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Just getting started, it can be hard to keep my long-term objectives in mind.

Fall semester was rough. Not always because the demands of those five classes got me down--but mostly because my social life SUCKS.

The funny thing is, there seems to be a myriad of attitudes around me about this wretched exam.

With all of the personalities and projects out there, the quest for a perfect fit is much like a search for the perfect pair of jeans.

I’m not sure that a lot of my professors enjoy teaching. I’m not sure any of them were taught to teach. For some, it seems to be an absolute pain.

"Integrity and honesty are the foundations upon which scientific inquiry and discovery are built. Trust allows us to believe what others have done and to use the results of others to drive our own research."

"At first, I didn’t tell anyone. I faked the funk. I didn’t want their pity. I didn’t want them saying, 'well I’m so sorry,' while thinking, 'glad it wasn’t me.'"

"I don’t have time for hostile relationships, especially with my adviser."

"Now, a year later, it’s amazing how little those events have affected my daily life. I often feel removed from everything going on around me."

"I'm learning to live gracefully with the frustrations of research: being grateful for when something works and not taking it personally when it doesn't."

"Alas, I have found that this process has given me new vigor about my work and the work I am proposing to do."

It's true for many of us, especially those of us who are first-generation graduate students, that what we do at "school" is foreign to a lot of our friends and family.

"I haven't given up, although I've thought about it."

"This is probably why I won't be going into hardcore academia; I value my time, my family, and my friends far too much to be ruled by my job."

Sometimes an adviser can be a little
too attentive.

What a difference some data make.

The change from the dull delirium and insane drama that characterized my first year and half of graduate school has been welcome.

You learn to eat the elephant one bite at a time and not try swallowing it whole.

There
is a body of research out there that would make me want to get up in the morning, thrilled to be alive. I'm just not working on it.

I decided I wanted to work on something else and, all of a sudden, [my adviser's] interest in me dried up, as did funding for a research assistantship; I've been TA-ing ever since.