Two weeks ago, I turned in my last graduate school assignments. Due at midnight, turned in at 11:30pm. And with that, I was done. Arms up in victory, hooting, hollering, singing, fist pumping, kicking, dancing, laughing, swearing, eyes watering...I had finished what many times seemed impossible to me. My coursework was complete - ten classes plus two prerequisites. Two and a half years, over 150 week-long modules of work with assignments, discussion boards, readings, office hours. No more homework, no more assignments, no more discussion boards to participate on. I feel like I'm being reborn into the world.
In the last two weeks, I've been transitioning. It still feels crazy to be done. Though sometimes I feel like they'll find some small print error and I'll actually have to do one more class. I still have to wait for my diploma which should arrive in the next few weeks. I've been cleaning my little home for the past two days - two years worth of unrelenting chaos. I can't believe I lived within such chaos but so it was when every half an hour had to be accounted for. I hadn't quite realized the burden it was to always have a task that required so many hours per week. Always a choice came down to priorities with those hours in mind. Don't think: just sit down and do the work, and if you're not working, it better be worth it!
Throughout the process, I had some great teachers, patient and interesting. I had an online meeting with at least one of them almost every week of the last two and a half years. I learned a ton, did interesting projects and took some long tests. Some "quizzes" were to be finished within three hours, while I had a number of tests that were to be completed in six. Though they were designed to not need all six, I used almost every single minutes.
One of the most memorable experiences was on one of the six hour tests (either Digital Signal Processing or Microwave Systems). I looked over the test and though, I'm completely screwed. I don't know how to do any of these problems - the likes of which I've never seen before! I'm going to fail. And then I thought, "Well, I have six hours to try not to fail." Miraculously, in about 5 hours and 50 minutes, I figured them out, one by one. It was like when Will Farrell debates James Carville in Old School. It was sort of an out of mind experience. Not much time to celebrate as there was another six hour test to take that week for another class.
Little by little, with each class passed, my confidence grew. I knew it would never be easy for me, but I knew that if I put in the time, I could figure most of this stuff out. My 12 classes:
Circuits, Devices and Fields
Signals and Systems
Digital Signal Processing
Microwave Systems and Receiver Design
Communications Systems Engineering
Modern Navigation Systems
Intermediate Electromagnetics
Antenna Design
Space Weather and Space Systems
Image Engineering
Spread Spectrum Communications
Oceanography
So many people inquired, encouraged, cheered me on and so much more throughout the process. So powerful it is to know that others believe in me, when I wasn't quite so sure I believed in myself. If others believed, I'll just keep taking one step at a time.
A few people have said, "Wow, that flew by." I just chuckle. Now I wait for NASA to announce, in hopefully a matter of days that they'll be opening up the astronaut application, as they have been doing every four years since the year 2000. I'll keep you posted. It could get interesting!!
Hats off to all who've been there! And a huge hank you to all who have believed in me!
