Life With Jules, and other stuff

And what a journey it has been! I am in the process of applying to graduate school...again! This time for a terminal degree. That's right! I want to earn a PhD in History. That has been the goal all along. I knew from the start that I really can't get anywhere in my field without it and I figure now is as good a time as any. I'm not getting any younger. I'll be 50 in less than 2 years. OMG! I created another blog devoted to that journey: https://julesdoctoraljourney.blogspot.com/ It will be a slow start as I go through the application process, but I hope it takes off once I actually begin school again. Picture it: Dr. Julie Hayes. Has a nice ring to it!

I'm an historian. I'm an historian not just by what's on a piece of paper from a university I attended. No, I fell in love with history at a young age. I cannot pinpoint when exactly this happened. Maybe it was grammar school when we learned about the pilgrims at Thanksgiving. Or maybe in Sunday school learning about Jesus and his time. All I know is I wanted to know more. In high school, I especially enjoyed world history, learning about the early civilizations. Mesopotamia, Byzantium, Greece, Rome, even early Europe and Prussia. At university, I began my studies in Middle East studies. More of an Interdisciplinary Humanities degree that I had to create myself. I was able to incorporate some of my varied interests into the degree such as Byzantine Art, Philosophy, and such. I even took a year of Arabic after completing my French language requirement. Thus earning my Bachelor's degree from Michigan State University.  I completed my ...