And now that we're more than a full month into school, teachers are comfortable assigning papers. Papers. Due weekly. And the readings...I don't know where to begin. One teacher informed us that we should "expect to put in about 10 hours a week." If we were to actually complete all the expected reading, it would take twice that time!
But as a break between writing one paper, writing another paper and preparing the readings and refreshing my Arabic for classes which begin next week, I thought I'd drop a line in here.
In Massachusetts, cars HAVE to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalks! On the day I arrived, I found myself chugging along, noting with only a small portion of my brain that pedestrians seemed to be leaping out of my way and glaring at me an awful lot in Boston. Now I know why - even these pushy east-coast drivers HAVE to stop for them!
I have seen more people here use the symbol "+" to indicate the word "and!" I almost never get it...and when I do, I try to resist the system and always read it as "Culture plus competency..." "Mass Ave plus Somerville Ave..."
Boston's subway, the MBTA (affectionately referred to as the "T") can be your best friend or the biggest pain in your ass. I take it at least a couple times a week, usually to go to work down at the art school that is associated with my school (a reminder: I found out that Blogger.com is open to search engines. Therefore, I will not be posting names of people or institutions in my entries). There have been days that I descend into the warm, still air of the subterranean red line/green line stations and find a train just pulling up to the platform. Then, on days when I'm running late, I rush down to the T station and always, ALWAYS when I'm late, have to wait 15 minutes for a train. And, on those days, inevitably I'll have to wait again when transferring trains! But see, if you PLAN for an extra 30 minutes of waiting time, the trains will all align to your schedule and you'll find yourself at your destination laughably early and without any course readings at hand. Inevitably!
School's going well - everyone in my program seems to have a fascinating, unique and intricate history that I would love to sit down over a beer and hear about in detail. I have three classes a week, 2.5 hours each. On top of that, I TA a class down at that art school one day a week, and beginning next week, have Arabic class once a week for three hours. I've found myself in a great first-year group at school; everyone is passionate and brilliant and full of energy and ideas. My program requires its students to do an internship (domestic OR overseas) before graduating. Last week I attended a workshop at which the details of this internship were bestowed on us; all students in the program have to attend the workshop at least once. In attendance last week were two second-year students, and TEN of my first-year classmates. We've still got a year and a half before we're expected to do that internship...but...doesn't hurt to be ahead of the game. ;)
As for that internship...I've got ideas, but it's still a year and a half away!
Here are some shots of my apartment - it's small but GREAT.
Here are a couple of interesting links to check out:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=419032
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/10/18/science.race/index.html
http://www.newstarget.com/PhotoTour_Mystery_Meat_1.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin
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