One step closer...

WHOA! Yesterday I had my last class as a Peabody/Vanderbilt student!






Just wanted to let that sink in a little bit. :-) It doesn't feel exactly real just yet, but I'm really happy about this milestone nevertheless. All of our professors talk about what's next in terms of our educational journeys (re: doctoral programs), but I really don't want to think about that right now - it is time to work! All of the hard work I've done my entire life has been ultimately directed at attaining a good first job. I am so ready. (*Note: I'm proofreading and I just read back over that and thought about it and started to tear up... wow. Maybe graduation will be more emotional and meaningful than I have been anticipating. Or, maybe the emotion will come more when I accept a job offer... I can't even imagine what that relief and joy is going to feel like.)

Graduation is May 9th, but I don't think the finality of it all will hit me until I have a job and move to where I'll be living - it'll probably be either the night in a new apartment by myself before my first day of work when it really sinks in. Another thing to address is exactly how final that "finality" is... And I will start by saying that I am in no mood to accumulate any more degrees right now. I will always want to take classes of some sort - I already know that I want to take cooking classes if I can, and I need to learn Spanish for my own personal development as an American citizen. I also want to study English language and literature, but I can always do that in the form of book clubs or on my own. So I think - well, I know - that I will always be furthering my education in some way, shape, or form, but this *might* have been the last official, degree-track class of my life! :-)