I’m a week late in reporting that my first week at Mars Hill Graduate School is complete. It has been an intense week filled with MANY hours of orientation plus two classes, vespers service, community dinner night and convocation. I’ve been very busy.
Having been here in Seattle for over a month now, it was nice to finally be formally ushered into school life. Seems like I’ve been waiting for this moment for quite awhile. The flipside is that I still have a difficult time believing it’s really real. I’m really in Seattle and I’m really going to graduate school. Seems a bit like a dream still.
Little by little I’m making some good friendships. It’s a bit difficult though. Much unlike my undergrad friendship experience. I remember being at Grace College, living in the dorm. There were people everywhere. If I wanted to order a pizza or get together with people, all I had to do was ask. Making friendships was a bit more natural and available. In grad school, we see each other for class and then we all go to our homes all over the city and beyond. I’m realizing it takes a bit of work to stay in contact and have opportunities to connect with one another. That’s scary when you still don’t know the people completely and run the risk of others saying “nah, I’m not interested”. But, so far so good.
“Reading” is a common answer to “what are you doing?” these days. I understand we will be ingesting about 6,000 pages of reading this trimester. That seems not only insane but impossible. Safe to say, each week there is MUCH reading to be done, as well as a good amount of writing too.
It’s comforting to hear you talk about the difficulty of making new friends… I think of you as Ms Belltown Social who knows everyone already
Every time I hear about a big social outing, I panic because, while I’d rather go home and cook dinner or read, I think, “no one will remember me if I don’t go!”
Ms. Belltown Social, eh? I wish. I do enjoy a good social. Unfortunately, we’re all seriously misplaced in this MHGS world. And it’s good to remember that we’re not alone. But just so we’re clear… I will remember you even if you don’t come to my social!