Grad School: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

"I'm trying to debunk this myth that the scales are going to fall from your eyes and you're going to write this great thesis. I'm sure that will happen, but before that, you have to get on a bus." —a professor

In a discussion about the work-life balance with half of my cohort, our conclusion was that there is no work-life balance; it's all work. Grad school is hard. I found this joke about grad-school Barbie. If you substitute a denim skirt for the jeans and a "Boys are stupid" T-shirt for the T-shirt described, it's pretty true to my life. An excerpt below:

Graduate School Barbie comes in two forms:
Delusional Master's Barbie (tm) and Ph.D. Masochist Barbie (tm). Every Graduate School Barbie comes with these fun filled features guaranteed to delight and entertain for hours:

- Grad School Barbie comes out of the box with a big grin on her face that turns into a frown after 2 weeks or her first advisor meeting (whichever comes first).

- Adorable black circles under her delightfully bloodshot eyes.

- Comes with two outfits: a grubby pair of blue jeans and 5 year old gap T-shirt, and a floppy pair of gray sweatpants with a matching "Go Screw Yourself" T-shirt.

The truth is, I really do like grad school. If I did not enjoy my program, I would pack up my 250 pounds of books and my brown-and-green-and-blue-themed room and my ridiculous number of flip-flops and be on the next flight home. But, yeah, it's hard. On that note, I am going to go write a critique of multi-site ethnography and then do some research on photojournalism and corrections policies. I lead an exciting life.