my first appearance at north hall!

my first appearance at north hall!
Originally uploaded by jlpetersen.

well people, here I am, in madison. (guess that means that I should add 'madison' to the title of this blog. whoa, crazy.) with the first week of being in madison completed, I'm trying to hunker down into the actuality of living here. it's not chicago, it's not a large city, I don't have a huge network of friends (or even a few friends yet, though I am coming to know my roommates more and more each day)...all of those realizations that come and smack you about in the first few days/weeks/months of being in a new space. but as I continually remind myself, I can't remain stagnant. if I'm going to get my ph.d. and do something that I truly care about, I have to be here. so, I must grow, breathe, and learn. sometimes it feels more difficult than I'd like it to be. but such is.

people continue to ask me 'how is madison?' and I know that there should be more excitement in my voice. honestly though, I can't muster it right now. there is all of that uncertainity of what this will all be like right now, all of the settling, and that is just what comes to the top of my voice when I respond, 'fine.' at some point my enthusiasm to be in a top program, working with some amazing people, being shaped into an 'academic' will take over (as will the exhaustion from doing all of that). but not yet.

orientation is this week, which means a lot of filling in forms, socializing with the other first-year students in the poli sci department, buying books (there are a lot of them!), sorting out other admin bits. it also means that I'm one week closer to classes, one week closer to getting into a routine. and right now, I'm really looking forward to that.

I'll keep you all posted more on this transition. scary transitions, after all, seem to be when I do best with my blogging. I hope that this finds my friends in all corners of the world well.