I feel like a little kid waiting for first day of school

[wanderingalbatross]

I moved to the new city, I finished un-packing, I registered for classes....and now I'm counting down the days until school starts, like a 7-year-old, because I'm so excited about getting the ball rolling on classes and research (and meeting my cohort). Is anyone else like this?

[AboveTheRim]

Ahhhhhhh!!!! I know EXACTLY how you feel!! I haven't moved to the new city yet, but I'm counting down the days until I do. 

 

On a side note: It's weird saying Goodbye's....

[mpheels]

I still have 6 weeks to go before moving   I'm so excited, but the only thing I can do right now is pack - I started packing in early May! At the rate I'm going, I'll have everything but the bare essentials packed next weekend, then I just have to wait.

[Biostat_Assistant_Prof]

I don't move until August and the emotions I'm feeling are a weird mix of excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, and sadness. 

 

I'm very excited to get started with what will be my lifelong career, to get settled in and explore my new city before grad school life becomes hectic, to meet new people and make new friends... But I'm also really starting to feel some sadness about leaving my home. I'm really going to miss my hometown, my family, and my best friend of 17 years. 

 

Overall, I know what I'm doing is the right thing for me, but as the time nears, it's actually starting to feel real!

[wildviolet]

LOL, I felt like that last year... it's a good feeling!

[St Andrews Lynx]

It's now less than a month before I move and begin my summer project. Certainly feeling a mixture of emotions - thankfully none too negative.

Got unexpectedly excited when I placed an order for my university "linen pack" (towels, sheets, pillow, etc) It's random stuff like that which I'm enjoying a lot.

[1Q84]

I don't move until August and the emotions I'm feeling are a weird mix of excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, and sadness. 

 

I'm very excited to get started with what will be my lifelong career, to get settled in and explore my new city before grad school life becomes hectic, to meet new people and make new friends... But I'm also really starting to feel some sadness about leaving my home. I'm really going to miss my hometown, my family, and my best friend of 17 years. 

 

Overall, I know what I'm doing is the right thing for me, but as the time nears, it's actually starting to feel real!

 

I'm almost in the exact same position as you! I took for granted that I would be all excitement throughout this entire process (I can't wait to move out of my sleepy suburb, explore new places, meet new people, etc.) but now that it's getting real, all the other emotions are rushing in.

 

LOL, I felt like that last year... it's a good feeling!

 

Agreed

[Andean Pat]

I have also been packing since early May, basically because I have to sell most of my stuff. I am leaving this apartment in one week so the "moving" feels quite close, although I am not off to the States for another month or so. Like the Lynx, I am enjoying the buying new stuff (non yet), browsing through amazon, bed bath and beyond and ikea. Lately I have discovered more decorative shops, i am that sort of girl....

[mpheels]

I have also been packing since early May, basically because I have to sell most of my stuff. I am leaving this apartment in one week so the "moving" feels quite close, although I am not off to the States for another month or so. Like the Lynx, I am enjoying the buying new stuff (non yet), browsing through amazon, bed bath and beyond and ikea. Lately I have discovered more decorative shops, i am that sort of girl....

 Oh, the Ikea lists... Currently my closest Ikea is 2.5 hours away, so I'm limited to one trip/year, and we usually have 3-4 people piled into a car, which seriously limit what you can get. Once I move, I'll be less than 30 minutes from Ikea and within their $60 delivery area. The list just keeps growing!

[Ambigiousbuthopeful]

I have 28 days before I leave for the U.S and about 6-7 weeks before I start. All I can say is this is the stage of obsessive list-making! 

 

There is one required course that is filling me with dread so that does temper my excitement. Despite having heard so much about what grad school life is like, I still feel like I have no idea what's in store for me. Moving to a new country is a big deal and my programme is going to stretch out over 7 maybe even 8 years...I don't think this has entirely sunk in.  Still, excitement definitely continues to trump nervousness  

Edited July 8, 2013 by Ambigiousbuthopeful

[mewtoo]

 Oh, the Ikea lists... Currently my closest Ikea is 2.5 hours away, so I'm limited to one trip/year, and we usually have 3-4 people piled into a car, which seriously limit what you can get. Once I move, I'll be less than 30 minutes from Ikea and within their $60 delivery area. The list just keeps growing!

The closest to where I live currently is 3 hours away and I'll be moving 10 hours away from it now! There's not one in the entire state I'm moving to!

 

No Ikea lists for me. Sadness.

[Swagato]

Moving in 3.5 weeks now. I still feel like summer mysteriously slipped away, is slipping away.

 

Fortunately there's an Ikea in New Haven, and the usual big department stores are a short drive off.

[St Andrews Lynx]

I've been blogging quite a bit in the run-up to my move: what I'm looking forward to about the PhD (Pt 1 and Pt 2) and what the challenges will be (socialising with people once more after some very quiet months). I think my apartment is coming fully-furnished - Ikea will have to wait for a couple of months!

