Cleared for graduation

So, I had my MALS exit interview. At 2:30pm, while I was in the Whole Foods parking lot, having just bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate, my phone rings. "Michelle, we surely hope you are on your way. It's 2:30 now and your interview started at 2pm," said my program director. "You have got to be kidding me," I said. "I have had the exit interview on my calendar as 3pm since the day I scheduled it." Great. I checked back through e-mails yesterday and realized that yes, it was scheduled for 2pm, but for some unknown reason, I put it into my calendar as 3pm.

So, I screech into the parking lot and run in. They looked thrilled. I sat down, gave my apologies, and then the beating began. Honestly, I don't want to go into detail about the whole thing here. I still haven't processed what happened, and to be honest, I am still a bit angry and saddened by what happened in the one hour exit interview.

The end of the story is that I passed, and I was cleared for graduation. If you want to know the dirty details, feel free to ask me, but be prepared for a long winded rant on my part. And I'll probably cry.

My degree won't have an asterisk at the bottom saying "defense went badly," so it will all be fine. Thanks everyone for your support. I will do my final edits this week, drop all the books off to the library, and this paper will be put away for a long long time. Bye bye school, hello life.