First Day

My first meeting on campus went well. I was in fact asked about my specialty, but that wasn't so bad because I had my made up answer ready to go (well, it's not entirely made up...it's one of the things that I have been focusing on in the past, it's just not what I'm sure I would like to keep focusing on now that I'm here, if that makes sense). And I was reassured yet again that I don't need to have a plan set in stone yet, so that made me feel good. I also feel good because apparently all of the brand new Ph.D. students are just as lost and nervous as I am.
All of us TAing the intro class are new Ph.D. students. Four of us are also new to the department, and the other two just completed their MAs here and are moving on to the next level. The newbies are all girls, which will make for an interesting dynamic I think (And continue to make it impossible for me to meet guys. Thanks, University Land!).
Today we just talked about how the course is going to work. I have to go to the main lecture on Mondays and Wednesdays and then on Wednesday I also teach two separate discussion sections. I'm also responsible for all of the grading for my two discussion sections (about 60 students total). Besides leading the discussion sections each week, I also have to lecture once in the big class. I report directly to the course lecturer, although my real "boss" is Dr. New, a new professor in the department who is technically in charge of the course (she's just not teaching it because she wants to spend this year feeling out how it works). It all sounds okay and it seems pretty interesting considering it's an intro course. I'm just afraid that Wednesdays are going to kill me. On Wednesdays I'll have to go to the main lecture from 9 to 10 (which means I'll need to leave here around 8 to deal with traffic), then have office hours from 10 to 11 (I have to have two hours each week so I figure I might as well do it then since I'll be on campus for sure anyway), then lead one discussion section from 11 to 12 and the other from 12 to 1. And then there's a pretty good chance that I'll end up having to go to class myself from 4 until 6:30. I don't really know what I'm going to do yet since it's kind of pointless to spend half an hour driving home in the afternoon when I'm just going to have to turn around and drive half an hour back to campus, but I also feel guilty about the idea of leaving my dog alone for what could end up being 11 hours. That's not fair to him at all, especially because eventually it will be too cold to walk him early in the morning and too dark to walk him when I get home. So yeah, I don't know what to do yet. Maybe just chalk Wednesday up to a day where I waste time driving and don't get any work done in the afternoon, and then work extra hard every other day?
Because no other day should be that bad. Monday I don't have to be on campus for my TA duties until 10:00 and then I will definitely have a class on Monday night from 4 until 6:30, but that's only 9 hours that the dog will have to be alone and I don't mind that as much (even though it's only a two hour difference, leaving him alone for anything over 10 hours just feels wrong, hence the guilt about Wednesdays but not about Mondays). So I think Mondays will be a day I plan to stay in my office/the library all afternoon and get work done. Tuesdays I don't have to be on campus until 2:00, and Thursdays I don't have to be on campus until 4:00 (assuming I take a seminar on Thursday, I'm not quite sure what seminars I'm signing up for yet). Fridays I don't have to be on campus at all. So that's not to say I won't still be on campus a lot on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, but at least I don't HAVE to be there all day long like I do on Monday and Wednesday. I can go in when I want to go in, or I can opt to work from home.
My main thing is that I just don't want to waste the gas or the time (since at a minimum it is 15-20 minutes each direction) driving back and forth between campus and my apartment multiple times a day. I'll probably do it on Wednesdays for the hound's sake, but the rest of the time I plan to put in a block of time on campus every day and then head home and do more work here if necessary. I have always been pretty good at buckling down and working at home. I did write my entire thesis on my couch with the TV on, after all.
So yeah. Maybe Wednesday can just be a business-only day and I can do all my own writing/research/reading the rest of the week, either in the office or at home. I should mention that this is also leading to some dilemmas about what to take up to my office. Right now I don't have anything in my office. I haven't even claimed a desk yet. I don't want to lug my books back and forth constantly, but I also don't know yet how much I'm actually going to accomplish at home vs. at the office and I'd hate to have books here that I need there, and vice versa. Oh well. I guess I'll figure it out as I go along. It's just sort of intimidating to see my officemate's piles and piles and piles of books (many of them in freakin' RUSSIAN) already sitting in the office.

Despite the fact that I just rambled nervously for far too long, I am actually feeling okay. I think I like the other students I met today, my boss seems cool and understanding, and I got more information in general about the faculty, how the program works, etc.

P.S.-When we were all gathering for the meeting one of the other women said, "Are any of you *A*?" I said, "I am. Why?" and she said, "Because I went to a conference this summer and two different people there told me that you are awesome and that I should get to know you." !!! One of the people was a professor (and friend) of mine from my MA program and she didn't remember who the other one was, but she said it was a guy so I'm thinking it's probably another guy from my MA program. It is great that a positive reputation precedes me, and I was sort of baffled and excited all at once to realize that other people respect me enough to network on my behalf. But this is just one more case where I will have to try to live up to expectations.

P.P.S.-This is how you know that driving around here is ridiculous: a woman in my cohort just moved here from Los Angeles, and she was complaining about how difficult it is to drive here and how crazy and aggressive and erratic the other drivers are. So if a California driver is complaining about the craziness, that means it's REALLY crazy. Nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks so.