summer break

On July 7 I passed my comprehensive oral exam for school, and advanced to candidacy. Now I'm ABD ("all but dissertation"), which is exciting. (But also daunting, because I have to write a dissertation now. Ugh.) The eight weeks or so leading up to the exam I spent lots of time studying, and once the whole ordeal was over I gave myself a summer break from school.

In mid-July I went to Raleigh for a history conference. The history part was good, and it was also nice being back in Raleigh and seeing some old grad school friends from when I was there for my masters. My first night I met a friend for drinks and then a delicious dinner. The next day I went to the art museum to walk around their outdoor trails littered with sculpture. That Saturday night I went to another friend's house to hang out and play games. It was a good trip.

Pre-dinner drinks.

A walk through art.

By not having to study after work or on the weekends, I've had more time for normal but nice things, like cooking and watching tv or movies. Patrick has been doing Blue Apron (the ingredients for three meals are mailed to him with easy-to-follow recipes), so we've been eating at his place a lot. Then we watch Cutthroat Kitchen, a fun cooking competition show on the Food Network.

I feel like my friends haven't been doing as much together this summer, probably because some of them got married and were settling into their new married lives. But I've still had some good friend times that included hanging out in the rooftop pool at the gym after work; listening to opera in the park; going for a hike and picnic; playing trivia at a bar on the Corner; attending a coffee, cake, and karaoke party on a weeknight; tubing the James River; and going to the drive-in theater.

Opera at the IX park.

A hike to Blue Hole.

 I've spent some time with my Richmond family, too. One weekend we visited St. John's Church to hear Patrick Henry's "give me liberty, or give me death" speech reenacted. On a Wednesday my aunt came to Charlottesville and we had dinner on the downtown mall before seeing My Fair Lady performed by the Ash Lawn Opera. Last weekend I went to Richmond for Sunni's going away dinner and then helped her move into her dorm in Williamsburg.

Photo-op with TJ.

But now my summer break is coming to an end. The semester starts on Monday, and even though I don't have to go to class or anything I need to get busy on dissertation research, because that thing's not gonna write itself. The break was pretty nice while it lasted.