The First Day of School

So, I'm officially a graduate student! I had my first 2 classes (Environment of Performing Arts Administration and Principles and Practices of Performing Arts Administration) last night and I think they're going to be really great! I have to say again that going to NYU is just the polar opposite of UOP. The building I had my classes in is at least 10 floors, and you have to wait in line to even get on the elevator. But you better not mess up, because half the elevators go to the even floors, and the elevators on other side of the building go to odd floors. There are more students than small university people can possibly imagine on any given floor, and then there are about 20 more buildings all around that also have at least 10 floors and hundreds of students waiting to go to class. Crazy!

My impression of graduate classes so far is first of all that there is a lot (A LOT) of reading. My professor told us not to get ulcers over the readings, but I'm not sure that's the best thing to tell me. I might get a little too relaxed about it! Second, it's all about processing the entire semester and turning it into 1 or 2 papers or projects. All this work I will be doing will be condensed into a grade representing one or two items. Crazy again! Third, it really is just all about the process. In my second class last night, we had to do this exercise with our groups (and I commence weeping- more about that later....) and then present our results to the class. The catch was we had to present HOW we came to our decisions. Well sure enough, everyone that presents say WHY they reached their answers. So my group picks me to go up and present and because everyone else said WHY and because I don't really know what I would say to answer HOW anyway (uhhhhh----we talked???), I answer, somewhat eloquently, how we made our choices....And of course, the whole point of the exercise is to show us (silly grad students) that we have no idea what HOW means and that that's the whole point of grad school.

Now, I don't know if I like that all that much. Sure I agree that we don't really know how to do things- that's why we're there. But it seems a little silly to concentrate soooo much on process. It's very esoteric and academic...Maybe I just need to screw my grad student cap on a little tighter. The only other thing I'm a little nervous about for that class is that the entire grade is based on class participation and group projects. Those of you who recall my Mentor experiences or have listened to me ever know that I HATE GROUP PROJECTS and I HATE CLASS PARTICIPATION BASED GRADES!!! Sooooo, that's going to be really great. But, it's a pretty good opportunity to learn something!

After class we went to get free wine and food at a reception welcoming grad students. Eric and I didn't really make friends with any of the other 1000 people that were there, but free wine and hummus is a really great dinner.

Today we went grocery shopping and I have to say that grocery shopping in New York City is an experience like no other. It's an extremely intense adventure. There's people everywhere and at any given time you can hear them speaking about 10 different languages and there's a lot of pushing and shoving, particularly when shopping carts are involved. I'm always so so afraid I was going to mess up. You DEFINITELY cannot put your full basket on the conveyor belt and expect the cashier to unload the stuff as she checks it. NOOOOOOO. You will get yelled and stared at. (Been there!) Today I managed to get coffee ground for me without too much embarassment, but shied away from the fish and meat counters. One small step at a time...

Mouse update (for those of you who still care....I'm going to have to keep doing this for awhile, because I still live in fear)- Our current mouse is very smart- it somehow can eat the cheese off the middle of our glue traps without getting stuck. So he's still on the lam.

The scariest thing happened to me yesterday- I was walking through Washington Square Park (a beautiful place- you feel like you're in a movie, and there's really old guys playing chess at the little chess tables...) and the BIRD LADY crosses my path. She's just nonchalantly leaving a trail of bread for the pigeons. But, duh, there's also a TRAIL OF PIGEONS behind her! And, poor me, I am trapped on a path with no way out except to turn and run screaming in the other directrion, as thousands of pigeons land all around me to get their bread and then fly away again to follow the traveling bird lady. I was stuck, practically in tears, in a flurry of wings and beaks all around me. I made it through, but not without some permanent damage to my little heart, it was beating so fast. Stop laughing- you imagine if your worst fear was flying or crawling or slithering or jumping all around you in the middle of a public place and you had no escape....ok, so it might be a little funny.....