By: Karl Heinz, SAA 2020
Before moving to Michigan for graduate school, I had lived in Washington state for my whole life. I grew up just south of Seattle, went to undergrad at Western Washington University (Go Vikings!), and worked for several years post-graduation north of Seattle. From majestic Mount Rainier, to the shimmering Puget Sound; from my parent’s kitchen table to sitting around a campfire with friends, Washington was and always had been my home. When I decided to pursue my master’s, I greatly wanted to experience life outside of Washington, at least for a while, to see what else the world had to offer. I was excited for the opportunity to learn more about myself, to explore a new part of the country, and to build new relationships with people from around the country who I had never met before. While these were all exciting new opportunities, I was somewhat apprehensive to leave everything I knew behind, including family, friends, and familiar landscapes, but my excitement for the challenges ahead was enough to motivate me to take the chance. With all of my belongings (okay, probably 1/3 of my belongings) packed up in my car, I drove with my parents across the country some 2,300 miles to East Lansing, Michigan. We had such a wonderful weeklong journey, and I was so fortunate to get to spend some quality time with my parents before being far away from them for the next few years.
The first moment that it felt real was when I was driving back to East Lansing after dropping my parents off at the Detroit airport. Fighting, and eventually succumbing, to tears of both sadness and nervousness, I drove west on I-96 wondering if I knew what I had gotten myself into. Realizing I knew nothing about the greater Lansing area nor anyone in it, I recognized I was not only in the driver’s seat of my Honda CR-V, but also in the driver’s seat of my life for the next two years. Feeling a little unsettled laying in bed that night, I tried to think about what would help me feel more settled here in my new home, in a new city, in a new state, in a new region.
I was kept pretty busy during my first month at MSU completing training for my graduate assistantship and preparing for school to start, but I spent any spare time I had trying to become acclimated to my surroundings. Something I know about myself is that I feel much more at ease in a new place when I have a sense of my physical environment. In my free time during my first month, I spent a lot of time walking around campus (which is pretty expansive, by the way), exploring buildings, gardens, river walks, and pathways. Before I ventured out each time, I looked at a map, picked a spot and thought, “I want to see what that is,” and walked there. Exploring in this way gave me the chance to see cool and interesting sights locally while also allowing me the chance to reflect on my experience so far. (In case you were wondering, my favorite thing is getting a scoop of ice cream at the Dairy Store and walking through the MSU horticulture gardens.)
In addition to becoming acclimated to my physical surroundings, I also needed to become acclimated to school, people, and my new graduate assistantship. As you are fully aware, we each have only so much energy and time to dedicate to different aspects of our lives at any given moment, and in reflecting on my experience over the past year and half, I realize that I sort of focused my energy on each of these things in different semesters. Focusing my energy this way helped me set personal goals and provided some structure to my life, which I think was really important for my sense of feeling settled in grad school.
Semester 1 – Academics
In my first semester, my energy was focused on school. It had been four years since I graduated from undergrad, so it definitely took me about a month to get used to the pace of being in school again: reading a lot, going to class, thinking about theory, writing papers, working on group projects. Since I was previously working full time, I had to really fight the urge to be in the office all day. In order to create time for schoolwork, I had to be intentional about the hours I spent in my office by setting aside time in my schedule for work, and then actually leaving when I said I would. In my first semester, doing the academic part of my experience far from home had pros and cons. Pro: I didn’t really know anyone yet, so I didn’t have any distractions and could really focus on my schoolwork! Con: I didn’t really know anyone yet, so all I was doing was schoolwork… With focusing my energy on school in my first semester, I really got used to the feeling of being back in school and understanding what I needed to do to be successful in my classes. As I neared the end of my first semester, I realized I was really longing for some relationships—I needed to find my social circle and spend more time with other people.
Semester 2 – People
Entering my second semester, I was feeling pretty good about academics, but I was feeling like I hadn’t really spent time getting to know many people around me beyond just a superficial level. I had never been in a situation like this before. In other big transitions in my life (going to college, graduating from college), I had at least a few good friends close by that I knew I could hang out with at a moment’s notice. This always made making new friends less difficult during transitions—while making new friends, I always had old friends and family to fall back on. I kept in touch with friends and family back in Washington by regularly talking on the phone and playing video games online, but it is definitely not the same as being with them in person. In my second semester I made a serious effort to join coworkers and people in my cohort in hanging out and doing social things. I told myself that this semester I would prioritize people. I would be a “yes” man and would try to go to everything I was invited to. Doing this really helped me connect with my peers in a way that I hadn’t yet; I have some really great memories from this semester. As the second semester came to a close, I found that I was happier than I had been in the first semester. I felt more whole with the relationships I had built with others around me.
Semester 3 – Graduate Assistantship
With my academics and social life feeling secure, I decided to start off my second year and my third semester by focusing energy on my graduate assistantship. With a full year as an assistant community director (in a residence hall) under my belt, I felt confident in the position and I was ready to start off the year strong. I spent more energy this semester thinking about what I wanted to get out my assistantship for the rest of the year—helping my RAs learn and grow, seek out opportunities to get involved in the department, and beginning to think about what skills I wanted to develop in preparation for the impending job search. I also tried create time to have coffee or simply meet with other leaders in my department and on campus. These conversations helped me reflect on my experiences in my assistantships and in my classes and allowed me to continue building a professional network.
Semester 4 – Job Search
The majority of my energy and thought at this point in my final semester has been about my job search. I have spent countless hours looking at jobs online, updating my resume, writing and re-writing cover letters, and formulating good questions to ask in interviews. I still have a lot of work ahead of me (and jobs to apply to), but my energy this semester will be focused on my job search and where I might be next. Despite the job search being my focus this semester, I will be sure to dedicate time to being thankful for and appreciating the people, places, and experiences I have had in my grad school experience at MSU.
In not too long, I’ll be packing up my Honda CR-V again and heading to wherever my next destination is. I don’t know if all of the stuff I’ve accumulated during grad school is going to fit—I might have to leave behind my microwave or that bookshelf I bought. Fortunately, however, my CR-V has plenty of room to take with me the most important things I accumulated: an education, wonderful friendships, and unforgettable memories. I took a risk and challenged myself to do grad school far away from everyone and everything I knew. While scary and unpredictable at times, this experience really challenged me, got me out of my comfort zone, and gave me some pretty unique opportunities that I am incredibly thankful for. To my family, my friends (old and new), my supervisors, and my faculty: Thank you for helping me make it through grad school in a galaxy far, far away.