My winter break started at the beginning of December and officially ended today. It was a long, much-needed break after the chaos of last semester and I appreciated the extra time off to reconnect with my husband, myself, and the things I love. (One of the perks of working where you go to school is having a nice, long winter break. Now what to do over spring break??) Last semester was filled with remodeling our apartment, moving, planning a wedding, getting married, going on our honeymoon, and teaching two classes, so needless to say, I rarely had the free time to enjoy the little things.
I vowed to make winter break a time of reconnecting with the things I missed out on last semester amongst the craziness of life. Firstly, our bedroom at our cozy apartment is by far my favorite room at our place. The orange walls that I picked out, artwork, and bookshelf stocked with my favorite works and authors are just a few of the things that make our bedroom my safe haven. Many nights during winter break, I escaped to the coziness of our room to read a good book (including the books my hubby got me for Christmas) or flip through a magazine. If I wasn't in the mood to read, I was in my art studio throwing something together or blogging from the comfort of my bed.
I definitely needed a break from school. My brain was overloaded from all of the end-of-the-semester grading and paper writing, but I still managed to take my journal with me everywhere and write whenever I had a spark of inspiration. Even though winter break was an amazing time for me to be creative and spend time enjoying my husband and the comfort of our home, I was glad to get back to work and school today.
Teaching went well today and I think I have a great group of students this semester. (One of my students says she loves Pokemon - what's not to love about that!?) I am very happy to have teaching experience under my belt going into this semester. While I was still slightly nervous today (as I always am the first time I get up in front of a class), I felt more prepared and knew exactly what changes to make this semester to make the class's learning experience and my teaching experience go much smoother.
I had my first graduate class of my last semester of graduate school this evening! It seems like just yesterday that I was applying to various grad schools and now I am a few months away from graduating. I couldn't be happier. I keep looking into PhD programs in my free time, but I know the timing isn't right. I need some time away from school after I graduate. After all, I've been going full-time since I was five.
It's been a good start to the semester. I'm married, I'm an experienced teacher, and I'm almost finished with my masters degree. I feel so blessed. And I found a great online ASL program and am on my way to learning to sign! My New Years resolution is underway.
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