Master's: Complete

I'm alive and have returned to the blogging. I actually never stopped, but the venue was different because I was in grad school, y'all. And guess what? I graduated...!

This past weekend was full of celebrations and Pomp & Circumstance. It's remarkable how I got to Fuqua and eventually settled into its rhythms, but they pull out the stops and surprise me on my way out, complete with ice sculptures and chocolate cherubs. Speaking of surprises, the most wonderful one came in the form of my dear friend Deanne who I met in Italy, flying all the way from Canada, after coordinating with my mother, to attend my graduation.

So even though I've been very absent on this blog, I'd like to reopen the pathway now that there's no more finance or accounting to study. Now that I can return to the hours of a non-student, as the studying schedule was much harsher this time around. Now that I can pursue all kinds of activities, goals, thoughts, and desires that had to be put on hold (not excluding my 25 Before 25, which is desperately in need of a new name now that I'm knocking on 26).

To reinaugurate this blog, I'd like to do a lessons learned post for my 10 month stint as a graduate student in Durham:

• Doing a power pose before big presentations helps, but only in the secrecy of your home or a bathroom stall. Otherwise it's just embarrassing.
• They might not be graded, but soft skills matter.
• You must have empathy and patience to begin to understand another. I have a lot of road to cover on this one.
• Test grades aren't always the best judgment of learning.
• You don't know your limits until you've met them.
• Learning is a process that is determined by the amount of effort you put into it. It has no limits of time or subject.
• Do the right thing always.
• I am not a self-sustaining entity. It takes a community to get through all kinds of situations. Community takes time and effort to grow.
• Love it or hate it, Cameron Indoor is a special place.
• Failure is an opportunity for exploration and innovation.
• You can't always find the time, but making a good, home cooked meal heals, grows, and inspires. Totally worth it.
• It's all relative.

I don't quite know what's coming up next yet (besides a month in Italy where I sit writing this very post while looking over the Tuscan hills), but rest assured you'll be taken along for the ride.