Girl, Unsolicited

Graduate school is a lot, sometimes. I just started my second year and it has been wild.

My program requires me to – on top of taking my classes – have an internship that takes up 16 hours a week. So not only do I have to work for free for 16 hours, but then I have my actual full time job. Add time to do my assignments and sleep and I have never experienced this level of literally having no time at all to do anything.

I recognize my privilege in being able to bitch about my higher education and earning my Masters degree. I’m just going to state that I recognize my privilege, and continue to bitch.

I am going to school to get my MSW and I can only think about the irony of being exploited by a program that promotes social justice and anti-oppression. My cohort went to the placement orientation – a meeting about our internships that really could have been an email – and one of them told us “you will have to make sacrifices”.

I don’t care that those who have come before us have suffered. Do you really want us to have to suffer like you?

I will say that I do feel rather fortunate for my cohort. We are in a program where we all get to take the same classes and they have been essential to my success in this program. There is a group chat and I can ask questions whenever I feel lost. Or, we can all commiserate about our program and how hard shit has become.

Because shit truly has become so much harder.

Either way, do you know that meme that’s like a dog sitting in a room on fire and they’re like “Everything is fine”? Well, that’s me. Everything is fine.