getting ready for the real day 1

Ugh. I've been reading for the majority of the last 8 hours. Well. Okay, figure the time I took to take a bike ride, make and eat dinner, watch an episode of Burn Notice and some intermittent web-surfing, more like 6 of the last 8 hours. Still, that's a lot.

We have 3 classes this session, over 8 classes per week: 2 meet 3 times, 1 meets twice, 3 credit & 2 credit, respectively. Of course it's the 2 credit class that has all the reading. The other two are math (accounting for managers and statistics). Okay, technically the accounting class is how to interpret the statements, not how to generate them, but still it's mainly reminders at this point, not new info. Reminders of 3-years-old info. Which is definitely needed.

But here's the thing: I'm prepping for tomorrow, which will consist of 2 90 minute classes. At this point, I'm spending more time than I did for any of my Saturday 3-hour marathon classes. Which is crazy? Or grad school? I'd say the latter except I also used to prepare this way for the Valencia classes. Well. Some of them. The ones I cared about (aka Economics).

Regardless, my goal is to start with good habits and try to carry them through. It'll be a struggle, but I sortof feel like having classes more often may be helpful, for me, in that I can't leave it all till Friday night to try to push through. You know, just until Sunday ...

Anyway. It feels good to finally be starting. Even more than starting orientation. This is the real deal!

A couple of the guys stopped by earlier, wanting to know what they need to prepare for tomorrow. It's all online in the Syllabus, but apparently they were ... I don't know, actually. Going to do it after? At any rate, they seemed a little surprised all this has to be done in advance, and more than a little freaked they haven't started yet.

For my part, I'm almost done with Accounting, for the moment. So the question is: go ahead and start on Stats? ... I like stats, but I think that may be a good idea.

One thing that amuses me? I kept wondering whether my book would be the one co-authored by my Stetson stats professor. Nope. No Thorne on there. I'm actually a little sad. She was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and clear. On the other hand, the two professors who spoke on Friday also seemed good, and it's the philosophy of GISMA to schedule classes around when the best professors will be available. So ... this should be fun, for certain specific values of fun.

Break over!

2 weeks in!

So today is the 14th day since I arrived in Hannover! Crazy how quickly this has gone by. Not much going on this weekend - getting ready for Monday means doing readings and more readings. I did finally find my class schedule. We're in the annex on Mon & Thurs and in the rotunda on Tue & Wed. That should break up the week pretty nicely.

I don't think I mentioned getting my bike, previously. At the party on Wed, a girl who was in last year's class approached me - apparently she's the one who I'd responded to on the Forum. I met her Wed night to see the bike and bought it. It's a totally old-school 3-speed women's bike, but already has a blinky light on the back and a seat cover and comes with a basket. All for 60 euros. Not great but not terrible! Turns out using my newly purchased bike pump was a bit of a challenge, but I figured it out ... at least for the bike. I cannot, for the life of me, pump up my pilates ball. Probably going to need to buy a floor pump. Awesome.

Yesterday in the late morning my team met and we hashed out the details of the charter. I'm writing it up today an we'll all sign it.

Some random things I've noted:
The default skirt fashion here is skirt over leggings, ending either in flats or in socks and clogs. For dressier occasions, nylons are required - no bare legs. Not a shocker, but very different from Florida.

We're finally having some nicer weather, with sunshine and a bit of heat. It's supposed to be 70 today. I'm not convinced.

I have been astonished at what a huge difference the curtain over the window makes in heat retention! I have my window angled open at the top. If I close the curtain all the way at night it is too hot and I wake up several times. However, if I pull back the curtain a foot or so, the temperature gets quite cool an good for sleeping. It's really a remarkable difference.

I think I've settled on a room arrangement. The main advantage right now is I have room to do pilates. That's a bit of a challenge in a small room, so I'm actually rather proud! I'm also somewhat proud of the fact my room isn't trashed yet. In fact, other than the desk it's actually remarkably tidy! And even the desk just needs 5 minutes of effort to be fine again. I don't think it'll last, but you never know.

I cannot state enough how great it is to have a laundry basket / a place to put my dirty laundry. It was driving me nuts.

Oh! And! My box came on Thursday!

Before I left Orlando I'd mailed myself a box containing, among other things, my winter coat, my sneakers, my work-shoes and my towel. Three of those things it would have been REALLY nice to have with me.

Anyway. It came!! As I'd planned, I went back to the dorm and got my suitcase, brought that back to school and transferred everything to the suitcase to bring back. The box was big (unwieldy) and heavy. And, as it turned out, apparently disintegrating, as the German postal service had to basically wrap it in tape to hold it together. Whoops.

And in addition to the above, I'd sent myself lotion and about 3 more pairs of shoes and mittens and SOCKS! SO many socks. That was kindof great, actually, as I'd been bitching earlier in the day about where were the 'good' socks. There were also a couple of skirts and a pair of dress pants and such. In general, good stuff to have.

So now it's Sunday. Plan for the day includes a shower, homework, a bike ride and then more homework. Woo. Party on.