Orienatation-ing, etc.

Hello everyone, from my surprisingly-green room in Boston!  Sorry that I haven’t updated before now - things have been quite busy, as you might expect.  I arrived into Boston last Monday afternoon, and was SO happy to be greeted by Jaime and another of my housemates, Justin, who had kindly offered to drive to the airport to pick me (and my luggage) up and take us home.  Not having to deal with my luggage on the T was just about the nicest thing I could have asked for in a welcome!

Tuesday started orientation-ing, with a maths refresher course.  I had been quite worried about this, because (as I’m sure you’re well aware) my maths skills generally suck.  But the course was really easy - I even found an error in the answer key for our problem set for the day, which was the first time in my life that my maths answer, upon not agreeing with the answer key, has been the correct one.  And the teacher assured us that the maths necessary for the econ course, at least, would be no more difficult than what we had done in class.

After the maths, it was time for Tufts’ graduate student orientation, which was, well, truthfully, not that interesting.  It was the usual “bigwigs of the school standing in front of a microphone telling all us grad students that we’re entering the best years of our lives” type of orientation.  Although one thing of note was mentioned, which is that those who participate in the Tufts President’s marathon team don’t have to pass the entrance time for the Boston Marathon.  As I haven’t a chance in hell of running a marathon in the time that the B.M. wants for entrance, I had kinda written it off, but now… it’s on the list of possibilities for next year.  (Doh!)

Graham arrived on Wednesday, and has been very kindly helping me paint my room for a number of hours over the last few days.  I chose a color that seemed like a nice, rich-but-soft greeny-blue off the color chips; there were no samples to be had, so I just went ahead and bit the bullet and bought enough to properly paint the room.  Sadly, when first being put on the walls, the color turned out to be something between electric shamrock and slightly-darker-than-oompa-loompa-hair.  ::sigh::  It has darkened and mellowed with a second coat and drying, but it’s still much more, um, vibrant than I had intended.  Ah well.  I’ll live with it. 

Thursday was the UEP (my program) orientation, which was much more to the point.  All us first-years had to go around and introduce ourselves, and it’s nice to be surrounded by people who seem passionate about generally the same topics as me, or, really, who are passionate, period.  I also got to meet Laurie, who is a professor in the program, a Reed alumna, and who, it turns out, was born in Mineral Wells, Texas.  (The ice-breaking activity was to organize ourselves in a big circle by increasing distance of birthplace from Tufts - I was the furthest away of the three Texans.)

On Friday, a few of the second-year UEP students also gave an orientation for the first years, which was actually more useful, in many ways, than the official orientation.  It also gave me an opportunity to catch up with Jeremy, another Reed alum who graduated the same year as me.  Reedies are everywhere - Jeremy, Laurie, and my advisor’s husband, all in or related to a small program! :-)

After the orientation on Thursday, first-years met with our advisors and signed up for classes.  My advisor, Rachel, suggested that I sign up for more than the standard four classes, then drop one before the five-week drop point.  So I have.  The two required courses for this semester are: Foundations in Public Policy and Planning, and Economics for Public Policy and Planning.  The other three courses for which I have registered are: Environmental Law; Cities in Space, Time and Place; and Developing Sustainable Communities.  I’m guessing that the second of the three will be the one that’s dropped, because it’s a required course and I will therefore be able to take it next year.  But we shall see.

This weekend, Graham and I went down to King Richard’s Fayre, specifically to try to find the vendor who had made the leather bracer that Graham bought there seven years ago and which, through constant wear, has become a bit… worn.  The vendor wasn’t there, but we found another leather worker who says that he can mend the straps on the one Graham has, which are the parts that are falling to bits, so overall the day was a success.  I’m glad that I won’t be driving on a regular basis in Boston/Massachusetts, though - it was nerve-wracking, and the traffic wasn’t even that bad.

Today, after a quick trip to the farmer’s market in Central Square, I’m going to start in on the required reading for my classes tomorrow.  This evening, our relatives out in Lexington are having us over for dinner, and to give me a chest of drawers and a desk lamp.  Now I just need a desk….