Overwhelmed, Excited, Nervous

Sorry its been so long since my last update, I have been quite busy! I just got home from my first day of class. The class is called "Gender Theories in the Modern World: An Interdisciplinary Approach." I have an hour and a half of lecture and an hour and a half of seminar (like a section, its for student facilitation and discussion). I am very excited about the whole thing. The class is team taught by all the faculty of the gender institute. Tomorrow I have "Gender, Knowledge, and Research Practice." On Thursday I have "Cultural Constructions of the Body."

Here is what I have been up to since my last entry:

Wednesday 30 September:
I attended a public lecture by Amina Mama on "Militarism and Underdevelopment." The Gender Institute (GI) has a public lecture series and this was the first one. Amina Mama is a quite famous woman as a pioneering academic for gender studies in South Africa. After the lecture was a reception at the GI. I met a bunch of my fellow students. And there was free wine. Very nice night!

Thursday 1 October:
3 hour orientation to the GI. The faculty introduced themselves, their research interests, and what they teach. The director of the GI started by saying that we probably all feel overwhelmed, excited, and nervous - and that she feels that way all of the time, such is the life of a gender theorist. After the large orientation with all of the MSc students, we broke off to our individual tracks. I am doing the Gender track (there are others like Gender, Development, and Globalisation and Gender, Media, and Culture). I met with my cohort and the convener of the course.

A few hours after the orientation, I stayed on campus to go to the LGBT society's bar hopping night. It was really fun! I was nervous at first going alone, but I ended up talking with people all night. I only went to the 1st three bars. I met some people who were really nice and will maybe hang out with them again.

Friday 2 October:
On this day I had an all day induction for the GI. This was lead by a PhD student. We learned the ins and outs of the GI - how courses and course work actually work, what is expected of you, how to be involved, etc. I found it really helpful, the whole thing felt scary after that. We had ample time to ask any questions we had at all. After the induction, there was a reception with free champagne and snacks. I talked with a bunch of people in my program. They like social receptions at the GI! I didn't stay late at this, as I went to Ellie's friend's house for dinner.

Saturday and Sunday:
Ellie and I finished Buffy. She loved it. I worked on my reading for my first day of class. Pretty nice weekend!

Other than that, I am working on making friends. I am having lunch with someone from my course tomorrow. I am also working on keeping up with my studies. There is an incredible amount of reading every week. They say probably about 40 hours a week worth of reading. This is my new full time job after all!