Mid-Semester Check-In

First Day of Class

And just like that, I have been living in Virginia Beach for two months. Time has flown by! Partly, because I am taking four classes this semester and there is always more to read or write: Research Design, Higher Education Policy, Statistics and a 1-credit, online doctoral proseminar. I am also auditing ODU's concert choir twice a week and on top of that I have a research assistantship with a new faculty member for 20 hours a week. It's busy!

My Fellow Doctoral Student And
Good Friend, Natalie

Since coming to Virginia Beach, I have sung in a community concert with my new friend Natalie, experienced the threat of a hurricane, gone to an Oktoberfest, and tried a meet-up trivia outing. I enjoyed some of those things more than others.

I was afraid I wouldn't make friends, but I have met this one girl who I feel like I have known forever, and this other girl who is super sweet and who invited herself over to the apartment to do homework 😆, which I just loved. Everybody is super friendly and supportive of each other, and I am looking forward to our program's road trip to DC to meet policy leaders later this week, and our cohort fall festival later this month. So much going on!

Professionally, I have submitted three conference presentation proposals, and one has already been accepted for the NAFSA Region VIII conference in Richmond in November. I have been selected to serve a two-year term as Secretary for the NAFSA Region VIII team, a great leadership and networking opportunity. And I have a phone call scheduled for tomorrow with the author of the biggest community college study abroad research project, after which I hope to model my dissertation.

Geeking Out For My Research Assistantship

I love my assistantship. My faculty supervisor is a critical theorist, and while I'm still not entirely sure what that entails, I know I am learning a ton. New words, new methods, new paradigms. Just new ways of looking at the world. A few weeks ago, we went to William and Mary's library and identified 40 books we need to read this semester. LMAO! So I get to read primary sources from the 1800s and look for patterns and power structures. There's a sentence I never thought I'd say!

Friends, I am having the time of my life. Living the dream. I love my apartment and I am so glad to have my kitties back. I am already thinking of new things I may want to do once I graduate and my brain is always sparkling. That's not to say I have not experienced uncertainty. But overall, I am elated with this new chapter of my life. It is more intellectually stimulating and far less stressful than my last job.

And I am grateful. To my friends who housed me this summer. To my friends who helped me pack up and move. To the encouraging and supportive friends I have made here who text me at all hours of the day. My heart is full. And I am finally enjoying the ride!