A Day In the Life Pt. 2

This new semester started off in stark contrast to the fall semester. Instead of dripping in sweat and wishing I had a shirt to change into, I found myself dripping snot and wishing I had an extra shirt or two on. Oh Kansas, what would I do without your four beautiful seasons?

My classes this semester will prove to be a much needed challenge, as I am taking two seminar classes which will be very reading intensive and involve at least two 25-35 page papers by the end of the semester. One of the seminar classes is another theory class, so more Freud, Durkheim, Marx, Jung, etc... and the other seminar class is Native American religions. All this is balanced out by my third class, Women and Violence, which will be my first class in the Women's Studies department. Hopefully I'll leave KU not only with my MA in Religious Studies but also with a certification in Women's Studies. Whew...

Women and Violence won't be an easy course by any means. We'll spend literally the first half of the semester covering rape, a fourth on domestic violence and the final fourth on childhood sexual abuse. It's a large class, I would guess at least 40 people, which means statistically speaking 10 of us have been raped or sexually assaulted in some form or another. I expect that over the course of the class, many of those stories will be told. It will definitely be a test of inner strength.

In other news, I now own a juicer. I'm pretty psyched because I've gotten hooked on fresh apple juice. Mmmm! As I walked out of Bed Bath and Beyond carrying my new favorite appliance, I decided today is the day that I start really eating right. For months now I've been saying "I need to eat healthier, I need to eat better food" but now I'm actually doing it.

I'm cutting down on refined sugar and yeast (I can hear the Riesling and Left Hand Milk Stout bottles crying as I write this), and I'm going to add more fruits, veggies and water to my diet.... right after I finish this Pop-Tart (Last one! I swear!). Wish me luck :-)

What a day. I'm tired.

Growing up means...

Growing up means you have to pack your own dinner to take to class with you, and it also means that you'll look like a bit of an alcoholic when the only brown paper bags you had once had bottles of Riesling in them. ;-)

Today my other two classes met for the first time. Let me just say, Wednesdays are going to be mentally exhausting. I have class from 2:30-8:30, so if you try to talk to me after, please don't expect too much out of me. ;-)

My first class of the day is "Approaches to the Study of Religion"- aka "The Required Course That Will Quickly Become the Bane of Your Existence After You Are Hopelessly Buried Under the 200 Pages of Reading You Have Every Week". Yay.

My other class is a seminar on Religion on Modern Japan...which is going to be awesome. Well, minus the fact that we're reading a text book pretty much every week. Hey...welcome to grad school.

Ugh my brain is dead. Sorry. Wine and strawberry bundt cake it is!
I'll try to be more interesting next time...

So I realized that I've been posting cute pictures of myself in the entries so far, but I'm a little afraid that this might be false advertising. Ladies and gentlemen, here's the honest truth- This is what I usually look like when I'm blogging. Lovely.

A Day In the Life

My first day of graduate school...my first day at the University of Kansas.

At 8:45 this morning I locked the door to my apartment and turned on my iPod. The Beatles' "new" Love album was my soundtrack of choice. To the tune of "Get Back" I embarked on my journey.

At 9:00 this morning I was cursing the sun with every sweaty bone in my body. My water bottle was half gone and I was only half way to class. Sunburn was imminent.

At 9:20 I arrived at Smith Hall, my home for the next 2 years, drenched in sweat and excited to start my Religious Perspectives on War and Peace class.

At 10:30 my professor had already dropped the "n" word, I'd met 20 great students who I look forward discussing the course matter with, and my four hours of sleep was catching up with me.

At 10:50 I strolled out the door of the beautiful icebox that is Smith and met Gabriel and we proceeded to walk back towards my apartment as I stripped down to my tank-top on the way. It was too damn hot.

At 8:45 this evening, 12 hours later, with a successful Pier 1 shift almost behind me I sat in an "Easy Rattan Chair" facing the window watching a gorgeous storm roll in to Lawrence as the rain poured down. Life is beautiful.