Day 1, Week 2

Day 1, Week 2

Well, I have officially been here for one week now! Ok, to be literal, I have been here 7 days and 40 minutes.

So far it is definitely going better than the first week of last summer. One, I have Ellie here with me, and last summer I had to leave her in her doggie day care for a week before I could fly back home and get her. The house was totally empty without her, and to compound that, during the first week of a new program you don't really know anyone. So, it was super lonely.

This year, I know people. Yay. Also, I know where things are. I know where the health food store is in case I need to extend my search for Tofutti non-dairy cream cheese. I know that Martins has nori but only Giant Eagle carries Soy Vey. I also know that the "sushi" place downtown is to be avoided, but the Mexican place and the Coventry Inn are OK. Actually, I heart the Coventry Inn.

So this sense of familiarity makes the second year, at least initially, much much better than the first.

Additionally, I am taking two classes outside of the Comp. program, so I am getting to meet some new people, almost all of whom actually live here year around (or in the area). So, I'm looking forward to getting even more diversity of backgrounds and perspectives.

It is interesting to compare notes with some of my friends who started their Comp. programs at other schools at the same time as me. I am totally happy I chose IUP: I love the flexibility the program offers, and I love that I can have my fabulous job during the year and then come here in the summer. Even though I would rather be home, I think coming here makes it possible for me to get a lot more work done. I can compartmentalize. If I were at home, I'd have a million distractions. What I also have loved about the program so far is how the professors seem willing to go above and beyond to support what your interests are. At some other, more highly ranked schools, I might be getting to work with VIProfessor on their projects. At IUP, the professors want to work with me on mine.

As a result of that support, I have had a good year with publications. I have a teensy page coming out in a collection on mentoring from Parlor Press in August, then an article in English Journal in September, and I have some other stuff in the pipeline. Without the encouragement (and willingness to read revisions!), I wouldn't have thought of sending anything off to anyone.

July 2- I am revisiting this post to test out a feature in Google Reader. I want to see if it will show this post as being updated. Now back to the future.