Good: I officially joined a group today!

Bad: My head feels like it's going to explode because of this stupid cold.

Indifferent?: I may not finish my quantum problem set by Wednesday, and I don't really think I care. So this is what lowering standards feels like.

The Gen Chem for Smart Kids class is having an exam tomorrow. The way exams work for this course is that the kids sit the exam from 5:40 to 7:00 p.m. and we proctor them. Then, the kids leave (hopefully not in tears), the two profs who teach the lecture order everyone pizza, and all 17 of us (2 profs + 15 TAs) grade the exam from 7:30 until ( Read more... )

Yeah, so my life has gotten crazy. General overview: busy, stressful, but also fun. The people here are awesome, and I'm so glad to be in Wisconsin ( Read more... )

Good Lord, I had forgotten how competitive I am. We have a department-wide picnic, and there's a softball tournament divided up by division: Organic, Physical, Inorganic, and Materials/Analytical. Inorganic got shafted, since we're just as small as Materials but we didn't get to combine with anyone else. Also, apparently I'm the only competitive ( Read more... )

Okay, done freaking out. I'll still have to deal with my workload, but it seems comparable to that of the other first years in my program. Besides, people make it past their first year of grad school all the time. I'll be fine ( Read more... )

I need to relearn how to budget my time ( Read more... )

So for the past week and a half, my life has been pretty much eaten up by moving preparations. Other than seeing my grandfather again, I've been packing, packing, packing. But! Tomorrow my mom flies up to Philly, Wednesday we load up the U-Haul and hit the road, and Saturday I move into my apartment in Madison. In five days, I will (hopefully) ( Read more... )

...And the anxiety is starting to set in. Over the past couple of days, I've been obsessing that: 1) my mom and I will die in a fiery crash while driving the moving truck to Wisconsin, 2) I'll never be able to fit all my stuff into said truck, 3) I'll fail my advisory exams, and 4) I won't get into the lab I really, really want. I've talked to my ( Read more... )

Just got back from picnic of Philly Oberlin alums. Ignored foot pain. Talked to people about how awesome Wisconsin is. Waxed philosophical about Christianity in the South vs. Christianity in Philly (read: more Catholics) and what it means to be Episcopalian. Somewhat drunk. Love Obies so much.

I'm actually enjoying studying for advisory exams. I have very little to do at work nowadays, so it gives me something to do, and brushing up on my chemistry knowledge is already making me feel more confident about starting grad school. I'm on thermodynamics right now, and I had forgotten how much I liked phase diagrams. Another reason to lean ( Read more... )