When I applied for the master’s program at Georgia Southern University, I submitted for the Summer 2023 term. I was not thrilled about beginning the program on an odd semester (summer sessions are typically online and truncated). Additionally, I was invited to return to Ireland during that session as a Research Assistant. This requires me to be a student however, without the master’s program in the summer, I am officially in limbo.
I contemplated the idea for quite some time. As tempting as it is to go back to Ireland so quickly, I also needed to seriously acknowledge my need for a break. Since I began this journey in the spring semester of 2020, I have not taken a single semester off (summers included). Throughout that time, I have done a less than stellar job of keeping my studies in some sort of organizational system so that I could use all the things I have learned. Moreover, I have allotted almost no time for reflection. Therefore, I have three years of undergraduate work that I am certain contain missed opportunities, ideas I wanted to revisit, and work that I would enjoy expanding upon.
I think it is more like just the way it goes when you drink from a fire hydrant of learning and then never take another drink again; it is dehydrated knowledge.
I decided to defer my enrollment until the traditional fall start. Immediately after submitting the paperwork, the knowledge that it was not simply the right decision, but the only decision was obvious.
Turns out, making the call at the beginning of this winter break has benefits as well.
I have a thesis due in the spring. I am very close to seeing it come into full form. However, this idea of wrestling three years of work into a usable catalog keeps my brain a tiny (lot) distracted. I don’t work well like that. So, because I am confident in my ability to get my thesis done in time, I have acquiesced to this niggle in my brain and have spent the past few days thinking about how to organize this work best. Dr. Pellegrino’s website has always created a bit of academic envy in me. So, I decided that’s what I would do too.
That decision was actually made at the beginning of the fall 2022 semester. I took this domain, installed a super basic theme, and began to take notes in three of my classes directly on the website. It wasn’t great, and it wasn’t serviceable, but it was a start. Playing with it throughout the semester, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted and what I didn’t.
- I did want a place for all my work
- I did not want to be limited in what content I could publish there
- I did want it to be functional not only for me, but for others
- I did not want the creation of the thing to be overly laborious
This new layout is the product of that. It didn’t take long, and it checked all the boxes.
Now, I embark on the task of going through the coursework. Because I didn’t want to waste time in planning (I can turn “planning” into “procrastination” like a pro), I decided to make it simple and start at the beginning.
I spent the afternoon going through the classwork of my very first semester. I am almost, but not really, embarrassed to tell you how much joy and wonder that brought me: joy because I am absolutely right, there is stuff in there, and wonder because I am shocked at how much I have forgotten. It is almost inconceivable to imagine that so much information can be lost from a time in that I was so deeply immersed. Maybe it’s age. I think it is more like just the way it goes when you drink from a fire hydrant of learning and then never take another drink again; it is dehydrated knowledge.
One thing that strikes me is the way in which my intention has sharpened. One could chalk that up to experience; the natural evolution that happens after a thing you’ve never done becomes the thing you always do. And it is some of that. Mostly, I think, it is confidence. In the beginning, there were so many things I didn’t know, fears created from that unknown. Now, I have answers to some of the basic questions about myself, academia, and how the two of us go together. To be sure, there are still more wonders to be had, but revisiting the past three years is a gift all on its own.
As usual, I am not sure how this little project will turn out. But, so far, I am already so very interested.
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