The Whoops and the Poops

The Highs and Lows of My First Semester in Grad School

The whirlwind semester is officially winding down. Now that I graduated to 6 hours of sleep each night, instead of my normal 3–4 hours, I have had time to reflect on the past few months and gain some perspective. Instead of the ordinary “Highs & Lows” activity, where you share the high point of your day and the low point of your day — here are my Whoops and Poops of the semester. I’ll start with the Poops.

POOPS

• The time I got violently ill in a coffee shop and threw up twice — but still stayed to finish my UX assignment because it was due the next day.
• The time I cried twice in class but didn’t know what I was crying about — this actually happens a lot…
• All the times I was late to class — which was 90% of the time. I never got the timing of my commute figured out…
• The time I got two parking tickets within a week of each other because I forgot to pay the meter — because I was running late to class…
• The time I joined a gym to relieve stress, but ended up hiding in the bathroom for 10 minutes because it was too intense. I’m pretty sure everyone thought I was pooping…

WHOOPS

• The one time my professor, whom I’m pretty sure I developed Stockholm syndrome from, said I did a good job on an assignment.
  (Excuse me sir, can you please repeat that? I want to record it and listen to it every morning when I wake up.)
• The time I wore a koala onesie out in public for an assignment and had my sister take pictures of me unintentionally making people feel comfortable.

(What? A girl in a koala suit chasing you isn’t funny? My bad…)

• The time my partner and I celebrated finishing our ice cream branding project by eating ice cream in class. And then convinced ourselves that all the ice cream we consumed over the course of the project was done for the sake of “research.” I think Safeway thought I was going through a bad breakup…IT’S FOR RESEARCH OK?!

Nom nom nom.

• All the times I was able to cut loose and bond with my classmates, which was probably all of two or three times since grad school sucks the life out of you, but still whoop-worthy nonetheless.

I’m the one sitting front and center — everyone is petting me.

• Every day that I made it through without asking myself “WHAT THE F*CK ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

Wrapping Up

Throughout all the Poops and the Whoops this past semester, I have grown so much as a designer and in the broader sense, as a person. I look forward to kick starting Spring semester after spending the next month catching up on some much-needed sleep.

Until then, good night all.