In less than two weeks, though, I will be back in Pennsylvania for the holidays. That presents a lot of stress and problems, but overall I am excited to see my siblings and some of my closest friends that I haven’t seen in months. If you’re going to be in town between Dec. 16 and Dec. 29, let me know if you want to spend some time together!

I’ve got one week of classes left, then two final exams, and then I will have survived one semester of a math PhD program. Yay! Only 9-ish more to go! I cannot wait until I’ve passed qualifying exams. That’s a huge hurdle and it’s my next major goal. (Previous major goal was getting accepted to a grad program and then moving to wherever it was physically located. Success!) I think I am honestly going to try to study some math over this break. I always say that, and I rarely do it (although a few weeks ago, I did finish reading the math book I started reading for fun over the summer). I am debating either reading something actually at my level and in my probable field of specialty (I have several books gathering dust on my bookshelves in this category), or reteaching myself Calculus 1-3 and linear algebra (which would re-enforce/rekindle a lot of skills I’m supposed to already have mastered that I’ve forgotten all or most of over the past 4 years). It sounds like a lot of fun, right? Well, once I get back from visiting family, I will have 3 weeks alone in my apartment so I’ve got to do SOMETHING productive.

Last night we had a Girls-Only night for girl grad students in the department and it was quite a success. They’re all great company and we are our own breed of female so I think it’s good for us to form some sort of bond. Grad school is such a beast that you need at LEAST one good support system, preferably several support systems. I’m so glad the culture of UNT’s department is one of collaboration and support and not of pure rivalry and competition. That would make the whole experience a thousand times harder, I think.