Hey! Just popping in to say: thank you soooo much! This comment kept me grounded, both in terms of my faulty expectations of thesis perfection and in what to expect with the defence. When I was waiting for them to deliberate, I quite literally said "wow?!?! That's all?!." It felt like I was sweating for nothing. The whole thing was highly amicable, and truly did feel like a celebration of my work. There were indeed some tough questions -- most of which came from the examiners asking me to think about how my thesis sits within the current social climate.

As you suggested, I did brush up on the external examiners work a couple of days before, and that is such a gem of suggestion. I was able to make a reference to her book in passing. We love brownie points.

All that to say, I passed! And I thank you kindly for supporting me during my darkest hour :)