So, I’ve been in New York City for about a month now. It’s been a big change for a girl who’s been living in the middle of nowhere, but not so much of a change as I expected. My trip to Russia means that NYC doesn’t seem as big as it could, after all it is smaller than Moscow and St. Petersburg. So far the classes seem pretty easy, I had expected graduate school to be more difficult, but I actually have less reading to do now than I did in undergrad. However, it is also rather boring. My most interesting class is Politics of the Middle East, a lot of the readings are a review of what I have already learned, but the teacher keeps class interesting. In International law the teacher gives us four readings each night, but they all say the same thing in different ways, so I only read one. Comparative politics is the worst, I’m actually writing this during class because I see no point in paying attention anymore. If you do the readings the class is a waste of time because she just explains the readings in detail, not to mention that it is all qualitative vs. quantitative and things that I have covered more than once as both a politics and sociology undergraduate student. I wonder why I even show up many times.

I have also met a lot of people living in graduate student housing. There are less than 200 people in the building, so you can meet many of them. I am acquaintances with some, but I wouldn’t call any friends yet. They like to go out, but I like to stay in. My roommate is from Morocco and is very different than I am. She is about 5’4’’, skinny, concerned with her appearance, and a smoker. One of the more interesting things is that she says she needs to smoke more so that she’ll eat less.

I once again work in IT services as someone who teaches others how to use software. I also have to do a lot of organizational work. First I had to get rid of a lot of software and paper work, then I started work on the budget, and now I am cleaning out the closets as well. I am discovering skills at organization that I never before realized I had. Today the boss even took me to the vendor fair where I got a lot of free stuff including a bobble head doll (I left that at work), 2 umbrellas, and a bunch of reusable bags.