Grad school is kicking my butt. I am trying to keep up on the reading, on class discussions, on research, well.. everything really. It's difficult. I have very little to add to discussions which is rough when its a 3 hour seminar and basically your entire grade depends on it. Its still the first couple weeks though so I'm telling myself I'm still adjusting and will pick up speed. Rather soon though I hope.
Although Pancho was visiting this weekend and I have to say it really reminded me of what life outside of the school bubble is like. We went to the history grad happy hour, out for dinner with CJ in Center City, did errands, watched football and the Gators win!, and hung out. It was so nice to just relax a bit. He won't be able to visit again for 25 days (of course I counted) but it is more often than we visited before so I guess I can deal with it. I realized though how much I already miss having another person to eat dinner with. I've gotten lazy by myself. Stouffer's french bread pizza and some strawberries on the side? Yep, thats what I tossed together tonight.
Finally bought all my books. Spent awhile tracking down the best prices online and in bookstores. Feeling quite accomplished now that I won't be chasing things down during the semester. The grand total was $677.13. And to think that I ever complained as an undergrad. Only bright side is that I had budgeted to spend more, so technically I didn't do too bad. I guess. Just a little shocking to have actually spent that much although its 30-odd books. Some interesting looking titles, too, so I will be sure to share once I get to them. in my frenetic, speed-reading pace that I'm still learning how to do effectively.
Today was actually kind of nice. Got to watch new start of season of How I Met Your Mother and enjoyed another Gossip Girl. Curious to see how them at college is going to turn out. And since I no longer have cable nor DVR, I'll be hitting Hulu to catch up on House and Greek. I'm really hoping that somehow I can keep up on my shows, but I recognize that I might finally have reached a point where my academic career really can't take an hour break to watch. Sad.
And. After an 8 month hiatus, I now subscribe again to Time. I was giddy when my first issue arrived. Its like catching up with an old friend. Except I don't have anyone to casually leave it for on the kitchen table anymore....
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Grad School
I have negative time to post about Penn/grad school/Philly because I'm already behind on the reading schedule I've set up for myself. But I will fill in with a few details until I can devote a really awesome post (sometime. eventually. probably by the time I graduate).
I've been here exactly a week. My apartment is fantastic, very cozy, I'm finally unpacked and will post pictures once I've actually taken some. I currently do not have internet which is a long and vexing situation that better be fixed by Thursday. so I am utilizing both the library's WiFi and someone's wireless in my building in the meantime. shhh.
My classes this semester are The Nature of Sex (feminist/gender/sexuality theory), 20th Century US History, and a foundations sort of course on theory and methods in history which I have for the whole year. Haven't been to the 20th Century one yet because its on Mondays so will check it out tomorrow. I'm really not quite sure what to make of things yet. The reading is daunting but it seems like that is all I will be doing. The Nature of Sex class is heavy reading with only 2 3-page response papers and the foundations thing is like one big paper similar to my senior thesis and that 30-pager isn't due until April. Neither of those classes is straight up history, its all theory and analyzing frameworks and methods and things that I don't understand yet. We had to read a book for the first class for one of them and I seriously could not understand what people were saying in discussion. People name drop historians and Diderot and talk about deconstruction and basically make me wonder at what point in my academic career I was supposed to have picked up on a lot of this. I'm really ready for the adjustment period to be over as quickly as possible so I can be right along with everyone making interesting points.
ANYWAYS. The other first-years are very nice and I've made some friends. There was a history grad student happy hour on Friday so I ventured across town on the subway to Old City. It was nice getting to meet other people in the department and be more social with people that I do have classes with. Figured out the bus system to ride back because apparently its not safe to ride the subway alone at night. So that was fine. I hung out with CJ for a long while on Saturday night. He is just done with his first week in law school and seems to be doing fine and reading a lot, we caught up on the last 3 years since Hume pretty much and then went exploring my neighborhood. Ended up at The Greek Lady for dinner. Really good lamb gyro.
Then I went to a picnic today for the department as a back to school thing. Gorgeous weather, nice and sunny and got to meet even more people.
more on Penn and Philly to come....
I've been here exactly a week. My apartment is fantastic, very cozy, I'm finally unpacked and will post pictures once I've actually taken some. I currently do not have internet which is a long and vexing situation that better be fixed by Thursday. so I am utilizing both the library's WiFi and someone's wireless in my building in the meantime. shhh.
