What a Week!

I haven't posted for a while because I've been busy having one of the busiest weeks ever! I started classes on Monday and started teaching on Tuesday. If that wasn't enough to keep me busy, I was also tutoring a little bit this week. Let's just say I really underestimated how busy I'd be and overestimated my ability to deal...

So first - let's talk about ridiculously long days! Monday we got to campus by 8:15am and didn't leave until 8:45pm. Tuesday we got there at 7:30 and left around 4:30. Wednesday was 9am to 9pm.... you get the idea. The worst part was, I was busy for every minute I was there. If I wasn't teaching, I was learning. Talk about mental exhaustion.

I had planned to combat my mental exhaustion and stress by taking scuba diving. What a let down! I couldn't have hated it more. I'm a swimmer. Scuba diving is about sitting under water. We didn't swim, we sat and froze our asses off. Not exactly my idea of a good time. And we had to haul around our gear, wear heavy weight belts so we'd sink, and after all that - sit in a classroom for an hour and learn the SCIENCE of scuba diving. Well anyone who knows me knows that the entry of science marked my departure from the class. Yep, I dropped it. I'll stick with swimming laps, which I love.

And I'll be doing lots of lap swimming to deal with the stress of teaching. Don't get me wrong, I do like to teach. But I decided to be a professor and not a middle/high school teacher for a reason. This week has served to reinforce that I made the right decision. These kids are smart, more dedicated and focused than most their age, and still they are... well their age (15-17). I just prefer adults, what can I say. I have 20 students in my Spanish I class, which I realize is not that many, but it's more than enough for 8am. Especially since these teens ARE morning people and are already bouncing off the walls. Actually they may just be on a caffeine high, because by an hour in they are done bouncing off the walls and I'm having to keep them awake. On the other hand, I think I'm really going to enjoy my Women's Studies class. There's only 11 of them (well 9 were there on Wednesday), and it's a discussion class, instead of lecture. I'll know tomorrow when I see if they did their reading and are able to engage in coherent discussion.

On the plus side of the week - my French is flying back to me! My first week in a graduate class went really well, and if I do say so myself, I'm one of the best at it! I'm sure the fact that I: (1) took French extensively once upon a time, and (2) know Latin and Spanish pretty well has have helped quite a bit. Either way, I don't suck and that's an exiting way to start my first graduate class!

Sleep was a real issue this week  - I was going to bed at 2 and 3 am and waking up by 7 at the latest. I made up for it yesterday though. Went to bed Friday night at 11:30pm and didn't wake up until 1:15pm!! I didn't even know I could sleep like that anymore, it's been so long, but I guess I really needed it. Then we went to spend the day with my stepson and his family - I had a kinda pathetic birthday due to my crazy week and lack of sleep (thanks to Laura who joined me for drinks on Thursday it wasn't truly pathetic. Thanks for lifting my spirits girl!), but they surprised me with a tres leches birthday cake, making up for my lackluster birthday. Then we went to the creek, where I proceeded to think I was a kid again and walk around barefoot in the water, falling on my ass (2 times actually), once with my cell phone in my pocket. So I'm waiting for my replacement to come in on Tuesday (I have a long, bad history with phones and am always well equipped with insurance). Despite the damaged phone it was a really great time and I know the kids had a blast.

Oh and I just got an email from WashU about setting up my student ID and email address. Yay!! Things are starting to fall into place! Anywho - that's a really quick snapshot of my crazy week. I'm finally done grading papers (that's a real drag, BTW... I think I hate grading essays more than they hate writing them), so I'm off to do my French homework.