200 Books

First off, I just want to reiterate here what I’ve said many times before: I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity.  I actually get paid to go to school.  Really.  And while the pay isn’t much it works out pretty nicely.  I study and teach a combination of about 40 hours per week.  In exchange for the teaching portion of that (about 10 hours a week), BSU pays my tuition (about $8,000 per year) and gives me a “stipend” of about $10,000.  I hear plenty of others complain about pay scales, and as a Teaching Assistant, I’m on the absolute bottom rung of the ladder, but I just cannot understand anything but gratitude for this situation.  I get paid real money for reading books and teaching freshmen how to write papers.

Second, I know I tweeted and Facebooked this news already but let me just say again: I rocked a 4.0 GPA this semester.  I’m ridiculously proud of this since it is my first.  When I was an undergrad I never did better than a 3.75 in any one semester and I graduated with a 3.3 something.  I know you all are probably a little surprised by that since I’m such a bookish sort but there is a legit explanation; I promise.  You see, I worked a lot: sometimes two full-time jobs!  I payed for my school out of my own pocket and never took out a student loan.  I also lived on my own much of the time.  I finished my BA in 5 full time and 2 part time semesters.  I managed that by testing out of 45 of my core credits.  Those test credits were pass/fail and didn’t contribute to my GPA.  So while I kind of hate that I didn’t graduate with honors – and hate that I honestly didn’t know that honors were an option until my graduation ceremony – I also really justify the low GPA to myself in order to maintain a sense of self-esteem.

Third thought: intellectual work is hard.  I spent much of the semester with glazed eyes complaining that my head was full and I couldn’t think any more thoughts.  I also had a hard time finding anything truly relaxing to read or do since I had so many things I had to think about and ‘figure out.’

Finally, I miss my blogging friends and hope to be around a bit more…

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