What comes next?

So, Princeton has a really, really weird fall semester schedule. As in, our papers are due and exams are scheduled after Christmas break. It's kind of the worst. They are changing this schedule sometime soon(ish?), but it's not going to affect me very much because I've now turned in my last papers and am done with coursework (I seriously felt SUCH a burden leave my shoulders when I turned in those papers. SUCH A RELIEF).

[How I treated myself: blue hydrangeas and chocolate cake.]

So, what does that mean now, you ask? (Since I know you're asking.) Well, for me, it means that this semester I study for my general exams and take those exams in May. The words "general exams" would have meant pretty much nothing to me three years ago. 

I am convinced more and more of the fact that no one really knows what it means to get a PhD unless you've gotten one yourself. That's not an indictment, that's just an observation. I certainly didn't know what I was getting myself into until I was in the thick of it all (and, even then, I might still not 100% know what I've gotten myself into). 

BUT, if I talk to you in the upcoming months and you ask me, "What's up? Are you still doing coursework? Working on your dissertation?" just know that I'll reply, "I'm studying for generals." 

Most people I know (and love) have given me a blank stare when I tell them that. Again, I don't blame them or you. PhD-speak is terribly opaque and every PhD program has their own meanings for the same term. 

So, what "studying for generals" means for me is this: I have 3 different fields that I will be tested on in the middle of May. The 3 fields are fields of history, and I need to master the literature of these different fields. That means reading about 300 books and articles total. For example, my major field is the Long 19th Century U.S., with readings from the 1790s through World War I, with themes such as labor, antislavery and slavery, modernism, economic, and gender. I'll discuss the books I'm reading with the professors who have agreed to work with me on these fields. And then, in May, I'll have written exams and oral exams on each of the 3 fields. After the oral exams, my generals committee (the professors who have been working with me), will decide if I pass or fail.

[Most of my books.]

[And the rest.]

In other words, it's a big deal.

Of course, that's what "studying for generals" means on paper. What "studying for generals" means in reality is that there will probably be lots of tears. They haven't happened yet, but believe me, they'll come at some point.

It also means figuring out a schedule so I
1) read everything that I need to,
2) synthesize the information in some coherent way, and
3) make a schedule which includes things like, oh, I don't know, making sure I actually eat, and that I don't hibernate in the library, and that I spend time outside, or spend time writing blog posts, or jogging while listening to a Harry Potter podcast (which is the most white-girl-millennial thing in the world to do--but have I done it? Oh, certainly.). Because I refuse to let the pile of books swallow me whole. A girl needs to breathe. And listen to Harry Potter podcasts once in awhile.

Tl;dr--If you see me in the next few months and I looked harried, stressed, or catatonic, just give me a hug. I'll also take baked goods.