November 29

On November 29, I:

• Completed all of the paperwork to graduate. After they handed me the sheet that will serve as my degree until the real one comes in the mail, they rang a bell and announced that "Lauren Greene has just received her master's!"
• Taught my last discussion section as a TA
• Received an extremely nice email from Isabel, my adviser, letting me know that she understood and respected my decision to end with the MS instead of pursue the PhD. That was a huge relief!

Bam, bam, bam, just like that I'm done with grad school all in one day. I called my parents, grandparents, Two ma-ma, Michelle, and Pascal after I turned in all of my paperwork. Pascal and I celebrated with a super fancy and delicious dinner of steak, apple spiced collard greens, and wild rice stuffed acorn squash. I stopped by the Pleasanton meat & fish market to pick up the steak, and while chatting with the guy at the counter I told him that I finished my master's that day. He was really excited and offered me some big prawns with their homemade cocktail sauce to celebrate! Pascal and I drank the wine we've been saving since December last year (Hendry primitivo- nothing too fancy but we liked it!) with dinner and I started to get used to this no stress lifestyle. So far, I'm a fan.