I had been dreading the Lifespan development exam for weeks – not because I don’t enjoy the class (quite the opposite actually) but because I knew that the sheer volume of material to study would be overwhelming. The professor provided us with chapter-by-chapter study guides to help us slog through the informative but dense textbook, as well as a mid-term exam study guide. I spent hours each day of the past week poring over these study guides, tracking down answers, emailing questions to the professor, and commiserating about my anxiety with fellow first-years. I do feel more confident now in explaining Erikson’s stages of development vs. Object Relations theory, and postulating about ways to foster resiliency in children, but I also realize that this course just scratches the surface of myriad psychology/biology topics and I’m consistently impressed how relevant it feels to our field work.

While we haven’t gotten our exam grades yet, now that it’s over, we have all breathed a sigh of relief. I decided to take a day off from school and spent time cooking and bike riding, activities that I enjoy but usually struggle to squeeze in between classes, papers, work, and practicum hours. As the smell of pumpkin bread wafts through my apartment, I recognize that soon I need to get back to the books….. Freud awaits!