Nothing to lose, everything to gain

I had my first class as a graduate student yesterday! As I expected, I enjoyed it a lot and found the material to be intellectually stimulating (a good sign!). The atmosphere is so different from my undergraduate life. First, there are about 25 students in my class as compared to RU's average 50 - 200. Second, the student age ranges from 22 - 45 as compared to 18 - 22. Lastly, the campus is so small that all my classes ended up in one building, a mere 5 - 10 minute walk from the commuter lots as compared to my travels via RU buses & getting lost in search of classrooms in building basements. It's a lot of change to get used to, but so far it seems promising and inviting.

I was able to study for about 2 hours today (and am planning to do some more reading tonight). After accepting my admittance to the program earlier this year, I anticipated my newfound motivation and appreciation of the opportunity to learn and be a Masters student, yet I didn't realize exactly how MUCH I would love and appreciate it. I guess when you go from having no direction in life, it feels nice to finally have a concrete/more stable goal to work towards.

I'm excited to go to my other two classes next week! I'm sure the course load will become increasingly harder and deadlines will begin to approach quickly, but I'm really ready for it and eager to achieve success.

I'll have to also re-learn how to balance my personal interests with that of being a student again, but I'm sure I can manage. Plus, Charu is moving back home so at least I have a study buddy!

On another note: NFL football season starts tonight & I couldn't be more excited for that! Plans for the rest of the evening include: football watching, hot tea drinking, shower-taking, nail-painting & more reading!