Thursday, September 23, 2010

Starting Grad School

It’s definitely about time for a blog update. The title pretty much explains my neglect of the blog. I’ve been in Grad School at Trinity International University for the past 3 weeks. I’m studying Christian Counseling. I really enjoy it, however, it consumes A LOT of time!!! I have 10 books to read for my 3 classes this semester. One I read in just one week, along with some of the other 9 books. Needless to say, I’m overwhelmed!!! I just can’t keep up on all of the required reading. Friends have told me that no one actually reads everything that is required. I’ve been told to skim and pick and choose the things I don’t already know.


It has also been hard for me to just sit down and read for a whole day, hours on end, which is what I have to do. There are days that I just don’t have time for reading and only a few that I do. So, those WHOLE days are spent studying. I’m ADD. That just doesn’t work well for me. I’m so easily distracted by every little thing. I think I’ve gotten better at it, though. I expect it’s a transition that I must process over time.

I’ve turned in some quizzes and a paper and have gotten all A’s on all of them! I worry about the exams, though. That’s not my strong point. Papers are no problem for me. I also have oral presentations in 2 classes coming up. I hope to get better at speaking in front of people. I want to be confident to do that often in my career and in churches.

The material is right up my alley. I was meant to be a counselor. The head of the department, one of my professors, even told me that I will make a great counselor. That meant a lot to me!!! I really think this is my calling. I’m excited to see what God has in store for my future using my education.

There are all sorts of students in my classes. I think that probably half are young students right out of their bachelor’s. Others are divorced women like me. Some are married and furthering their education after hitting a dead end in the work force. There are only a few men in the classes. One is even all women, which is nice, because we actually get to counsel each other in there….love that class!

I also have been working on choosing my own personal counseling theory. I will have to write a paper on that at the end of the year. I seem to be mostly person-centered so far. That may change. I was supposed to write what my strengths and weaknesses are as a counselor right now in my latest paper. I got a 9.5/10 because I didn’t list enough weaknesses. I’ll have to work on that. I’ll post that paper as my next blog.

But overall, I’m really enjoying school. I just need to work on time-management to get more reading done. It may be better for me to take fewer classes, as 3 is a full load in Grad School, but I really want to get my class work done ASAP. I want to be able to start my own career and move on with my life. But God will work it all out, so I’m not going to worry. Hey, I have all A’s so far!!! Who cares if I haven’t read every word? I just hope I can keep my grades up.

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