My classes this semester are The Nature of Sex (feminist/gender/sexuality theory), 20th Century US History, and a foundations sort of course on theory and methods in history which I have for the whole year. Haven't been to the 20th Century one yet because its on Mondays so will check it out tomorrow. I'm really not quite sure what to make of things yet. The reading is daunting but it seems like that is all I will be doing. The Nature of Sex class is heavy reading with only 2 3-page response papers and the foundations thing is like one big paper similar to my senior thesis and that 30-pager isn't due until April. Neither of those classes is straight up history, its all theory and analyzing frameworks and methods and things that I don't understand yet. We had to read a book for the first class for one of them and I seriously could not understand what people were saying in discussion. People name drop historians and Diderot and talk about deconstruction and basically make me wonder at what point in my academic career I was supposed to have picked up on a lot of this. I'm really ready for the adjustment period to be over as quickly as possible so I can be right along with everyone making interesting points.
ANYWAYS. The other first-years are very nice and I've made some friends. There was a history grad student happy hour on Friday so I ventured across town on the subway to Old City. It was nice getting to meet other people in the department and be more social with people that I do have classes with. Figured out the bus system to ride back because apparently its not safe to ride the subway alone at night. So that was fine. I hung out with CJ for a long while on Saturday night. He is just done with his first week in law school and seems to be doing fine and reading a lot, we caught up on the last 3 years since Hume pretty much and then went exploring my neighborhood. Ended up at The Greek Lady for dinner. Really good lamb gyro.
Then I went to a picnic today for the department as a back to school thing. Gorgeous weather, nice and sunny and got to meet even more people.
more on Penn and Philly to come....
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
How is it September already?
Honestly. Where did August go? The weather this week has been cool, and I'm worried about how much longer I can wear summer stuff. Having had to wear business-y work clothes for the bulk of the last 3 months, I feel like I haven't had the chance yet to wear all my cute warm-weather gear. It's making me so aware of the whole seasons thing. Those new style sandals I never got around to buying? Well, missed the train on that so now I'm debating if I need a new pair of flats or if I should jump ahead to boots? Stood in the Target shoe dept for about 20 minutes today, having an honest internal crisis:
I got to thinking about when it actually gets cold and whether flats are going to cut it. I sort of wore them here in Baltimore in Jan/Feb but they don't cover your feet and forget it if is wet or snows. So I got the rain boots which are fantastic for those conditions. But Philly is going to be colder, and I can't wear wellies all the time (like when I go out or just everyday errands) so what do I do? I found flat boots at Target, but they were just a little below the knee and I got to thinking whether I could wear them with all of my jeans because they don't all tuck in well and then I saw ankle boots. And here is my dilemma- On principle I don't like ankle boots because I think they are a bit silly but they are starting to make more sense. They cover your foot more than flats do but they aren't as high/restrictive as a taller boot. Anyways, I stood there debating over and over and had to really pull myself out of there to avoid an impulse purchase when I wasn't totally gung ho on either. I suppose I can wait until it is actually cold out and then see what everyone else does. I bet that would be a good idea. However, I welcome comments about the taller boot/ankle boot debate.
Why does fashion in the NE get me so anxious? This post is reminiscent of the leggings and tights worrying from a few months ago which resulted in my not actually buying any at all. oy.
I got to thinking about when it actually gets cold and whether flats are going to cut it. I sort of wore them here in Baltimore in Jan/Feb but they don't cover your feet and forget it if is wet or snows. So I got the rain boots which are fantastic for those conditions. But Philly is going to be colder, and I can't wear wellies all the time (like when I go out or just everyday errands) so what do I do? I found flat boots at Target, but they were just a little below the knee and I got to thinking whether I could wear them with all of my jeans because they don't all tuck in well and then I saw ankle boots. And here is my dilemma- On principle I don't like ankle boots because I think they are a bit silly but they are starting to make more sense. They cover your foot more than flats do but they aren't as high/restrictive as a taller boot. Anyways, I stood there debating over and over and had to really pull myself out of there to avoid an impulse purchase when I wasn't totally gung ho on either. I suppose I can wait until it is actually cold out and then see what everyone else does. I bet that would be a good idea. However, I welcome comments about the taller boot/ankle boot debate.
Why does fashion in the NE get me so anxious? This post is reminiscent of the leggings and tights worrying from a few months ago which resulted in my not actually buying any at all. oy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)