A new journal direction
I've been thinking for many weeks that I should try to keep a journal through grad school - not only to have something to read when I (hopefully) finish and say "Good times" at, but also to force myself to get things out of my brain and onto the written page, which is not one of my strengths. And although no one will actually read this, I'm still going to try very hard to keep this journal going. I have to stop avoiding things just because I have a bad case of analysis paralysis.
So, classes started on Monday, and it's taken me this long to unstick myself from the lecture hall seat. Is it a bad sign if the first week of classes in 100-year-old buildings with no air conditioning is also in the middle of a record-setting heat wave with both temperature and humidity near 100? I literally couldn't hold my pen this afternoon during a seminar - it just kept sliding out of my fingers. Aside from the heat, this first week has been pretty stressful. Actually, I need to back up a week because last week is why this week was so stressful...
Orientation was last week. The first day was a Tuesday, and we were expected to be there from 11 am to 4 pm for general grad student orientation. It started off with forced mingling facilitated by a questionnaire about specific details of our fellow grad students (e.g. Who has a birthday in September?). Then they said "Yay! Grad school!" for about 2 hours, I think. I couldn't actually hear the speakers. And then we were done. Ok, I realize I'm not a freshman anymore - I don't need an RA to lead me around and help me figure out how to function without my parents around, but some orientation-like activities would've been nice. We might be a small college, but we're partnered with a very large university on whom we have to rely for things like health services, bookstore, on-campus food, parking, etc. Maybe a tour of the larger campus would've been nice? Or perhaps an explanation of class choices - what we have to do to take classes through the larger university?
Anyway, the next two days were reserved for an educational "colloquium" for incoming TAs. I went into it with an open mind, which is more than I can say for some of my fellow newcomers. By the end, I was with them. There were some useful moments, like discussions with professors on what to expect in field experiences, labs, and how to grade papers, and another discussion with select undergrads on what they're looking for from their TAs. But the 45-minute introduction to yoga for stress relief was just silly. I actually refused to participate because 1) I've tried yoga, and we don't get along, and 2) I can't get this out of my head:
Yeah, that's in your brain now. Enjoy!
Moving on, there was a point during the two-day "colloquium" where they triggered my fight or flight reflex. I'm not sure if they deliberately set it up this way to give us a taste of grad school, or if they just felt they needed to cram all this stuff into 2 days, but we were in that library from 8am to 4pm both days with one total break (10:30 on the first day). They even talked at us during lunch. It was during one of these talks where I just mentally said, "Ok, I'm done. Must leave now." I stayed until they said we could leave, but I was mentally checked out with the "Must leave now" mantra running over and over in my head.
The next day, which was Friday, was part 2 of the general orientation, but only for the people who had signed up for it. There was a somewhat useful presentation on grading, another on the forms that have to be filed during grad study, another on health and wellness (no yoga), and the rest were on off-campus living. Really? You're going to tell us how to pay our rent on time and how to be a good neighbor by not having parties on Tuesday night, but you haven't bothered to tell us what direction we need to walk in if we get sick? Orientation fail.
While all this stuff was going on, I was also supposed to be meeting with my advisor(s) to get registered, and meeting with the profs I was going to be TAing for. One of my advisors said she couldn't even meet with me until after classes started, and every open spot my other advisor had was during mandatory yoga or something. Finally, on Friday, I was able to meet with my advisor and one of the profs I was TAing for, so things started falling into place...until I tried to register. Two of the three classes I tried to register for were already closed. Before I could re-meet with my advisor, I had to meet with my TA prof, who proceeded to tell me I was going to be running one of the microbiology labs. I'd have to make up some TSB tubes, get some chemicals and gather some bacteria-laden pond mud before Wednesday when I would then give a 10-15 minute lecture on the exercises they were to perform and why they were performing them. Um, what? I've never taken micro before. I have no keys to any doors, especially not to any chemical cabinets. I don't even have a frickin' desk because there are 18 computers and a few hundred otolith samples sitting in my "area."
So I ended last week a little stressed.
Things got better this week. I finally got registered for some classes, and I'm actually interested in them, which is kind of a unique concept. No one tried to inflict Eastern meditation/exercise routines on me. I spent an hour writing notes for my lecture in microbiology, then spent the entire day before the lab nervously going over them, only to have the prof. talk the whole time, quickly introduce me as the TA, then send the kids off to contaminate...everything. I have a lot of reading to do in some incredibly expensive textbooks, and I have to make up, like, 6 different types of agar plates tomorrow, so I guess I better go to sleep.
