A full stomach helps the reading go on

This is Week 2, meaning we’re finally starting to see a shape to this semester’s schedule. As in, Sydney answers my probing (and incessant) questions about his classes and meetings for about two weeks early on, and then is astonished when, late in the semester, I catch him outside the classroom he’s just exiting. Very handy if I need to change plans, but perhaps a little creepy for him. Sorry, I really am trying to suppress the control freak inside. But I’m not having much luck.

It looks like we’ll have long days on Mondays and Tuesdays, and be home early afternoon the rest of the week (barring reading groups, lectures, or language-group meetings; ha!). But we’re starting out well. We pick up inexpensive (and really good) soup for lunch (yes, which we usually eat together), paired with homemade bread (courtesy of Sydney), and frequently come home to soups and/or casseroles that we’ve made over the weekend to “carry us through the week.” I’m also experimenting with good pasta salads to have in the fridge in case we need to do dinner on campus. Oh yes, and our office desks each have a drawer full of tea and snacks of various nutritional value, in case we’re running a long day. I’m settling into this whole campus lifestyle.

And, just for an update, Sydney is already feeling swamped and behind in his work (although the work for one class has yet to kick in – something to look forward to) and I’m creating reading schedules for myself to make sure I keep all balls in the air. We’re about as predictable as you get. Thus far, grad school is great: I get to continue doing what I love best, I get to add teaching (time-consuming but a lot of fun), I get to eat a whole lot better than college cafeteria food, and I get to share what I do with Sydney. Funny, none of my advisors told me anything about grad school being fun. I think I remember them mentioning that it would make me hate literature. Is that yet to come, or am I just trying something a little different? I can only wait to see what the dissertation stage has to offer.

Erin