Hello, loyal readers! Although my time in Germany is over, my love of over-sharing my life on the internet instead of simply calling my extended family is not! So here is a blog that I'm going to be dedicating to my life as a graduate student.

So far, being here has not been the most exciting. I had 2 days of training for my job as a graduate assistant that was largely geared towards people who are going to be teaching their own classes. Since I'm just going to be holding office hours and assisting a professor with research, it didn't directly pertain to my job, but it was still interesting. (Did you know that syllabus day [giving your students a syllabus then leaving] is officially frowned upon? I didn't, although that makes sense. It sets up a bad precedent for the class.) On Thursday I went to the orientation session for my college, which was pretty interesting. Most of my classmates did their undergrad here, but a lot of them had other majors as undergraduates so many of them didn't know each other. ("Many of them" - the entire class is 15-20 people.)

I've mostly been reading a lot and getting lost in Norman. I joined the public library, which was a great idea! I've also been getting a head start on my reading for one class since I don't have internet at my apartment, but I've been going to the library a lot to use the internet!. (I've been watching a lot of videos by essiebutton as well as the news and creeping on my favorite German kids' show.) It turns out I get a lot done when I don't have internet at my apartment. I also made cookies - I was shocked by how much groceries cost in the United States! In Europe I spent less than 20 Euros a week and only very expensive items cost more than 1.75. It's nice to have flour that doesn't smell like pepper again! (My German flour always smelled a bit like pepper. It tasted fine...but that smell was unnerving.)

I'm missing Germany a bit, although it's nice to be able to text my family and friends and know that I can go home to see my parents whenever I want. I also found it pleasant that my year in Germany beat some of my shyness out of me - when I was going to my orientation last Monday I was far less nervous than I would've been before I lived there.

Classes start tomorrow - I've got one class to attend and two to visit so the students can see who their TA will be. Bis dann!