So it begins....

Here’s a taste of what I’m doing at school: reading, writing and more reading. And I’m lovin’ it.

 Despite the chaotic start to the semester things are unfolding into a manageable routine.  The hurricane last weekend didn’t cause any problems for me, but the forecast caused several orientation events and departmental meetings to be cancelled on Saturday, and so it feels like I’m starting the semester in the middle rather than at the beginning.

I weathered the hurricane with my roommate, Hannah, at her sister’s house in Baltimore. Hannah was planning on spending Saturday with her sister, Abby, for a baby shower and since all the events were cancelled on campus, she invited me to come along. I wasn’t sure if it was particularly wise to be heading toward the coast with a hurricane on its way, but as it turned out we didn’t have any problems. We did spend the night at Abby’s—she and her husband were very kind to put us up for the night—and my only impression was that it was a windy, rainy night.

This week I had my first official classes. We started off in my Lit and Religion in Early Modern English class with a discussion of Reformation theology as opposed to Medieval Catholic theology. I think that will prove to be a provocative and fascinating course, although the reading will be, as my professor himself admitted, “voluminous.” My other classes are required for first semester Master’s students in the English department. One is a methods course meant to introduce graduate students to the resources available for research and the expectations of professional scholarship. The professor for that class is six months pregnant and tended to lean forward and rock back as she lectured making me incredibly anxious that she would end up falling over. My third class is a pedagogy course that I’m taking along with a few first year PhD students who are teaching their first classes. I’m looking forward to learning from their mistakes ;-)

Next week I begin my shifts at the writing center; I’ll be working 17 hours all together. In preparation, I had to get around to fifteen sections of English 101 yesterday to make all the freshmen aware of the free writing consultation service the English department provides. The biggest mistake of that endeavor was stopping by Starbucks for coffee before beginning my rounds. Drinking hot coffee while running around the corridors and stairwells of poorly ventilated, hundred-year-old buildings makes for an unpleasantly warm and persperational experience.

Hannah is home in Michigan this weekend, and I have the apartment to myself (and the cats).  Hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend! I know I will.