Day Twenty Eight

Day two of grad school...in the bag. Today was my first Physical Organic lecture where we all learned that we'll have five Saturday lecture sessions, as well as three Saturday exams. Um, what? Saturday? I didn't see that in the course catalog. We must have all made faces at this, because the professor looked at us all, grinned, and said "welcome to grad school." There were actually 4 undergrads that decided to try and take a grad level class....we'll see if they're still there next Tuesday now that they know so many Saturday mornings will be dedicated to even more chemistry lectures. If I were one of them, I would drop that class so fast. Besides the whole Saturday situation the class was really good. The professor is fantastic, and while the class will definitely be challenging I’m looking forward to it.

I also spent some time at my temporary desk today in an office for one of the research groups. I had to figure out which of my four identical keys opened the room. It was an ordeal. The desk I have has a giant drawing of a t-rex on it. I’m not sure why, but it reminds me of Jurassic Park and my brother, so I like it. I got antsy pretty quickly though and just wandered around outside and in the other buildings for a while. I found a newspaper bin that was full of free UT planners, so obviously I grabbed one. Then my brother and parents requested they get one too, so I had to go covertly snatch three more. Mom, Dad, Jeff, you better appreciate them!

The most annoying moment of the day came when trying to register my car. Note the key word in that sentence – try. I was so convinced that I had all the paperwork I needed, but the tax assessors website failed to mention that my car insurance had to be Texas car insurance, so my Washington insurance ID card was quickly rejected. Dumb. Tomorrow will be spent on the phone with USAA and hopefully back at the tax assessors office with all the paperwork needed. On a side note, the tax assessors office here is HUGE. They have 40 stations cycling people through. It was completely ridiculous, especially compared to the three-person Department of Licensing Office I’m used to in Olympia.

After this failed venture, I had to go back to campus and hang out until 5pm where I was getting introduced to the lecture class that corresponds with the lab I’m TAing. So, all 6 TAs grumpily showed up at dinner time (who schedules a lecture during dinner time?!) and waved when each of our names were called. Then we left. It was exhilarating. Thankfully the Avants improved my evening by taking me out to dinner at Jason’s Deli (mmmmm). Bob and Louise, you are the best, thank you for being my Austin-parents. I couldn’t have asked for better ones.

Things learned/overheard at UT today –

People need to learn not to only put sunscreen on their face. You would not believe the number of undergrads I saw with faces that were completely different skin shade when compared to their arms and legs. This is not flattering. Either get completely tan/burnt or stay pale like the rest of us.

Girl who said, “Are you, like, writing an autobiography about yourself?” – I worry for your future.

Some people can nap anywhere. Even a crowded Chemistry hall.