Settling into a New Routine

After a couple weeks of classes, I feel like I am finally starting to settle into a routine with classes, work, the grad assistantship, getting back into a studying routine and taking time for myself away from school.  

I also decided to drop one of my classes and only take three this semester.  After feeling so overwhelmed and stressed out the first week, I decided that it would be best for me to take a lighter course load.  I think I will be able to get more out of each class and spend extra time on each assignment instead of rushing through them.  It will take me an extra semester to graduate, but I think this will be the best way for me to be successful and get the most out of this program.

I also took into account how intense my graduate assistantship is going to be this semester.  Aside from sitting in on my professor’s classes each week, there is a lot of prep each week between posting on the class Facebook page and updating the Blackboard site. I also anticipate that I will be assigned some additional projects throughout the semester.  It is definitely almost like having another class worth of work.

I turned in my first paper of the year in my Principles of Strategic Communications class last week, so it feels good to have that first paper out of the way.  Now I am crossing my fingers that I get a decent grade on it!

There is also a really interesting mix of students in my program.  Most of them are coming straight from their undergraduate programs, and then there are also some who are a few years out of their undergraduate studies and also some who have been out of school for several years.  Everyone is also really interested in entering a variety of fields after graduating…public diplomacy, corporate communications, non-profits, agency work, the arts, sports, etc.…so it is really interesting to hear about people’s backgrounds and interests.

I also love the American University campus.  It’s very small, which is good for my non-sense of direction, so I can’t get lost too easily.  The buildings are very reminiscent of the architecture of a lot of buildings in Washington DC.

Of course, I also love the panda statues that are displayed around campus!  The iconic Smithsonian National Zoo is only a few Metro stops from school!

  

I also have found my favorite study spot on campus.  The terrace on the top of the Communications school building!

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

  

The first week of classes was all about getting re-acclimated to being on a school schedule and familiarizing myself with the campus.  I also quickly realized how busy and intense this graduate school program is going to be.  I will be taking the four core classes this semester and there is a lot to do each week between a decent amount of reading and some homework assignments.  Of course, there are papers and tests mixed in there as well throughout the semester. 

I wish I could say that the week was easy for me, but it was far from that.  From the start, I was very overwhelmed with the amount of work that was going to be required of me for the semester.  I also managed to stress myself out pretty easily just thinking about all the assignments that I had to complete in just the first week.  Going in I knew that this program was going to be very fast-paced, but I really had no idea how much each class would actually cover until I started getting the syllabus from each of the classes.  I am definitely going to have to get good at managing my time between all the class commitments and take everything day-by-day and even assignment-by-assignment in some cases.

On a positive note from this week, all of the professors are very willing to work with every student and answer questions and also get to know them outside of the classroom.  It is also a relatively small program…less than 40 students, so that has made it very easy to get to know my classmates and feel like I am part of a small community where we will all be able to support each other throughout our time at school and beyond.  There are several of them that I have all four classes with and a few that I will have multiple classes with throughout the semester.

One of the lingering questions for me going into the start of the year was what my graduate assistantship was going to entail.  It turns out that I will be a teaching assistant for one of the professors whose expertise is in social media.  This will be a good fit for me since that is an area that I am very interested in specializing in and I will be able to learn a lot from him.  The class that I am assisting in meets twice a week and I help out with scrolling through slide presentations, operating the DVD player for any videos that he shows in class, preparing some class materials and taking attendance.  I will also be responsible for posting readings and other course updates to the class Facebook page throughout the semester.  Even though I have only sat in on two classes so far, it has been interesting to get the perspective of sitting in the front of the class and observing the students instead of being one of the students in the class.  I have also found myself taking a few notes throughout the class since the course is similar to one of the courses that I will be taking, but on an undergraduate level instead.  I am sure that I will have more responsibilities and will get more involved with this graduate assistantship as the semester goes on.

One of my concerns going into grad school was going to be balancing my time with classes, work and also giving myself a breather from the stresses of school.  From my experience the first week, it is definitely something that I need to work on.  It has already been difficult for me to “turn off my brain” when it comes to school stuff and try to relax and focus on things outside of school.

While I didn’t have much success at this during the week, I made extra effort over the weekend to relax and not think about school.  I worked at Barnes & Noble and that was a very welcoming change after a tough week of getting adjusted to being back in school.  I can already tell that working there a little bit each week will give me a chance to take a much-needed break from thinking about classes and focus on something else for a few hours at a time.

I also spent Saturday at the 17^th Annual National Book Festival in Washington DC listening to a bunch of authors talk about their books and being around other book-lovers.  And of course, I spent one last afternoon at one of the outdoor pools before they close for the year!

My goal will be to try and post an update every two weeks (or maybe once a week depending on classes and everything else going on).