This Friday marks the end of Week Four of graduate school. It’s been a full month since I had TA training.  Phew!

Life is good. If not hectic and crazy. Some general observations: Since I have an MA, my initial gut reaction is to compare my two experiences. However, I realize they don’t compare. Sure the seminar experience is similar. But in a way with my MA I jumped into research very fast. I had a research paper to write almost immediately. Then, of course, we were writing our theses our second year then done. Here, I am not supposed to ponder the dissertation until after the comprehensive exams. Of course, we all know that doesn’t happen.  I’m talking about dissertation ideas all of the time with possible advisors and other students.

I also keep having this odd feeling of being unsettled. I am in a unique situation where I may have two advisors. I am drawn to writing about religion in the 19th and 20th centuries. Part of me feels like I should write about the 19th century. However, I am some ideas that would include both. SOme of my other peers already have advisors. Some don’t. I need to realize its ok. It’s been good that I have been meeting with several professors. I will have it figured out soon enough. I just need to “follow my heart.”

Work-discipline. Ahhh I have been getting the work done. But I’ve learned some hard lesson about the me four years ago and the me now. I need sleep. I know there will be sleepless nights in the future but when I can sleep I am sleeping. I have never been the type of person to get up and get to work. Um I have to now. This means reading by 10 AM on the mornings I don’t have anywhere else to be. I will be shooting for earlier as the semester rolls on. yeah and this means going to bed earlier…:(

I have banned myself from facebook. I have signed onto it on my blackberry but you can’t navigate it well. I don’t have facebook application for blackberries which is good. I have also cut myself off of other bloggingish sites that eat up time. I do visit my bloglines staples. It turns out I don’t need facebook to waste time on the web. When i find myself downloading music for my cats, we know I need to point my attention elsewhere. HA!

The teaching. I won’t talk about that in depth on this open forum. But it is a LOT OF WORK. So far I have taught sixteen section in all. Four a week for four weeks. I have to say one of my groups is pretty talkative and into the material which makes for a fast and fun session.

OK back to writing about the Puritans!