Initial Impression of Grad School

I had my first two days of grad school orientation Monday and Tuesday and woah were they busy! One of the downsides to where we live is that both Matt & I have decent commutes-- 35 min one way with no traffic. Of course the roads I have to take basically guarantee there will be traffic, so I am going to have to get used to that.

But enough complaining about that. At orientation, there were definitely boring parts, but I also got to meet several of my fellow grad students. I observed that I seem to be the baby of the bunch. Everyone that I've talked to already has their master's and some have been out of school for a while. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it just surprised me that I am definitely the youngest and it makes me feel... naive I guess.

I also got to meet the professors I will be TA'ing for. Now this is where I'm blown away by God's blessings-- my school just recruited some 'big fish' in the criminology world and guess who will be working for them? Yup, me. I'll be serving as a TA for one of their undergrad course and then doing research with the other. It is definitely the best of both worlds and I'm excited to see what opportunities open up because of this.

It's one of those things where you enter into a new thing (i.e. grad school), unsure if it is really the right thing for you. Then you keep on getting all these blessings and it's just such a huge encouragement to me. Sure, these next 5 years or so are probably going to be incredibly difficult at times, but I'm in the right place for me right now.

Tonight I get to go sit in on the class I'll be TA'ing for, as well as have my own first class. I'll also be meeting with my two profs so I'll learn a lot more about the specifics of what I'll be doing for them the next year. Hopefully I can set up a decent weekly schedule of when I'll be on campus versus at home, and maybe arrange that schedule to avoid high traffic times!

I know this post has been a lot of rambling, but I wanted to open up a blank page, write, and see what thoughts arose.

Have you ever been in this kind of situation, where you may be unsure of a new adventure but then just feel ever more confident that you're right where you need to be?