First day of grad school and beyond!

Yesterday was my first day as a full-time graduate student at Boston College. After the course I took over the summer, it was slightly anticlimactic. After all, I'm already fairly familiar with the campus, I've done the reading and work for a graduate level course at BC, what's to be nervous about? Still, I noticed that by the end of the day all of my nail polish had been chipped away.

From 1-3 yesterday we had academic orientation, which basically consisted of an overview of the department and faculty and when and how we will ultimately be assigned our advisors. We also heard from a few of the 2nd year students, which was much more helpful than I had anticipated.

After that I went to grab lunch in the graduate student lounge and met a few new people. I had class from 4:30-6 (it will normally be until 6:50 on Tuesdays, but we didn't have lab last night) and then walked home. Despite the cold rain yesterday, I really enjoyed my first day on campus with so many other people buzzing around.

Since yesterday I've been a busy bee. Everything from applying for Graduate Assistantships (not a real word, but unfortunately the one everyone uses now), to working on assignments, looking for required books, etc. It feels good to be doing something again. Having the month of August to do whatever I pleased was really quite wearisome. I like to be working toward something, to begin each day with a purpose. It's great to be back!

Admittedly yesterday was even more exhausting than it would have otherwise been because Joe and I spent the weekend in North Carolina and flew back early yesterday morning. We visited my parents for Labor Day weekend so he could see where I grew up and meet my family. We had a really fabulous time going out with my friends and then going hiking.
.

Hiking on Whiteside Mountain

We plan to go back around Christmas, provided Joe can get the time off from work. What's great about the time frame for classes is that it looks like my winter break will start on or around December 12, so I'll have a bit of time off before we head to North Carolina for the holiday (which will probably actually be the day after Christmas so we can do Christmas day with his family). My friend Amie is getting married on the 27th, so that will allow us to be in town for her wedding as well.

There's a lot going on and a lot to think about, but I'm mostly just trying to get adjusted to my coursework, find a part-time job, and squeeze in my half marathon training and time with my Little Sister. I think it will definitely be doable, but it's going to require a lot of organization.

That said, it's time to work out, shower and head to class!

Happy Fall!

Procrastination...or maybe just a break from work.

While I should be working on my contribution to the abnormal psych final exam study guide, I'm procrastinating...big surprise. Perhaps my New Year's Resolution should have been to find ways to stop procrastinating, but I would have just put that off too.

All of my papers are finally finished and I'm fairly pleased with how they all turned out. Granted, if I had started them sooner and spent more time on each of them they would have probably turned out better, but there's only so much you can do when you have a lot of work hanging over your head. You can't please everyone, right?

I'm really looking forward to my birthday, though it's become quite obvious that my friends have changed drastically over the last few months. The people who were at my 20th birthday are for the most part not going to be anywhere nearby for my 21st birthday. Most of them don't even talk to me anymore, largely because they have found a much cooler group of people to hang out with now. But whatever, I have the people I need in my life, and they'll be there.

The Vagina Monologues are coming up fairly soon (weekend of Valentine's Day) and I'm getting kind of excited. My part is not a big one, but it will be nice to do something other than work for a change. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm also really looking forward to intercession, which is approaching much more rapidly than the Vagina Monologues, but not quite quickly enough (I'm really ready for exams to be over). My last exam is on the morning of my birthday, so as of noon next Saturday, not only will I be celebrating my birthday, I'll be done with Harvard and those responsibilities until February. It's going to be nice having some time off. The only responsibility I have is a rehearsal for Vagina Monologues on January 23rd. It would be nice to just kind of get away from it all, even if it's just for a few hours.

Well, time to get back to work. Wouldn't want to procrastinate for too long, I'm supposed to go the movies with Emily at 9:30 tonight.

I'll be back later, probably with an update about said movie.