Category: grad school

2014 Reflections, Resolutions, and Round-Up

Hello, 2015! Rachel and I are living it up with our lovely friends in Boston. This year has been wonderful thus far, but we wanted to take a few moments and reflect on the great things that 2014 brought to us.  One of the most rewarding things for us, in the last year, was starting this blog.  From the launch of our Tumblr blog in January of 2014 to occupying this space in May, we feel so blessed to have this space to share our experiences as travelers, learners, and burgeoning female scientists!

Starting the new year sharing the same physical space is always a blessing for us as a creative duo.  We’ve been discussing our ideas/hopes/dreams for the future of Sweet Tea, Science, and you can rest assured that we are cooking up some exciting content for 2015!

We are so thankful for all of our fantastic readers and everyone who has read and shared our posts in 2014.

The top five STS blog posts from our inaugural year are as follows:

  1. STS and the Super Science Side of Tumblr’s TA Tips 
  2. Getting a Motivational Makeover
  3. Tricks of the Trade: LaTeX
  4. Ten Tips for Tackling that Thesis!
  5. What’s in Her (Field) Bag?
What’s in Store for 2015:
  • More guest posts! 
  • Rachel getting married!
  • The continuation and conclusion of our Amazing Besties National Park Road Trip Series! (About time, right?)
  • Meridith’s qualification exams.
  • Tons of photos of Rachel’s quality time in the marsh!
  • More science travel and conference visits!
  • Lots of Tumblr posts all week long in addition to weekly blog posts on Tuesdays! 
Thanks for the love and support this year. We’re also eager to hear all about your plans and motivation for the future, so make sure to drop us a comment/note/tweet/carrier pigeon! 

Assess the Stress

This is it guys. Two more weeks and then FINALS! Wow, two sentences into a blog post and I’m already about to reach for the stress chocolate I have stashed in my desk right next to the stress tea. Admittedly, the rest of the semester is going to be non-stop GO, GO, GO, for me and a lot of y’all out there. We’ve all being kicking ass this year and nothing is stopping us now. Even that crippling fear of ending the semester in a horrific crash and burn finals extravaganza doesn’t stand a chance. Not going to happen, folks. Why? Because we are going to keep our stress in check. Rachel and I have both been through our fair share of finals weeks (not to mention Rachel’s COMPS are tomorrow! GO WISH HER LUCK) and we’ve gathered up our top tips for finishing the semester with minimal freak out moments.


  1. Hang on to your favorite mantras for dear life until it’s all over. My personal favorite currently is “Stay ahead of them game, or at least don’t fall behind”, while I’m pretty sure Rachel’s is “All my tasks are accomplishable”.  I used to think mantras were a little silly, but I am a full fledged believer now. Sometimes just taking a moment to remind yourself that you are capable really helps.




  1. Plan Ahead. I have a lot of trouble with this one, even though I meticulously plan out my days via my iCal. My love for sleeping in always dashes my morning plans. So now, I’m trying to make my morning plans part of my evening plans. I really, really recommend Unfuck Your Habitat’s tumblr for further help on this issue. Tonight I’ve actually got my lunch for tomorrow ready and an outfit picked out for tomorrow!

 

  1. Lists, lists, lists. We’ve said it before and will say it again. We at STS love (need) our lists. Breaking things down. Crossing them off. I don’t know how people passed finals before lists were invented in 1873 by Baroness von Listenstein.


  1. Talk it out with friends. Sometimes you really just need to vent and complain and get all your frustrations out before you can go back to tackling everything. Even just a quick phone chat can put you in a better mood and chances are you’ll also brighten up your friend’s day as well!


  1. Or talk it out with a campus provided therapist. Maybe your friends are busy. Maybe you just want to discuss something with an unbiased third party. Maybe you really need to reach out for some extra advice. Whatever the reason, know that there are always services on campuses for counselling. Often these services also provide general relaxation workshops during finals. There’s a massage chair and stress ball somewhere waiting for you!
  1. Prioritize yourself and your time. You can’t do it all, so don’t put too much unnecessary pressure on yourself to try for the impossible. You come first. Sometimes that means sacrificing in some areas. Maybe your room will be messy for a week or so. Don’t sweat it. Maybe you’ll go over a bit on your dining out budget. You need to each and you don’t have time for much more than campus food. So be it! But do try and get enough rest and mental downtime. You are worth it!


  1. Jam to some upbeat tunes! I maked it myself!

  1. Forget all the previous hints and just join Rachel at this website with all the David Tennent gifs and photos you could ever want.


STS Extra Credit: Let us know what your go-to destressing tips are!

Plans for the Afterward

I’m studying for my qualifying exams right now, and I think I’m firmly in the “What if I FAIL?” phase.  I really don’t think I’ll fail.  But, WHAT IF?!!  In either case, I’ll know in about two weeks.  In the afterglow of my success or in the I-don’t-give-a-crap phase before deciding on my new career path, I plan to have two days of full on relaxation.  Hint, if you come to this blog to hear about actual science things, then now is the time to bow out of this post.  Otherwise, here are the things I plan to do when I can close my eyes and not visualize the carbon and nitrogen cycles.

Watch a lot of TV. Specifically, I’m hoping to catch up on Dr. Who and binge watch this potentially obnoxious anime about a high school swim team.  Don’t ask me why, it just seems like the right thing to do.

I have 55 new blog posts in my Blogger cue.  I will read all the blogs. In my PJs, with a latte, and my cat.

Listen to this song on repeat!  Alternatively, this one.

I’m going to clean my whole apartment.  Top to bottom, vacuum, dust, all the laundry, the works.  At the risk of exposing myself for the slob that I am, I’m out of clean forks.  That is all.

Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep.

Right afterward, I will probably do a string of unhealthy things, like eating obscene quantities of Thai food.  After that, I plan to eat all the vegetables and things that you have to mince and chop and steam, because, really, I do not have time for that nonsense right now. 

I mentioned sleeping?  Yes, that.

There are other things on my mind (hiking, swimming, curating an amazing Facebook photo album, etc.), but I don’t want to overbook myself.