First day of school! First day of school!

Okay, not really, it was my second day, but it's always a good idea to quote from Finding Nemo when you've got a chance.

The most interesting/stressful part of the day was discovering that my idea of how to space out my classes over two years was completely flawed, and that I needed to add some credits ASAP. Fun! Well, I've got it figured out, and hopefully spring semester and next fall aren't going to suck too hard because of my idiocy. Oh well. I've had heavy courseloads before, I can do it again.

What struck me today, in my first class that was not only master's and doctoral students but rather a mix of grad and undergrad, is how unimaginative many of these potential teachers are. I'm sure that they'll gain their footing, and yes, I have to remember that many of them are five years (plus?) younger than me, but check it:

We had to do a "getting to know each other" exercise where everyone said your name, where you're from, something unique about yourself, and something about you or something that you've done that no one else in the room has while working in our little pod groupings. Then, when five minutes or so was up, each person had to introduce another person at the table to the entire group.

So, we're going around our table and the girl next to me says as her unique thing that she just bought a car?! I don't think you know what unique means, honey. There were many other feeble offerings, like "no one else grew up in Shitsville, Missouri" (not the real name) and "my unique thing is I got bit by bedbugs on vacation" --> YEESH.

I am a meanie. Anyways, it was kind of a silly delight, and I'm sure I will grow to respect these people in some fashion, especially because (based on our syllabus) we have 40 hours onsite in schools in addition to scheduled class time, and that's just for this semester.

It's ba-aaaack!

I have a new digital camera (thanks, Mom!) and am ready to rock, with new recipes and some small posts about everyday life in my new town, Champaign, Illinois. I am going to be starting grad school in less than a week, and may need to do some venting, especially early on, so I think this zombie blog will expand rather than contract. Huzzah!