10 Things I wish I knew before going to Grad School

Hi loves,

Well, the thesis defense has come and gone! I will recap the experience in another post coming soon! I did live stream it, although I never got around to announcing it on here, but if you follow me on social media, you should have seen the announcement! It was saved to my Facebook page, so you can replay and take a look! I refuse to watch it again...hahah!
These last couple of days post defense have been a lot of reflection and stressing out about the things I have to finish up before moving on to the next stage, which includes finishing some experiments with whatever time I have left at UCLA and moving two times.
I'm also showcasing an outfit I put together as a conference or social look - with a blouse and a skirt my aunt sent me from Cyprus! I decided to pair orange with a black, patterned top, but I would also just go with a solid black top!

I wanted to share some tips with you, 10 things I wish I knew before going to Grad School, as I feel like I have a lot of wisdom I can share, and help people with things I had to learn the hard way! I wrote a similar post on ways to take care of yourself in grad school, which you can also check out for some tips!

1. You are among the best of the best. 
Something I struggled with was not being the smartest in the room, and putting myself down for it. In order to even get to graduate school, you had to go thru an interview process, and were hand selected to join a few others in a cohort class for whatever department you are joining. You are among the best of the best. And it's ok to not be THE best. It's impossible. At times I felt stupid for not understanding topics as fast as my classmates, and just know that its ok. Everyone learns things differently and at different rates, with different methods. When I did study groups, others would catch the material fast and I would still not understand it. I studied better on my own.

Lab Fashion

So WHO said that working in a lab/doing research meant you had to be boring in the fashion department? Not me. And that's what this blog is all about. Here are some outfits I put together that I would wear on a daily basis for work, and the best part these are all safety requirement compatible! Working at UCLA, there are really strict rules about what we can and can't wear. We have to wear pants or long dresses that cover our legs and close toed shoes that cover our entire foot. So that rules out flats and heels (why would you want to wear heels anyway? Running around all day at work = hurting and uncomfortable feet!) Here are some shoes/booties I picked to go along with these outfits. Another requirement is that long hair needs to be tied up. So why not go for a cute pony tail or even a bun? I'm recently in love with ballerina buns on the top of the head. I also really love dark and light wash jeans. I wear the occasional dress to work with black leggings underneath. Can easily be converted to more a more classy look after leaving work by just removing the leggings! and BAM you are ready to hit the town! (I usually wear dresses on Fridays).
As far as makeup, why not put some on?? I know some people don't care enough but its just like any other job. I never leave home/show up to work without some eye liner and mascara. I don't always do eyeshadow but when i do it is a gold shimmery kind that resembles the look in the picture below, but instead I use black liquid liner at the top! And I have been experimenting with new shades of lipstick as you have seen in my previous posts.
Hehe stay fabulous!
My next post will be a video review! I'm so excited to share my first video review with you!
Let me know your thoughts xoxo Andrea

Lab Fashion by andreah227 featuring a vegan lipstick