Checking In

The semester is officially underway. It was a strange and sad first week (it officially started last week- but I didn't have all of my classes until this week). I have two fairly close friends here (among other less-close friends, I'm not a complete loser) and one of them lost a parent this week- hence the strangeness and sadness of the week. I feel so badly for her. None of my friends have lost a parent before so I wasn't sure what one was supposed to do when something like this happens, so I'm not sure I handled it all that well. She went home and will be gone for a few weeks, Virginia is going to seem different without her here, she was one of the people I befriended right at the beginning of last semester so she has been a big part of my life here- I know it's only 3 weeks- not a huge amount of time- but it's going to be really hard without her here especially since she is gone under such sad circumstances.

On the bright side, my classes all got off to a good start. I'm especially excited about a directed reading I'm doing on war and America. I've mentioned before how much I like war memoirs- now I get to read them for a class, it should be really fun! Hard... but fun.

Traveling with a dog, part 2

Well, as previously mentioned, I am back in Virginia after spending a month in Utah. It's strange, I no longer know which one to call home, did I go home to Utah or am I back home now that I'm in Virginia? I mean my home is here- its where I live (and I worried about my apartment and my car while I was in Utah) but Utah is where my family is, so it's hard.

The traveling went much better this time, Rusty likes his new carrier slightly better than the old one, the wheels make the trek through the airport easier for me and smoother for Rusty. He still doesn't like being in the carrier but he hasn't poked a hole in the side or bitten me through the mesh- so it's an improvement.



Rusty liked hanging out at my parents house in Utah, I think he misses their dog, Angel, they had fun playing together, neither of them would hold still long enough for me to take a good picture of them together but here's a halfway decent one of them playing in the snow.



Rusty made himself very at home at my parents...

Back in Virginia

I'm back in Virginia- good thing too since Utah currently has the worst air quality in the nation (don't believe me- read this). No wonder my lungs hate me.

How awesome is Tina Fey?

New Years Blues

There's nothing like the start of a new year to make you take assessment of your life. Normally I try to avoid falling prey to my tendancy to overanalyse things- it's a horrible habit and usually leads no place good. Unfortunatly I haven't been successful this year, I think it is because I have too much time on my hands. I'm incredibly grateful for such a long break- I really needed it- but having such an open schedule for so long seems strange and frankly I'm a little bored. Reading brain-free books and watching TV has been nice and all but I need to get out more.

As far as the assessing thing goes- I didn't do so well my first semester. I'm only beating myself up about it a little. I know I could have done better- you can always work harder. But I don't think I should be too hard on myself- it was a rough semester for me personally, there was a lot going on back home and it was hard being away from family. Plus- well... I hate to say this but I didn't really like my classes (didn't hate them or anything- just not completely my thing) none of them were particularly exciting. The one bright spot (there were two really- I also made a few good friends) was teaching. I really liked the class, working with my advisor was amazing, the other TA was also great. Most of all I really liked my students. Of course I always think I could have done better but overall I think it went well and my students seemed to enjoy the discussion sections.

I'm feeling very optimistic about next semester. I am much more excited about the classes I'm taking and it should be less stressful since I won't be teaching - I will miss teaching but it'll be nice to have less work. I have to retake the French exam but I should actually have time to practice this semester so my chances of passing will be better. I'm thinking about discussing France in my dissertation so I may try to find funding to go to France to do research - which would amazing! Plus I plan on making time to see more of my new home and maybe taking a trip up to DC. Who knows if I'll actualy do any of it- but it sounds like a good plan now.