The End of an Era
So I got my Master's Degree and moved back to Cincinnati and now it is time to reflect. First off, I loved teaching. I thought I would enjoy it, but it came so easily to me. Like everyone does, you learn a lot of things the hard way the first time you teach, but from there on, it was very smooth sailing. I was an easy grader and not afraid to throw in a day or two that was more fun than educational, but I never had problems with unruly students, did well on evaluations, and genuinely found teaching to be enjoyable everyday. I am incredibly grateful I got the opportunity to teach and I can already say that I really miss it.
As for grad school itself, it is much more disappointing and frustrating than I ever could have imagined. I don't know for sure what the worth of an English Master's is. I know I will be finding out soon. The workload is pretty much 24/7 while you're in school and quite frankly, I think that is unhealthy long term. It took me a while to manage the stress of it correctly and while I never perfected that, I did get better over time. While I ended up getting one A every semester there were so many classes where I came up short by 1% or something like that, it was ridiculous. I felt like the margins between an A and a B were too small, especially considering the huge difference those can have on a person's GPA. It led to so much extra stress and worry for me and ultimately made me lose some of the self-confidence I had rebuilt up as an undergrad. The truth is: grading in English (whether it be literature or creative writing) is incredibly subjective which can also mean unfair.
As far as Kansas is concerned, it was not a great fit for me personally. Life in Kansas is slower and more conservative than Ohio or at least Cincinnati and that was never going to appeal to me. There are definitely moments where I felt like I really didn't fit in there which happens some in Cincinnati, but was more frequent in Kansas. I do think it is impressive how much is in Manhattan considering the size of the town. There are nice movie theaters, great Thai restaurants, and the zoo is great too. Having said that, when you've grown up with the ability to go the art museum or spend all day at the Cincinnati Zoo or go to Kenwood Mall and buy pretty much any brand of clothes you could ever want, you tend to get a little spoiled. Moving to Kansas took most of those things away and I could never quite get over that. My appreciation for Cincinnati has really grown since I've been away. Our fair city has a lot more going for it than many of us realize and it is definitely something worthy of our appreciation.
So with all that said, I'm glad to be back in Cincinnati. I've had a lot of fun here thus far and I'm enjoying being able to go to Moe's and Dewey's again and hopefully Skyline in the near future. I've got a shopping trip planned in the near future which is way overdue. I went to the Esquire and saw The Artist which was pretty cool. I love independent theaters I've been trying to clean up my room/get rid of stuff that I don't need anymore. I have way too many books, cds, and movies now so I'm doing what I can. Best of all, I have someone here to do stuff with. She is pretty awesome and I've really, really enjoyed spending time with her :) I'm starting to embark on the job search which will no doubt be difficult, but for now, the future looks bright.
As for grad school itself, it is much more disappointing and frustrating than I ever could have imagined. I don't know for sure what the worth of an English Master's is. I know I will be finding out soon. The workload is pretty much 24/7 while you're in school and quite frankly, I think that is unhealthy long term. It took me a while to manage the stress of it correctly and while I never perfected that, I did get better over time. While I ended up getting one A every semester there were so many classes where I came up short by 1% or something like that, it was ridiculous. I felt like the margins between an A and a B were too small, especially considering the huge difference those can have on a person's GPA. It led to so much extra stress and worry for me and ultimately made me lose some of the self-confidence I had rebuilt up as an undergrad. The truth is: grading in English (whether it be literature or creative writing) is incredibly subjective which can also mean unfair.
As far as Kansas is concerned, it was not a great fit for me personally. Life in Kansas is slower and more conservative than Ohio or at least Cincinnati and that was never going to appeal to me. There are definitely moments where I felt like I really didn't fit in there which happens some in Cincinnati, but was more frequent in Kansas. I do think it is impressive how much is in Manhattan considering the size of the town. There are nice movie theaters, great Thai restaurants, and the zoo is great too. Having said that, when you've grown up with the ability to go the art museum or spend all day at the Cincinnati Zoo or go to Kenwood Mall and buy pretty much any brand of clothes you could ever want, you tend to get a little spoiled. Moving to Kansas took most of those things away and I could never quite get over that. My appreciation for Cincinnati has really grown since I've been away. Our fair city has a lot more going for it than many of us realize and it is definitely something worthy of our appreciation.
So with all that said, I'm glad to be back in Cincinnati. I've had a lot of fun here thus far and I'm enjoying being able to go to Moe's and Dewey's again and hopefully Skyline in the near future. I've got a shopping trip planned in the near future which is way overdue. I went to the Esquire and saw The Artist which was pretty cool. I love independent theaters I've been trying to clean up my room/get rid of stuff that I don't need anymore. I have way too many books, cds, and movies now so I'm doing what I can. Best of all, I have someone here to do stuff with. She is pretty awesome and I've really, really enjoyed spending time with her :) I'm starting to embark on the job search which will no doubt be difficult, but for now, the future looks bright.