Pharaoh, to the dog park for three or four hours a day and play xbox.
It's definitely been a jam packed semester with school and my personal life, but I'm not broken. I've had a couple of moments where I was like maybe I'm not cut out for this or what have I gotten myself into. In a future post, I'll go more into details with how I coped and suggestions for how to cope as a grad student, but for now I'll say this. You definitely need to have someone in your corner who is going to listen to your struggles or you having a bad day and just needing to vent. I'm thankful I have a lot of people in my corner that know how important being in school is for me and who have been able to reassure me that this is where I need to be. For those of you reading who are in relationships or just beginning relationships while you're in grad school know it isn't easy for you or your partner. I'm definitely thankful to have one that isn't intimidated by me being in school and who looks out for me.
Going forward from now until the end of the semester, things are going to get more complicated. For those of you who don't know I'm analyzing samples from New Orleans, a separate project from the one I worked on this summer, for my master's thesis. This in itself has been a struggle trying to obtain permission from the clients and getting the samples shipped to UF. I do have a date set for my comprehensive exams, January 10th-12th. So if I don't get a chance to update in the coming weeks I apologize, but atleast I'll have some good stories to tell when this semester is over.
Thanks for reading!!!!
