And they will call her "PhD Candidate"

A few days late, but here it is...

I have completed my candidacy exam, I passed it and now I am officially a 'Candidate for PhD'! Hooray!

The exam was actually way better than I expected it to be. My five examiners were much nicer to me than I expected - they still asked really hard questions, but they were friendly and encouraging. I was so nervous beforehand, and it didn't help that one of my examiners came an hour late. We waited for him for half an hour before starting without him, so that half hour was a long one for me. I sat there feeling stressed out while my other examiners chit-chatted to fill the time. Awkward and stressful.

But eventually I was done and it was glorious! The euphoria didn't really hit me until the next day, when I no longer felt the stress of studying and thinking hard!

So, that was my last big hurdle until I defend my PhD in several year's time. Rock on.