And on the 1093430943409 billionth day, the Lord said, "Though shalt consolidate!"

Whoever decided that adulthood should be expensive must have been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Personally, being a teacher's kid and a teacher, I think most everything should be free or at a ridiculously good looking low price.
Case in point: My apartment.

At the moment I dwell in an apartment in Olde Town. It's close to work and Downtown. I can access Washington Road and Riverwatch Parkway very easily and even walk to the gym if it's not raining. The downside - my rent is almost $700. For most professionals, that might seem like chump change, but they usually get paid a lot more than teachers. Gotta cut out unnecessary spending and this is one of the major drains on my wallet.

My task: To find affordable housing within the next three months.
The criteria: It must be pet friendly and as close to downtown as possible, ain't no apartment gonna get in the way of my bicycling to work.

Will I make it? Lord only knows....

The Teacher Catch-22

Most of my commentary thus far has been more concerned with the preparation of grad school than most anything else. There is a shadow to this journey. Not a malevolent or evil shadow, but a shadow that will seem to follow me through this path more than I perhaps anticipated: teaching. 


In August, the 4th year of my teaching career will commence. I expect it to be a great one, mainly because I'll be blessed to be at only one school rather than split like a mad schizo between two very antithetical groups of students...never again! I wasn't the best that I could have been this past year for exhaustion and lack of time, so when the Foreign Language Curriculum Coordinator said that she had found the funds to pay for the Latin Curriculum Map, I applied the same day.

Apart from grad school, writing the curriculum map for Latin was a bright spot in my summer. I finally had the time to really think about what my students needed to learn and how they were going to be taught. Every assignment, project, test was going to be written out and clarified to the last minute detail.

But here's the catch: I've been so excited about grad school that I have have had one of the biggest creative teaching blocks this whole time. I guess when you're the student it's hard to be the teacher.

The Caesar Complex

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The start of the 5 year plan....

This past month has been a roller coaster of paperwork and appointments in order to be able to register for classes. One of the first steps I had to take after I was accepted to UGA was to have immunization paperwork filled out and signed by my physician. Well, the last time I went to the doctor was in high school and that physician was my pediatrician....that was almost a decade ago and I was a little apprehensive about getting a new doctor who I had to rely on to fill out paperwork in a timely. I work in public schools, paperwork is about as fast as a cat on a lazy Sunday, so I'm a little cynical. I went to my appointment and had about a gallon of blood taken and about a dozen immunizations administered. Luckily for me, since I have had the experience of getting a tattoo, the copious needles were not a problem. After a freak moment with a positive PPD (Tuberculosis Skin Test) and a chest x-ray (don't worry I've only been exposed, doesn't mean I have TB, thanks public school system!), all of my immunizations were complete. 
The next step was so anti-difficult that it doesn't even merit mentioning....so I won't.

When the woman at the Health Services department told me that my last flag was lifted, a rush of excitement came over me. This would be my very first graduate level course: Archaeology of Caesar's Gaul. When I hit "Add Course", my eyes filled with tears. This day truly begins my 5 year plan. Even though I had already been accepted and taken my proficiency exam, registering for this class marks the true beginning of my journey.

The Proficiency Exam.

I'm not sure if this is true for all other master's programs, but with Classical languages, one of the first things that I had to do is take a Latin proficiency exam. This basically lets my adviser know where my skill set in translating is blah blah blah. 

Since I was split between two schools this past year (different story for a different day), I didn't have the time to practice my Latin translating muscles specifically for this test. Luckily, I am a, in fact, a Latin teacher, and have to deal with translations and grammar on a daily basis, so I didn't go into the test completely unprepared. 

To compound the stress of having to take this test, I was at my parents' house the previous night, helping my sister, Meghann, house-sit while our parents are overseas in the UK. I went to bed late that night and had to wake up at 4:30am to ensure that I would make it to Athens in time. As I hopped into the shower, I seriously considered bailing on the whole thing, sending an email saying that I gotten a stomach virus or there was some family emergency. Then I remembered I was 25, not 15, matured-up and finished getting ready. 

I arrived in Athens after a 2 hour drive and hiked my way to Park Hall. The test was in the Alexander Room. It was TINY! A few people were in there before me. We chatted for a little while then our adviser came in and gave us the test. 

Either it was nerves or I was truly on fire because when I got that test, I just started translating. The first passage was by Cicero and it took up the entire first page. The second passage was from the Aeneid. I had never seen the Cicero passage before that test and in fact the only thing that I had ever translated from Cicero was his Philippics. The Aeneid I had translated before but I didn't remember the section that was one the test. So truly for me, it was an exercise in sight reading. I had never felt that confident with a sight translation in my whole career. I finished with 30 minutes to spare while everyone else was flipping through their dictionaries. 

I'm not sure how I actually did on my proficiency exam. I don't meet with my adviser until July since I start my class in the 2nd Summer Session. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

And so it begins....

                If you do not know me, my name is Jillian Humphreys. I am 25 years old and currently teach Latin to incredibly gifted and talented students in Augusta, GA. I discovered in the past couple of years that I love to teach. Whether I stay in public schools or become a college professor, my life will be spent teaching about the worlds and languages of ancient Greece and Rome.

                The catch is, I must complete graduate school through the Ph.D. level in order to do so and with the rising costs of college tuition, I will need as much help as I can get. 

It will be a while before I get married or have any children, so, I am going to treat this blog like a "Grad School Shower." Just like you would buy your friends place settings or bibs and blankies for their future blessings, you can help me get along in my journey through graduate school by making donations. In return, I plan to keep you updated throughout my journey.
                 I have attached a "Donations" button to my blog if you wish to donate to the Great Grad School Journey....