Sunset Under the Tracks

The final classes for the term have been dismissed, students are jetting away to faraway vacations or beginning new summer jobs, and teachers are intrepidly braving piles of final projects to be graded. We have reached the end of another semester.

For me, finals were shockingly stressful in a way I didn’t anticipate. While working on my final film project for David Lazar’s Nonfiction Film class, all of the files for my iMovie project were corrupted and I had to recreate my film from the beginning, which included importing and re-sequencing all my video and stills as well as rerecording all my voiceovers.

Up All Night (and day)

In the end, I stayed awake for thirty five hours between reviewing the placeholders for the corrupted file and creating a shot by shot list of clips and audio, replacing the clips themselves, rerecording audio, doing final edits, uploading it to Vimeo, and submitting the project to my professor. By the end of the process I was exhausted, delirious, but proud.

And during all of that I also had to go to teach my last class of the semester and go to work at the Learning Studio.

It’s fair to say that I’m one of those people that thrives on pressure, and while I have never stayed up that long before (I was never the type of student who pulled “all nighters” even in undergrad), it was a nice reminder not only to be on the lookout for issues that might arise in my projects, but also that my mind and body are stronger and more resilient than I imagined. I was able to get through that day and do everything I needed to get done in time. As I look toward my third and final year in the program, I think that might be one of the things that I’ll miss about being in grad school—facing the pressure and thriving—but I’m sure wherever I end up working after graduation I will have similar, perhaps even more exciting challenges.

Celebrating the End of the Term and Juan’s Birthday at Revolution Brewing

But now, it’s time to relax, just for a little bit. I took the past weekend to rest and celebrate the end of the semester and my husband’s birthday, which inauspiciously fell on that same day I was working to reassemble my project. We took a trip to Revolution Brewing (a delicious local craft brewery—another great reason to live in Chicago ;) ) and went out to dinner with friends to celebrate their recent graduation and the end of my second year.

For now, it’s full speed ahead with grading. I’m looking forward to warmer weather (seriously, Chicago, why is it forty degrees in MAY??), more time to relax, starting a new job, and being done with grading for a couple months. Year three is on the horizon, but we’re not there yet. I’ll just enjoy the view for now.