Until next time..."Vegetables!"
So, classes started on Monday, and it's taken me this long to unstick myself from the lecture hall seat. Is it a bad sign if the first week of classes in 100-year-old buildings with no air conditioning is also in the middle of a record-setting heat wave with both temperature and humidity near 100? I literally couldn't hold my pen this afternoon during a seminar - it just kept sliding out of my fingers. Aside from the heat, this first week has been pretty stressful. Actually, I need to back up a week because last week is why this week was so stressful...
Orientation was last week. The first day was a Tuesday, and we were expected to be there from 11 am to 4 pm for general grad student orientation. It started off with forced mingling facilitated by a questionnaire about specific details of our fellow grad students (e.g. Who has a birthday in September?). Then they said "Yay! Grad school!" for about 2 hours, I think. I couldn't actually hear the speakers. And then we were done. Ok, I realize I'm not a freshman anymore - I don't need an RA to lead me around and help me figure out how to function without my parents around, but some orientation-like activities would've been nice. We might be a small college, but we're partnered with a very large university on whom we have to rely for things like health services, bookstore, on-campus food, parking, etc. Maybe a tour of the larger campus would've been nice? Or perhaps an explanation of class choices - what we have to do to take classes through the larger university?
Anyway, the next two days were reserved for an educational "colloquium" for incoming TAs. I went into it with an open mind, which is more than I can say for some of my fellow newcomers. By the end, I was with them. There were some useful moments, like discussions with professors on what to expect in field experiences, labs, and how to grade papers, and another discussion with select undergrads on what they're looking for from their TAs. But the 45-minute introduction to yoga for stress relief was just silly. I actually refused to participate because 1) I've tried yoga, and we don't get along, and 2) I can't get this out of my head:
Click to viewYeah, that's in your brain now. Enjoy!
Moving on, there was a point during the two-day "colloquium" where they triggered my fight or flight reflex. I'm not sure if they deliberately set it up this way to give us a taste of grad school, or if they just felt they needed to cram all this stuff into 2 days, but we were in that library from 8am to 4pm both days with one total break (10:30 on the first day). They even talked at us during lunch. It was during one of these talks where I just mentally said, "Ok, I'm done. Must leave now." I stayed until they said we could leave, but I was mentally checked out with the "Must leave now" mantra running over and over in my head.
The next day, which was Friday, was part 2 of the general orientation, but only for the people who had signed up for it. There was a somewhat useful presentation on grading, another on the forms that have to be filed during grad study, another on health and wellness (no yoga), and the rest were on off-campus living. Really? You're going to tell us how to pay our rent on time and how to be a good neighbor by not having parties on Tuesday night, but you haven't bothered to tell us what direction we need to walk in if we get sick? Orientation fail.
While all this stuff was going on, I was also supposed to be meeting with my advisor(s) to get registered, and meeting with the profs I was going to be TAing for. One of my advisors said she couldn't even meet with me until after classes started, and every open spot my other advisor had was during mandatory yoga or something. Finally, on Friday, I was able to meet with my advisor and one of the profs I was TAing for, so things started falling into place...until I tried to register. Two of the three classes I tried to register for were already closed. Before I could re-meet with my advisor, I had to meet with my TA prof, who proceeded to tell me I was going to be running one of the microbiology labs. I'd have to make up some TSB tubes, get some chemicals and gather some bacteria-laden pond mud before Wednesday when I would then give a 10-15 minute lecture on the exercises they were to perform and why they were performing them. Um, what? I've never taken micro before. I have no keys to any doors, especially not to any chemical cabinets. I don't even have a frickin' desk because there are 18 computers and a few hundred otolith samples sitting in my "area."
So I ended last week a little stressed.
Things got better this week. I finally got registered for some classes, and I'm actually interested in them, which is kind of a unique concept. No one tried to inflict Eastern meditation/exercise routines on me. I spent an hour writing notes for my lecture in microbiology, then spent the entire day before the lab nervously going over them, only to have the prof. talk the whole time, quickly introduce me as the TA, then send the kids off to contaminate...everything. I have a lot of reading to do in some incredibly expensive textbooks, and I have to make up, like, 6 different types of agar plates tomorrow, so I guess I better go to sleep.
Until next time..."Vegetables!"