Snow Day

OK! I have made it halfway through my first quarter of grad school. Good work, Melinda. Only three more weeks and I will have a blissful Christmas vacation.

But first, I have a Thanksgiving break which I'm fairly certain is placed precisely in the middle of the academic quarter to curb students' pending insanity. I'll take it.

My quarter began with the utmost enthusiasm, like I could actually conduct noteworthy science, with what, an eager brain and an insatiable appetite for knowledge of all kind. I was training to be a rockstar.

I soon learned that this was very wrong perception, and my learning abilities ebb and flow, but usually just ebb under homework-due-date conditions. Also I make a million mistakes every day, which makes it difficult to be that inspirational perfect young scientist that once impressed professors as an undergraduate.

These million daily mistakes range from simple grammatical errors, to full-on explosions of embarrassment and failure. For example, my first-ever committee meeting was deemed to be perfect (by me). Instead, most everything went wrong (broken projector, late start, etc.), especially when I was asked what was probably the first "curve-ball" question of my educational career.

By Genius Committee Member: "What is... The Science in this?"
(I'm pretty sure his voice echoed when he asked this question.)

In my head: "I got this! My research is so blasted important because it's so darn useful!"
Me talking: "My research is relevant on many levels. For one,... etc. yadda yadda important yadda etc."

Committee's Response:


That was probably my most accurate reality check in grad school. That and failing my fluid mechanics exam.

Now after experiencing a multitude of failures and mistakes within a month's time frame, I have learned how to embrace (openly) my incredible ability to not get things right, and to correct my perception of grad school to this:
Graduates

The end (for now).

ps. It's a snow day.
pss. Here's a sea ice photo from my cruise.