Nice to meet you, my name is...

I finally feel like I'm starting to settle in.  We had some problems in the bathroom (like the shower drain not working), but that was fixed yesterday, so I could move all my stuff into the bathroom.  I slept all last night without waking up once (the previous nights, I kept waking up around 4).  It's the little changes that help.  Like buying a foam topper so my bed is more comfortable.  I also purchased another pillow to put behind mine so that my pillow doesn't fall down the cracks in the middle of the night.

Making friends helps too.  Some of us new girls have formed sort of a posse.  We pretty much go everywhere together.  There are three of us from Lamont (the main girls dorm, where I live), and three from Retreat House (which is down the hill). There are still plenty of people to meet, however.  I have no idea how many new people there are here, but every day I meet more, which is great.

Yesterday was our first orientation session, where they overloaded us with information about registration, campus safety, etc.  They also introduced all the professors, which was helpful, so we kind of have an idea who they are.  They also sort of introduced us to the professors.  They would ask us to stand if we were in a certain age range, if we came right from college, or work, or other fields.  More than half are in the 21-25 range, and most of them are right out of college.  It makes me feel old.  Actually, all the people here that I would call friends now are right out of college.  Probably about a quarter of the newbies are in the 26-30 range, and the last quarter are in the 31 and over range.  If they haven't just graduated, new students mostly come from ministry settings.  Only a few came from the marketplace, and I was one of three (that I saw) in the education field.  One of those three (her name is Valerie) came up to me during one of the breaks and said something to the effect of, "you're a teacher and you're over 26!  Me too!  We should be best friends forever!"  To which I promptly said yes, we should.  I would also say that the male to female ratio is 2:1.  There's a lot of guys here.  It's actually sort of weird because in the last 2 years, I've been in a predominantly female industry.

So far I have only met one other person doing the MA in Old Testament.  Her name is Debbie.  I'm pretty sure we're going to have every class together, so I'm glad I at least know her name.

I'm going to start looking for a job soon.  I want to get my class schedule in place first, so I know what hours I'm unavailable.  

Tonight I'm going to one of my professor's homes, which I'm kind of nervous about.  I really get nervous about everything.  I'm sure it will be fine.  Tomorrow is the registration fair, when I get to figure out what classes I'm taking!  So that's exciting.  I'll probably post again tomorrow with my class schedule.  Have a great day!