Survived the first week.
That sounded overly negative. It's actually really good to be back. I love the people here--students, faculty, staff, and the visitors who are always amazed by how friendly we are and how good the dining hall food is.
But the classes are going to be... a challenge this semester (as if they're normally not challenging enough). I'm currently taking six, and for the second half of the semester two classes will end and another will start. That's a total of seven classes, for 20 credits. I think I could do 20 credits, but what's rough is that for the first half of the semester, I'm taking the equivalent of 24 credits. If I can survive until the second half, it will drop to 16 and everything will be fine.
The snow here is beautiful, not yet brown and sludgy as it will be later on. The campus is so small that the cold doesn't bother me walking to class.
Knowing how hard this semester will be, I'm trying to make an effort to stay healthy (physically and in other ways). I don't want to just stumble out of bed bleary-eyed and make it through each day. I'm going to try to do yoga most mornings with Ann Marie and Emma. I've found that as hard as it is to get out of bed to do yoga, it makes me more awake for my 8:00 classes. Another project for me is to enjoy the food that I eat. I think this idea came from some article I read recently (possibly on an airplane magazine) on staying thin by really savoring the food that you eat. Staying thin is not my motivation here, but it strikes me as a healthy relationship to have with food. Too often in the past at Olin I've had to wolf down meals in 5 minutes to make it to the next class or meeting. I might as well just skip the meals and receive injections of calories. Luckily, my schedule this semester allows time for meals, so this is doable. So from now on, I'm going to savor each green bean, each spoonful of soup, each olive and dab of hummus. That sounds like an awfully touch-feely way to eat a meal, but I've enjoyed it so far.
That sounded overly negative. It's actually really good to be back. I love the people here--students, faculty, staff, and the visitors who are always amazed by how friendly we are and how good the dining hall food is.
But the classes are going to be... a challenge this semester (as if they're normally not challenging enough). I'm currently taking six, and for the second half of the semester two classes will end and another will start. That's a total of seven classes, for 20 credits. I think I could do 20 credits, but what's rough is that for the first half of the semester, I'm taking the equivalent of 24 credits. If I can survive until the second half, it will drop to 16 and everything will be fine.
The snow here is beautiful, not yet brown and sludgy as it will be later on. The campus is so small that the cold doesn't bother me walking to class.
Knowing how hard this semester will be, I'm trying to make an effort to stay healthy (physically and in other ways). I don't want to just stumble out of bed bleary-eyed and make it through each day. I'm going to try to do yoga most mornings with Ann Marie and Emma. I've found that as hard as it is to get out of bed to do yoga, it makes me more awake for my 8:00 classes. Another project for me is to enjoy the food that I eat. I think this idea came from some article I read recently (possibly on an airplane magazine) on staying thin by really savoring the food that you eat. Staying thin is not my motivation here, but it strikes me as a healthy relationship to have with food. Too often in the past at Olin I've had to wolf down meals in 5 minutes to make it to the next class or meeting. I might as well just skip the meals and receive injections of calories. Luckily, my schedule this semester allows time for meals, so this is doable. So from now on, I'm going to savor each green bean, each spoonful of soup, each olive and dab of hummus. That sounds like an awfully touch-feely way to eat a meal, but I've enjoyed it so far.
Comments
THought I'd check in with you, good to see you're surviving. Some of that here too, finished the comprehensive exams yesterday. Orals in a week and then I'll be ABD.
The kiddos miss you and your mom. Ansel said when he blows the candles out on his birthday cake he's going to wish Mary was home...He thinks Dean will do okay as a fill in at the party...
Hope your semester is good. We look forward to seeing you.
Cheers,
JP