Moving to Michigan and settling into grad school (August 20th, 2024)

Moving to Michigan and settling into grad school

August 20th, 2024 

Summer break coming to an end

     I had quite the summer running a kitchen at a summer camp. It was a good distraction from the inevitable stressing I would have done in preparation for grad school. It was also a good restart to get out of the rut I had been in since graduating in December. The pay-check benefit aside, it was great to be in nature, on a lake, and around by kind people all summer.

The start of grad school

      I feel like my summer experience prepared me for the setting of grad school at KBS. Being surrounded by greenery, right on a lake, and dressed in the most fashionable attire (field clothes) half the days. I have been here for just about three weeks now. The first week was mostly getting settled, unpacking, visiting the local sights (to which Walmart is the busiest attraction), and gradually I am getting more and more adjusted to the work flow here. 

      The first week being here on my own was a little bit rough, but I know that those feelings will come and go with the adjustment period. I am excited to be here. I feel endlessly grateful to be able to go to school in such a welcoming space, from both the individual and nature point of view.

      I have a week of somewhat relaxed work until classes begin. I've been told that the first year here is mostly taking classes and reading as many articles as possible to figure out what I want to research in the four following years. I am trying to take everything in while also giving myself time to relax, reflect, and refocus. I have and urge to help out and get to know everyone's projects, but I know that too many side projects will delay my own, so I am trying not to stretch too thin.

This semester's goals

     As a means of keeping a record of what I do, I will try to update this blog as often as I have updates. And to keep record of what I want to do (like not stretching too thin), I have written out some semester goals below. 

1) Keep up with course work. Pretty self explanatory, and I've never had a problem with it before , but I don't want to get behind.

2) I want to keep my Sunday completely work and homework free. I know that sometimes I might have homework to catch up on, so I will leave Saturday open for wiggle room right now (simply as backup), but I want to make sure I have at minimum one day a week to relax, mess around, and to not worry work on a computer. 

3) Do one new thing each weekend. By this I mean that I want to do a new hike, see a new plant, run a new path, go shopping at a new grocery store. It doesn't have to be a big new adventure each week, I just want to push out my bubble each week.