[JenCook]

Moving in 3.5 weeks now. I still feel like summer mysteriously slipped away, is slipping away.

 

Fortunately there's an Ikea in New Haven, and the usual big department stores are a short drive off.

Gotta love Ikea.

[saklfjasdf;jasdkf]

Me too! It's a bummer my program doesn't start until the end of September . 

[TheWB]

I've made the move, week into summer teaching duties now, buried in apartment hunting (I think I got one), HR paperwork sorting (finished!), and nervous class teaching (getting better). Oddly enough, what I have not thought of more than once so far this month is...actual graduate studies: courses, readings, or thesis. Not once. So come August when I go home for a week or two, I will be ready to panic.

[guinevere29]

I know EXACTLY what you mean! In fact, I'm way more excited to move and start grad school than I ever did when I was a kid. Back in the day, summer meant I had all day to myself to go to the pool and hang out with friends. Now, I work full time so summer is just about as much work as the school year but in my opinion far less enjoyable. I start to get really stir-crazy staring at the same computer in the same room for 8 hours a day. Very much excited to move down and explore campus!

[_kita]

I'm much the same. Though, I don't have to move anywhere (I love right outside the place where graduate school is). I'm about to experience a huge life change: drop the full-time job (that I've had for three years and dislike immensely), start a graduate assistantship and work two part-time jobs. Yes, I expect to be overburdened & exhausted. But I'm actually thrilled for it!

 

I'm visiting a friend tonight to get some of the books for the program. She completed it last year, so a lot of the material is the same. And that way I have some summer reading to get me on the right foot. Three books out of the 6 read ahead of time? I'll take it.

[EdYouKateOr]

It is all hitting me pretty fast! one week from now my life will totally change. Leave my $80k job to be a work/study student... Leave my 4br 3000 sq. ft. house to move to 2 br. 766 sq.ft. Apt...leave all friends and family in Sunny Florida to go to snowy Mass! What was I thinking?!?! I was thinking this is going to be the BEST thing that has ever happened to me! Wouldn't change a thing! Just a roller coaster of emotions everyday with plenty to-do lists!

[pears]

i've been doing some school-related reading (textbook for the class i'm TAing) and it's made me start to feel the same giddiness, too! only downside is i won't be moving until a week before my classes start.. but at least i'm having flight-of-fancy daydreams about what my new home city will be like.

[Lady6Starlight]

I'm really excited too! I just lost my job and I've been going through a real slump. I am truly hoping that going into school will be a catalyst for some positive change in my life.

I'm also anticipating meeting my classmates. I wonder what they're like?

Edited July 22, 2013 by Lady6Starlight

[i.am.me]

i am excited to start this new chapter too...and I am so antsy that my work performance at my current job is suffering...which is bad.

 

In regard to new classmates, i need to remind myself to tone it down---not everyone can handle me.

Edited July 23, 2013 by iampheng

[shadowclaw]

I'm pretty excited, too! I'm not moving anywhere, but I am very happy about a lot of things that will be happening.

 

I'm probably most excited about doing research. As an undergrad, I did get to do a few research projects, and I really enjoyed them, especially my senior project. I'm really looking forward to getting to do more, especially my master's thesis. Of course, I will have to wait until the spring for the field work to begin for that, but in the meantime, there will be lots to do to get ready!

 

I'm also looking forward to meeting my classmates. As an undergrad, there weren't too many serious students in my major and the related ones (I majored in Environmental Bio, and I shared a lot of classes with Wildlife Bio and Environmental Resource Management majors). It seems liked all of the students that wanted to go to grad school were in the health science-type majors, while the environmental folks just wanted to graduate and get a job, and as a result, a lot of them didn't try very hard at anything. So it will be nice to be taking classes and working with like-minded people.

 

Also, I've been working pretty much full-time in restaurants while working on my undergrad degree. I've been at my current job for over 5 years, and it's really getting on my nerves! Not ready to all out quit, though, the money is ok and my boss is very flexible with scheduling and letting me have any days off that I want. But I'm cutting back my hours and that makes me soooo happy.

 

Only 2 weeks left!

[sdt13]

 

Just came across this thread and find it particularly interesting/relevant to my experience right now. I decided to move early so that I could have some time to adjust, set up my apartment, and obtain all of my paperwork and what not (I moved to Canada from the U.S.). I left about 2 weeks ago but have been coming into school regularly for the past week and it's been super exciting! My advisor and I have had a few unofficial meetings where we've basically already planned out the research I will be doing for the next 2 years, so come fall we will be ready to go! We are having our first lab get-together in a couple of days so I am even more excited to meet my lab mates :-)

[Aurora15]

I am really excited and nervous! Classes start in 2 weeks and I am feeling unprepared for the huge change in schedule. I've been a "housewife" for the past 9 months and now I'm going to have to go to class, juggle assignments, in addition to my regular tasks. I've been actively stalking my professors' websites to find out what books to buy. It drives me crazy that some of them still haven't posted this information.  I'm really looking forward to my campus tour next week. And the food trucks. Yum!