ToomuchLes

IU has a major conference every year, sometime in the Fall. Unfortunately, its too late for me to sign up, but I'd love to participate in next year's conference; depending on the focused issue. If I have something presentable by the end of this semester, I'll look at other conferences in Spring/Summer 2016

Survived my first week of classes and assignments, and now I'm in my second ^.^ I even managed to get a grader position for an undergrad course; nothing too glamorous but Im satisfied as a first yr MA haha. I feel the same way, wacyeah and ashiepoo72! My adviser, and grad mentor have been SO helpful and welcoming. In fact, the entire dept is great. I am very happy to be here, and I know I made the right choice by coming to IU.

If you want further information on IU Bloomington, I can provide/forward your questions/concerns. Im a first year MA student at IU Bloomington. From my 'limited' experience so-far, I have manymany positive things to say about the dept, grad cohorts, and expectations of faculty members. The dept's MA & PhD placement is really nice too! My adviser's previous MA students went off to top 10 PhD programs (idk about her PhD students). This dept is quite "large" but it definitely has a small feeling to it (probably because the town) with active grad cohorts and faculty members that youll meet during your first week orientation. We received 3-4 new Russian grad students this year; I know for sure, we have 2 Russian MAs. PM if you want further details, or if you have questions and if I cant answer them, I'll ask around for you or refer you to someone that does.

I started today. No complaints or stress yet haha The layout will definitely take some time getting used to

Wooo! Made it to Bloomington! I love how green the environment is and the architecture is so pretty. I wasn't expecting the humidity though but it's not too bad. Orientation is next week =D Drive carefully in Davis. Why did the turkey cross the road?

I understand completely! On top of not having enough time to spend with my doggie, I'm concerned about the cold weather because shes a very pampered dog (won't go outside if it rains or if the grass is wet [how will she react to snow!]), and when I leave town for business/pleasure who will take care of her. You're right. I have to do whats best for the both of us Funny you mentioned Cronon's Nature's Metropolis today! I was going through my personal library and I saw that exact book. I thought to myself .. "I haven't seen you since I took Dr. Louis Warren's Environmental History class two years ago." Then I proceeded to read bits and pieces, completely forgetting that I was supposed to be packing. Im also finishing up Robert Darnton's The Great Cat Massacre as a fun read. Oh! Tomorrow the new Dr Suess book is coming out!

11 days for me ... and I haven't really started packing yet *horror music* I'm also still deciding if I should bring my doggie with me Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Lol ^

"Puppets" by Atmosphere

Would you please elaborate more. Ive taken a handful of seminars during my undergrad. For most seminars, we were given a single research assignment that we worked on for 7-9 weeks. In the final last weeks, we would do a little presentation about our research papers, and take questions. On average, the papers were between 15-25 (my longest was ~23 pages, not including bib). I was under the assumption grad leveled classes are similar. Likewise, when I was an undergrad, I was on the quarter system. For grad school, I'll be on the semester system so Im curious how this will effect the length of a paper. Also, if under the quarter system I read about 1-2 books a week for 10 weeks, does that mean for the semester system I'll need 18+ books for a single class?

Heres an exclusive extract of Harper Lee's book, "Go Set A Watchman": http://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2015/jul/10/go-set-a-watchman-read-the-first-chapter Narrated by Reese Witherspoon Im hoping Amazon will deliver the book on release day.

Glad to see someone else caring about their retirement now

Im with you, Chiqui74. I am very excited to start grad school, but also quite nervous I will be moving to IN in 29 days aaaahhhh

research paper

And 41 days until my move =D! I already get super excited when IU emails me. Today, they sent me information about orientation, and after reading it, I did a little jump for joy. Hopefully, no one saw cause I was walking my dog at the time.

fire ant

Sounds exciting!! I only wish I could take a peek at the course's reading list, but that would be cheating

Would someone explain why reading the acknowledgment is important? Also, whats a good way to read foot/end notes? EDIT: Lastly, do you read every single end/foot note or selective ones? How do you choose which ones to read?

Yup! I'm surprised class registration is so late.

I heard my new adviser is teaching a class in the fall *giggles* I cant wait! Although, I haven't heard anything about class registration..

As fancyfeast said, it is pretty affordable for that specific location; however I highly suggest that you keep looking. I found a house on the eastern side of campus and only about a mile away. Its a 3 bed/3bath, two grad students live in the other rooms, and rent is $475 (with utilities + internet included). Visit IU's Housing Board, thats where a lot of grad students list available room rentals/trades.

Im moving on the last week of July, and I thought that was rather late, since orientation is on Aug 17th. I already found a place, and I'm SO amazed with the cost of living in IN. I knew it would be cheaper than CA, but holymoley.. my rent (with all utilities included, except internet) is $450; almost half my rent in Davis which was $850. Also, my rental is in a very spacious family home 0.8 miles away from campus. Now, all I need is heavy snow-weather clothing and learn how to ride a bike in the snow/ice

I've known about Impostor Syndrome since junior year of my undergrad, and I've watched a family member go through it during his grad program. My question is: If I know what it is, and I don't experience, does that mean I am in denial, and/or overconfident? A follow-up question would be, is it necessary to experience it? To me, I.S sounds like a period in the "maturing" stages of grad school, but it also sounds very unpleasant. Its like puberity all over again. I haven't started my MA program yet, so I have no knowledge/experience in I.S and I could have a completely wrong impression of it.

I am shamelessly going to Bali -> Java -> Thailand to do some volunteer work, teach english, and some adventuring. It'll be a nice 10-week escape A week after my return to the states, I am driving to IN from CA for grad-orientation and then the real adventure begins!

Congratz Rylai! I sent you a PM