My First Day of School

Well, technically it was orientation.

So, I woke up at what my body thought was 3am, but was 8am over here. Got ready, put on cute outfit (felt obligated to wear white long sleeved t-shirt Beth had found for me in Target), grabbed my things, and left. As is custom for a freaked out kid on the first day of school, it took me about 4 tries before I was satisfied that I had not forgotten anything and could finally lock the door behind me. Went back for the thing I had forgotten, and I was on my way. As is custom for a freaked out kid on the first day of school, I got lost and was the last to arrive, but I made it.

The building is a labyrinth. Not like CSPAC, the labyrinth of my undergraduate career. I believe there are rooms in that building that no one will ever find, it is so massive and confusing. No, this building is small and modest, but made of indistinct hallways with indistinct doors, half of which can't be opened. We got to our classroom and had our morning session, which consisted of introductions between all the schools over video monitors. That was fairly cool. We met some faculty members and the head of the Theatre Studies department here as well. The syllabus was distributed, we will be seeing productions, working with guest lecturers from all over the world, and we don't have class on Tuesdays, so, fun all around.

A break for lunch had us on the move, looking for food that doesn't suck and our student id cards. I'm sad to say, fail on both accounts. The line for student ids was miles long and not moving, so no gym access for me this week. And the sandwich I got consisted of mayo and lettuce, with only trace amounts of the chicken and bacon that the label boasted. Before I get used to the dreary weather here I will first get used to being constantly just a little hungry.

Then off to the library for the afternoon session. We split into groups to write about key words taken from within the performance studies realm that we find interesting or difficult. See our work on my other blog, MAIPR. MAIPR is the name of my program. It is a MAsters of International Performance Research, and consequently also the name of the degree I will be (hopefully eventually) receiving. Apparently, it is not "M.A.I.P.R." as I have been calling it, but pronounced as one word, MAI as in the word 'my,' PR as in the sound 'purr,' mypurr. Who knew. We came up with some cool things in the group meetings, and that was all well and good, but WE GOT TO USE SPACE COMPUTERS!!!!! I WROTE A BLOG ON A SPACE COMPUTER!!! AAAAMAZING!

Allow me to clarify. You know those commercials where people have a computer screen that is huge and in front of them, they write with their fingers, use both hands to make things bigger or smaller, throw things away and move other things around, all with their hands... WE HAVE THOSE! THEY ARE REAL! MY MIND IS BLOWN.

Then we worked on another group project, a live/televised/written fusion piece that will be presented later in the week. No space computers this time, but still going to be interesting I think.

After that I was pretty exhausted. I'm tired and, yes, hungry. It was great meeting my classmates. They are from all over the place. Hopefully in the next few days we get to interact in more of a social way, in addition to the academic work we got to do today. That was great, don't get me wrong, but I am anxious for friends. As the only one in my program living on campus I am at a disadvantage in that department. Haven't met any more flat mates either, hope to be getting the rest of us in later in the week. Yeah, I said "flat mates." See the assimilation that is taking place? Oh my, life is an adventure.


In the shout out department, to the man who inspired the blog, Go You Huskies!