what is grad school about?

....the journey

losing sleep working on research and various papers

.....getting to know your APA manual <3

the wonderful experience that is what we call EDUCATION :)

The work begins....

Its been a while since the last time that I blogged about school, but I have a good reason for that!  I have been working on ACTUAL school work!  YAY!  All those aspirations about volunteering on my free time (at this dog retailer in the mall next to my apartment), and getting a job (it looks bleaker than it should) and everything else I thought that I would have time for is slowly fading into the fog that is my education at the moment.

Now that my classes are in full swing, I have reading, lots of reading, and am turning in my first paper on the discipline of communication and how it is going to affect me as a new scholar tomorrow.  Everything is electronic at this school, meaning that there are few if any handouts and all work is turned in via an email to a professor.  Most if not all information is found on blackboard - which thankfully I am pretty used to  the set-up (thanks Western!)  Its a little odd, but I guess some of it has to do with saving the earth and some of it has to do with budget cuts - and printing and paper being something easy to cut back on budget wise.  Its being graded on APA format, organization, thought process, and a group work section.  I have been working on it for the last week or so, trying to make sure that I have covered every aspect of anything that needs to be covered, but you never know, what I might have forgotten, or what he will consider good/bad writing.  Its been so long since I have been judged on academic writing that this paper seems a little daunting - its that hyper "its been so long since I have been expected to get an A on anything" feeling.  But I keep trying to let the universe know that I tried my best, and thats all I can expect!

Honestly, all my classes are interesting. My most interesting class is one on conversation analysis.  The material is so "real" and the analysis is incredibly dense, but it absolutely amazing what you can study from plain everyday conversations.  The first class I had studied phone openings - you know - the Hi! / Hello / How are you doing? / Fine and You - part of conversations.  We studied real time recordings of a family giving bad news to their family members.  The patterns that can be found in everyday life are incredible! I imagine that this sound incredibly boring - but if you were sitting there listening to them and then walking through a data session, I PROMISE you would be amazed! I am thinking about doing my research proposal on the communication relationship between mentors and their mentees and how the bond of trust is formed...I have yet to explore the intricacies of it all, but it sounds relevant to me and to my past experiences.

The pace picks up for this upcoming week as we start presenting on articles (which I have been collecting) related to various topics in intercultural communication, I have a data session on audio transcription so I can start on my research proposal, and I attend the second colloquia where we get to intimately meet the faculty professing their knowledge in the department.  I hope that I can keep up....

On other news, been traveling around town, and have been to two different farmers markets, one in Hillcrest and one in Little Italy!  Both places I would consider living when Perry and I move out of the apartment that we are living in right now.  The complex is filling up with a lot of military personnel who keep occupying the work out room (its totally intimidating to work out with people that have passed basic)...oh well, I need to work on other amenities!  Hello free printer :)

till the next time, keep thinking positive!

End of Week One...and the start of the semester

So, its official!  I am a full fledged graduate student and so is the BF, we both attended all of our classes and are both slightly overwhelmed - ahhh it feels good to learn...hehe!

This is my first semester, and while I am not teaching, I am taking on three seminars, one intro (the one I mentioned earlier in the previous posting), a seminar on intercultural communication, and the last one I just had on Thursday on conversation analysis (CA), all of which appear to be challenging and hopefully rewarding after the semester ends!  And, in case any of you were wondering, graduate school is NOT like undergrad - you know the slow start, the test in the middle, and the final at the end...yeah I already have a 300 page text book that I apparently should have already read, a group project in every single seminar due in about 2 weeks, and another HUGE book on conversations on cancer that I need to read in order to understand the process of CA. Yeah, a little overwhelming.

BUT - its all about time management right?!?  So, I got a planner and mapped and highlighted my life away!  YAY Dale!  My schedule for the rest of the week went a little like this: I didn't have class on Wednesday, I went to campus for a group meeting and on Thursday I spent some time working on part of the group project word doc table that allowed me to get some stuff off of my mind.  In between of doing all of this I have been reading my text on intercultural competence and trying to get myself into the book on conversations on cancer. So far, I  completed 60ish pages on intercultural while  working on getting 20+ collegiate and peer reviewed articles on the definition of cultural and intercultural identity - FUN right, don't you wish you were me??? :P


Today is Sat, and while I didn't have class yesterday either, I found articles for my intro class to complete the word doc table for the group part and now I have to concentrate on reading, reading, reading.  I don't know what I expected, but I am pretty sure I didn't expect this.  To explain, I have been working for the last 5 years of my life, so to me this "feels" different, it just feels like a different kind of pressure, a different type of competition - or rather maybe more competition and less collaboration since that's entirely what I was trying to do in my last job...collaboration.  I guess its not about making friends but about getting what I need out of the experience to move myself forward, right?!?  I was so used to giving in my last position, that I don't remember how to be selfish...ironic.


....and then again - long weekends feel the same - like a relief!  So, while I did some work yesterday, I also just hung out at home watching netflix (**tear** since I don't have tv anymore - self-inflicted budget cut) and movies and doing the cost saving thing of eating at home (yummy chicken tacos).  Today on the other hand is Sat, which I hope to be a little more productive than yesterday with a trip to Old Town San Diego via trolley (if you wish to see: http://www.oldtownsandiegoguide.com/)!  I'm excited as I feel like I still need to get to know the area in case any of you have the inclination to come and visit me anytime soon! Huh?!? Who's coming to visit me???


I think that's it for today, I will update you as I attend my first colloquium next week and figure out if and or how I am going to attend the national communication association conference in SFO in November...