I did it. I did it. *sings*
I have completed my first whole week of graduate school, and I LOVE it. It is 10 kinds of awesome.
My program is a cohort program, which means I have all of my classes for the next 2 years with the same group of 32 students and the same set of 7 professors (though we are getting another one soon). Of the 32 people, there are only 4 poor guys who have, as far as I can tell, really awesome personalities. They're also all married, which I think is a plus so the whole romance between students doesn't have the opportunity to make things awkward. (I'm fairly certain we don't have any lesbians or bisexuals, and if we do it is statistically unlikely that we would have more than 1, especially given that I am at a religious school.) There are a few "older" students who are in their 30's and 40's. They were all teachers and recreation therapists, so they bring some interesting. The group of students is composed of people from many different educational backgrounds: psychology, business, biology, human performance and exercise science, recreation therapy, occupational science, humanities...It pretty much runs the gambit (is that the correct use of that phrase?) .
My professors are great. There is JP Abner who is a 6 feet and 4 inches of pure energy. He is a child psychologist who really likes research. It's like having a spring toy for a professor. He teaches 3 of my classes and is my graduate advisor. (Thank Heavens, because he is wonderful, and I already know how to study for his tests). Another professor is Christy Isbell who a pediatric OT to her core. She has no shame and will do impressions of toddlers running in order to make a point. She seems really playful and easy going, but she has already shown that she is not someone to annoy. Jil Smith is kind of a hippie. She wears handicraft jewelry and lose flowing clothing. She is all about being creative and "outside the box." She says she likes to be lazy from time to time, and all the other professors say she's a work-a-holic. I think she just considers her job fun. Karen Kelly is our anatomy teacher. She has a PhD in anatomy and physiology and is therefore impossible to gross out. It's kind of funny to hear her comparison of cadavers' appearance to food. It has also ruined certain foods for me, at least temporarily. I had her as an undergraduate advisor, work study boss, and teacher for MANY of my undergrad classes. Christy Fellers is a self proclaimed red neck, which is kind of true given that her accent even threw me for a loop (that says ALOT given the amount 17 years I've lived in East TN). She has a great sense of humor though and is intelligent. Her grammar is really good for someone with such a thick twang. (Around here, twang generally accompanies horrific grammar.) I haven't had Jeff Snodgrass for anything other than a day of orienation, which was so dull I felt my brain melting out of my ears. He seems like he could be interesting, but I won't really know until next semester when I have him for Kinesiology.
My classes are fantastic. I have Foundations of Occupational Therapy, Lifespan Development, Diagnostics, Christ and Calling in a Health Care Culture, Research Development and Design I, and Musculoskeletal Anatomy. The only class I don't like is Musculoskeletal Anatomy and that is because I had a metric ton of anatomy classes and anatomy tutoring jobs during undergrad and am TIRED of dissecting human bodies. It smells, and i makes me smell, and I'm stuck in there for four hours a week. Also, I cut myself with a scalpel on my first day because my hand slipped in greasy nasty stuff. I had the urge to soak my hand in alcohol. My other classes aren't all exciting, but some of them are interesting. If nothing else, they all give me the necessary basics to be a good OT. Diagnostics is hard, but I think its interesting. Lifespan is great. All of my professors like to give the class breaks. Every 25 minutes, they make us get up and stretch or leave the room or do something physical. They also keep the room at 69 degrees F, which is not fun but is apparently proven by research to increase grades. Who knew? The physical action and the temperature are a part sensory integration techniques to help us remember and concentrate. It seems to help. I don't glaze over in these classes the way I did in undergrad classes.
So anyway....there is my end of first week spiel. I might do one a week. They won't all be this long.
My program is a cohort program, which means I have all of my classes for the next 2 years with the same group of 32 students and the same set of 7 professors (though we are getting another one soon). Of the 32 people, there are only 4 poor guys who have, as far as I can tell, really awesome personalities. They're also all married, which I think is a plus so the whole romance between students doesn't have the opportunity to make things awkward. (I'm fairly certain we don't have any lesbians or bisexuals, and if we do it is statistically unlikely that we would have more than 1, especially given that I am at a religious school.) There are a few "older" students who are in their 30's and 40's. They were all teachers and recreation therapists, so they bring some interesting. The group of students is composed of people from many different educational backgrounds: psychology, business, biology, human performance and exercise science, recreation therapy, occupational science, humanities...It pretty much runs the gambit (is that the correct use of that phrase?) .
My professors are great. There is JP Abner who is a 6 feet and 4 inches of pure energy. He is a child psychologist who really likes research. It's like having a spring toy for a professor. He teaches 3 of my classes and is my graduate advisor. (Thank Heavens, because he is wonderful, and I already know how to study for his tests). Another professor is Christy Isbell who a pediatric OT to her core. She has no shame and will do impressions of toddlers running in order to make a point. She seems really playful and easy going, but she has already shown that she is not someone to annoy. Jil Smith is kind of a hippie. She wears handicraft jewelry and lose flowing clothing. She is all about being creative and "outside the box." She says she likes to be lazy from time to time, and all the other professors say she's a work-a-holic. I think she just considers her job fun. Karen Kelly is our anatomy teacher. She has a PhD in anatomy and physiology and is therefore impossible to gross out. It's kind of funny to hear her comparison of cadavers' appearance to food. It has also ruined certain foods for me, at least temporarily. I had her as an undergraduate advisor, work study boss, and teacher for MANY of my undergrad classes. Christy Fellers is a self proclaimed red neck, which is kind of true given that her accent even threw me for a loop (that says ALOT given the amount 17 years I've lived in East TN). She has a great sense of humor though and is intelligent. Her grammar is really good for someone with such a thick twang. (Around here, twang generally accompanies horrific grammar.) I haven't had Jeff Snodgrass for anything other than a day of orienation, which was so dull I felt my brain melting out of my ears. He seems like he could be interesting, but I won't really know until next semester when I have him for Kinesiology.
My classes are fantastic. I have Foundations of Occupational Therapy, Lifespan Development, Diagnostics, Christ and Calling in a Health Care Culture, Research Development and Design I, and Musculoskeletal Anatomy. The only class I don't like is Musculoskeletal Anatomy and that is because I had a metric ton of anatomy classes and anatomy tutoring jobs during undergrad and am TIRED of dissecting human bodies. It smells, and i makes me smell, and I'm stuck in there for four hours a week. Also, I cut myself with a scalpel on my first day because my hand slipped in greasy nasty stuff. I had the urge to soak my hand in alcohol. My other classes aren't all exciting, but some of them are interesting. If nothing else, they all give me the necessary basics to be a good OT. Diagnostics is hard, but I think its interesting. Lifespan is great. All of my professors like to give the class breaks. Every 25 minutes, they make us get up and stretch or leave the room or do something physical. They also keep the room at 69 degrees F, which is not fun but is apparently proven by research to increase grades. Who knew? The physical action and the temperature are a part sensory integration techniques to help us remember and concentrate. It seems to help. I don't glaze over in these classes the way I did in undergrad classes.
So anyway....there is my end of first week spiel. I might do one a week. They won't all be this long.