DONE

I just handed in my last paper, and am thus, more or less, one year into grad school. Immediate thoughts:

1) Taking a year off was a good move. The year off was not fantastic, but it never hurts to really, really appreciate what you're doing.

2) My classmates are intelligent, not to mention fashionable, not to mention fun to be with. I'm lucky--I doubt if this is the typical grad school experience. Having intimidatingly smart and well-read professors is also a plus but was not, as with the classmates, so much of a surprise.

3) Algeria, 1962, has started to seem more interesting than France, 1898, but don't quote me on this. Regardless, I entered grad school thinking I wanted to study French Jews and that is, if anything, more the case now than it was in September.