On the past four semesters.
The time has come. The end of my part-time master’s programme in Content Strategy at the FH Joanneum is almost here. The only hurdles are the completion of the master’s thesis and the oral exam (only those teeny tiny things, right?). So now it’s time to take a look back on the past four semesters..
I’ve been thinking for a long time about the best way to describe the phases I’ve gone through in this study program, I always ended up with my favourite series: The Office (US version, of course).
Phase 1: Confusion.
I found myself confused a lot of times. Confused about the whole idea of content strategy in general, about the study situation and a lot about my own profession and my knowledge. In the beginning I questioned myself a lot and I felt like an impostor a lot of times (being in a room with people who are all so knowledgeable can be really intimidating at times!)
Phase 2: Acceptance.
As my colleague Laura already mentioned in her blogpost, just do it, get in the swing of things, find your tribe, find a way of combining work — tasks — and some thing resembling a private life. It is manageable (I swear!) There have been a lot of evenings where I’d rather would have been out sitting in a bar having drinks with my friends, but I chose the online sessions instead (most of the times at least!)
Phase 3: Exhaustion.
To be totally honest, there have been times when I thought about giving up — Covid hit, all classes were happening online, there was no chance of meeting your fellow students, but nevertheless there has been this sense of community and comradeship that has carried us all through our studies.
Phase 4: Disbelief.
We’ve (almost) done it. I don’t really know how, but what I do know is that I learned a lot — mostly about myself, about how I work, how I learn, what I am interested in, who is part of my support system, where my interests lie and how to somehow make it through a master’s program. Right now I’m in the middle of writing my thesis and there is an end in sight and I’m in utter disbelief. All the weeks full of online sessions, tasks, etc. are in the past. All in all I’m very grateful for the experience, but I’m not gonna lie — I’m also very very happy about having having my evenings to myself again.
Will I ever write a couple of blogposts again just before the deadline? Let’s see what the future brings..
So long!
If you want to read more about my colleague’s experience, head over to Sanja who wrote about her cos19 adventure or Polina who shared some thoughts about what content strategy means to her.
