Well, this will be my last blog for Mays. Unfortunately, this does not mean I’m done with finals or, as yet, with my senior year, like so many of my friends back home. All over Facebook, status reports inform me that my friends have sailed through the last of their finals and are preparing for graduation this weekend. I didn’t think I would be so sad to miss out on all this, but I must admit that a big part of me is indeed missing it.
At the University of Edinburgh, we are still in the middle of our finals period. Though technically finals go as late as May 29, I’ll be done at the end of this weekend. I have two finals left, one on Friday and one on Saturday. As you can imagine, this precludes me from graduating in May from Texas A&M, as my last final happens on the weekend of graduation. I won’t be able to graduate until August because of the time it takes to transfer study abroad credit to my degree. I don’t have to tell you that it’s difficult to keep studying; any senior out there can tell you the overcoming desire to graduate, to just finish the degree. I didn’t think this would happen to me, I really didn’t. I thought I would be just fine, graduating whenever it was convenient. Much to my surprise, I am counting down the days until I can order my diploma.
As for the Edinburgh side of things, life is getting increasingly stressful. Two more finals, back to back. One is only 50% of my grade, and the other 70%. Though I only need to pass in order to graduate, I keep having to fight off this feeling of panic, but I imagine that’s something everyone shares as they finish any important part of their life.
Once finals are through, I’ll be jetsetting off, starting next Thursday, on a two month blues dance road trip, starting in New York City and ending in San Francisco in the middle of July. It promises to be filled with great fun and great adventure, and I hope it is exactly the post-degree completion celebration I hope it to be. I’ll be a graduate student next year, and that should prove to be full of its own trials, so I’m hoping this summer will give me the added boost and help me be energized for higher (higher) education.
So congrats to all those graduating senior Ags back home; I’m so proud of you all and wish I could be there to enjoy the celebrations with you. We’ve worked hard over the past four years, and I wish you all the best.
Over and out, and only the best—Erika Schmidt ‘09
