First day of school
Sorry for the long break between posts. Between the last post and this one, I schlepped all my stuff up to Austin, dropped $550 at the university bookstore for new books (no used ones available anywhere, unfortunately), attended "orientation" for the journal I'm working on, and had my first day of class. It's been a busy past few days.
The drive back to Austin was not too bad. I didn't speed excessively, but still got to town on 290 in about 2.5 hours, when it usually takes me around 3. And it hadn't gotten too terribly hot, either, so making the trips back and forth from apartment to car to move all my stuff in was not the chore I thought it would be. I still haven't put everything properly away yet, especially all my knitting yarn, but I have more or less fallen back into life at this apartment.
(And why haven't I put away all my yarn, you may ask? Because I have SO MUCH OF IT already here at the apartment! I haven't had time to organize it all. My stash has certainly grown by leaps and bounds over the past year.)
"Orientation" for the journal was okay. There wasn't anything terribly substantive presented, so there's not a lot to say about it, although it does seem like it will be a lot of work over the next year. I think it will take up a lot of evenings and/or weekends.
As for the first day . . .
Classes were fine, and I think that I will really enjoy what I'm learning this semester. The professors all seem great, as I had generally hoped and expected. But . . .
. . . there were a few "little" annoyances that happened today that made the first day of school less than optimal for me. First of all, I missed my bus this morning, so I was late to class. All in all, that usually isn't such an earth-shattering thing, but this was not a case of just showing up a few minutes late and realizing that the bus had already come and gone. No, this was a case of hauling four classes' worth of books (I estimate at least 30 pounds, if not more) to the bus stop, seeing the bus coming down the road, running (as best I could with a backpack and a shopping bag full of books) to get to the bus stop, and getting within 10 yards of the bus before it pulled away from the stop and LEFT ME BEHIND.
Needless to say, I was furious, sweating like crazy from the exertion, and gasping for breath. It was not a good way to start the day.
The second annoyance was having to tote all those books around ALL DAY LONG. My shoulders are still aching from it. Returning students could only renew locker subscriptions for the school year starting today, so I had nowhere at school to leave my books after buying them from the bookstore on Monday. And, since all of my classes met today, I had to carry all of the books to school this morning and around from class to class. It was awful. I feel all hunched over from carrying all that weight. And, unfortunately, I had expected to be able to get a locker today, but when I went by the Student Bar Association office, no one was there. So I am still hauling around a bunch of books. It's enough to make me howl.
These seem like little things, but they really affected my day, especially having to carry all the books around. My shoulders and neck have felt terrible all day, which is probably the main reason why the annoyances have made a greater impression on me than the classes. Anyway . . . tomorrow is another day, right? I'm sure that once I get more settled into a routine, get my locker, and figure out a good homework groove, I will be fine. But let's just say that this was not a great first day of school by any stretch of the imagination.
The drive back to Austin was not too bad. I didn't speed excessively, but still got to town on 290 in about 2.5 hours, when it usually takes me around 3. And it hadn't gotten too terribly hot, either, so making the trips back and forth from apartment to car to move all my stuff in was not the chore I thought it would be. I still haven't put everything properly away yet, especially all my knitting yarn, but I have more or less fallen back into life at this apartment.
(And why haven't I put away all my yarn, you may ask? Because I have SO MUCH OF IT already here at the apartment! I haven't had time to organize it all. My stash has certainly grown by leaps and bounds over the past year.)
"Orientation" for the journal was okay. There wasn't anything terribly substantive presented, so there's not a lot to say about it, although it does seem like it will be a lot of work over the next year. I think it will take up a lot of evenings and/or weekends.
As for the first day . . .
Classes were fine, and I think that I will really enjoy what I'm learning this semester. The professors all seem great, as I had generally hoped and expected. But . . .
. . . there were a few "little" annoyances that happened today that made the first day of school less than optimal for me. First of all, I missed my bus this morning, so I was late to class. All in all, that usually isn't such an earth-shattering thing, but this was not a case of just showing up a few minutes late and realizing that the bus had already come and gone. No, this was a case of hauling four classes' worth of books (I estimate at least 30 pounds, if not more) to the bus stop, seeing the bus coming down the road, running (as best I could with a backpack and a shopping bag full of books) to get to the bus stop, and getting within 10 yards of the bus before it pulled away from the stop and LEFT ME BEHIND.
Needless to say, I was furious, sweating like crazy from the exertion, and gasping for breath. It was not a good way to start the day.
The second annoyance was having to tote all those books around ALL DAY LONG. My shoulders are still aching from it. Returning students could only renew locker subscriptions for the school year starting today, so I had nowhere at school to leave my books after buying them from the bookstore on Monday. And, since all of my classes met today, I had to carry all of the books to school this morning and around from class to class. It was awful. I feel all hunched over from carrying all that weight. And, unfortunately, I had expected to be able to get a locker today, but when I went by the Student Bar Association office, no one was there. So I am still hauling around a bunch of books. It's enough to make me howl.
These seem like little things, but they really affected my day, especially having to carry all the books around. My shoulders and neck have felt terrible all day, which is probably the main reason why the annoyances have made a greater impression on me than the classes. Anyway . . . tomorrow is another day, right? I'm sure that once I get more settled into a routine, get my locker, and figure out a good homework groove, I will be fine. But let's just say that this was not a great first day of school by any stretch of the imagination.
posted by seedless grape at 9:07 PM
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