Three Days Down, Thousands More to Go

Thanks for the good wishes, guys. My first couple of days of teaching/classes have gone really well. Wednesday is going to be a really, really long day, but at least it seems to be a really, really long day for everyone else, too, so I'll have people to commiserate with. I also tried driving home on Wednesday afternoon to let the dog out and eat lunch, and that worked out fine so I think it will become part of the weekly routine.
I feel pretty good about the two discussion classes I'm teaching. I was almost late to my own freakin' class, though, because I couldn't find THE ENTIRE THIRD FLOOR of one stupid building. (I realize that doesn't sound like it should be hard to do; you'd be surprised.) First impressions indicate that my 12:00 class is going to be a little more chatty and ready to participate than my 11:00 class, but we'll see if that proves to be true. I do have ways of making them talk if they're not cooperative...hmmm, that sort of makes it sound sinister...but I'm hoping that they'll just willingly participate in class and make my life easier. They are mostly 18 years old, though, so that might be asking a bit much.
On Wednesday evening I had my first class. It's a theory class taught by a professor I will refer to as Dr. Scary because, well, everyone has led me to believe that I should be intimidated by her. She's the sort of professor that people warn you about right away: "Whatever you do, just don't let Dr. Scary be your advisor, she has only graduated four people EVER in her entire time here." That professor. The thing is, while she does seem very blunt she's also very funny. I think it's going to be one of those situations where she's only funny when she's not aiming her venemous remarks at me, though. Apparently a lot of her bad rep is coming from the fact that she pretty much just turned on a student who prior to now had been her biggest advocate. Ah, departmental politics, my favorite part of the academy. Ugh. Well, we'll see how it goes. I think the class itself is going to be very, very intense, but the majority of the material is stuff that I have at least glossed over before, so that should help me get a foothold. Hopefully.
On Thursday I'll get to sleep in a bit because I don't have class until 4:00. My Thursday class is with Dr. New, and it's a class that is focused on a sub-field of my major field, if that makes sense (sorry I have to be so vague). It's a field I have never worked in before, so I'm really excited about this class because it will be something completely new: a new form of research, new subject matter, etc. I'm also very excited about this class because Dr. New is the only professor I have ever had in grad school that said, "Just read these books like you would a novel and skip the parts that aren't interesting to you." We have projects but no major papers and no tests except a final paper that she has already told us is more about our opinion than anything else. After going, "Whoa....." when I saw Wednesday's syllabus, it was nice to know that my Thursday class is being taught by someone who obviously just earned her Ph.D. herself and therefore knows what kind of time constraints we're all dealing with. Dr. New just seems very cool and friendly, too, so I hope that first impression turns out to be true.
So that's where I stand right now. Next week I'll start another new class on Tuesday (this one is called Teaching [My Subject]) and I have been told that it's pretty easy but time-consuming, especially considering it's only a one hour class. And then next Monday I'll start my final class, which is an intro to doctoral research course that nobody seems to know anything about because the professor who is teaching it has never taught that particular course before.

Socially, things are going well, too. I have been hanging out in the office with Gay Mate, who needs a new nickname because after having spent a few hours in the office with him I'm now thinking that maybe he's not gay. Mostly because he referred to his girlfriend. Not that that necessarily means anything...At any rate, I'm now going to call him, um, Bob. So Bob and I have been getting along well. Straight Mate hasn't been around much, although when he is I've found it a bit awkward because I don't think he quite gets my sense of humor. Which is weird, because I don't think I have a particularly dry or difficult to "get" sense of humor. This isn't a bad thing, necessarily, I think we just need to get to know each other a bit better. Anyway, I also joined my department's official graduate student group on Thursday because it seems like a good way to get to know people and it could lead to some CV-building activities eventually. I spent an hour after the meeting talking to a couple of the other women and we tentatively made plans to get drinks together next week, so I hope that actually happens.

Finally, I'm excited about this weekend! First and foremost, Kiki is coming to visit! She's actually on the bus on her way to City A right now. She has kindly volunteered to be the guinea pig and figure out this whole bus deal for the benefit of both of us. See, there's a bus that goes from Manhattan to City A (and many other places) for a ridiculously cheap price, but we don't know if it's actually a good deal or if it's too unsafe/unreliable/full of crazies to be worth it. It's a full hundred dollars cheaper than taking the train, though, and obviously a lot easier than driving and parking (she can't drive anyway since she doesn't have a car) so if this works out it will be a great option for the two of us to visit each other. I'm going to go pick her up in about an hour and I think I'm going to take the subway into the city to do it. I've been told that the subway is pretty safe at night as long as you don't mind drunk people and the neighborhood where the bus drops her off isn't supposed to be too sketchy, either, but I'm still a little nervous about heading into the city at night by myself. I think this is probably a safer option than trying to drive in, though. I'm still not great at finding my way around City A in the car. Last weekend when I left my dog playdate I got hopelessly lost and drove around for 40 minutes. I didn't even mind being lost because it turned into a lovely scenic drive through some areas I had heard about but never visited before. But being lost and driving through strange neighborhoods at 6 in the evening when it's still light out is very different than getting lost after midnight. So yes, subway it will be.
Assuming we make it through the late-night subway ride, the rest of the weekend should be fun. A prestigious City A theatre is holding a play festival tomorrow, so I think Kiki, my cousin Rae and I are going to try to go to one of the plays and then hit a bar or two. I'm excited about experiencing City A nightlife. Then Sunday I think Kiki just wants to chill by the swimming pool and maybe go to Target. It's really easy to amuse New Yorkers, apparently: just give Kiki some open space and a suburban grocery store and she's excited. And then since it's Labor Day weekend I'll have all day Monday to finish my reading for next week.
Sounds good to me!