So the countdown begins: one month. Oh gosh.

One month until I graduate. Or at least I’m supposed to. Sometimes I don’t know if I should be optimistic and truly believe I will, or be realistic and expect something remotely cataclysmic to come along and destroy this opportunity for me to finally get out of school. I’m leaning towards optimism, however.

My to-do list looks a bit like this:

• One 5-page paper every week for the next month
• One 10-15 page paper before April 22nd
• One 10-15 page paper before April 29th
• 10-15 pages of a 20-25-page paper before April 29th

I’ve also got to make sure I’ve read just about everything for class and that I can ace the finals (just so there is no chance of failing the entire class). That includes prepping for one of my exams with pre-selected essay questions (and thankfully I’m averaging a 90 in this class), but I think I will do just fine in that class.

This comes out to somewhere around 50 to 65 pages in the next month, not including the exams themselves.

I can do it, right? What is that, 15 pages, more or less, a week?

I think I can do it. In fact, I know I can do it. I’m going to be optimistic this time. If I keep to this schedule, then one paper and some studying is all I’ll have to do after the 29th, and that ‘ll be a relief.

I honestly can’t believe I’ve made it this far. This month, more than many of the other crunchtimes and agonizing, month-long, panic-inducing stretches I’ve experienced in the last six years (this’ll be #10, not including week-long study sessions for a different format of classes in Sweden).

If you think all of this stress caused by school alone is a lot, don’t forget that I’ve also got to worry about employment; I’ve also got to find myself a source of income and a good start to my career. That’s a whole ‘nutha story, and an entirely different train of thought right now (that deserves a blog post on its own!).