MarineBluePsy

YES. The people who set like five billion alarms like 5 minutes apart. Seriously, are you less tired after the tenth one than you are after the first one?

I've been hearing good things about Command hooks and need to give them a try myself.
As for what to wear I'd say comfortable shoes and light layers so you can adapt with the weather outdoors and the a/c indoors.

I'm going on my first hike today  Having had some conversations with other grad students last night I have come to the conclusion I have found the best possible fit. My advisor is just so awesome. I love it here! Full of enthusiasm right now.

I got my first graduate school essay back. I got an A. Yay! 
At least I know that I'm on the right track when in regards to my work standards.

Yep that counts! I went out on Thursday night (TAing 8am Friday morning was painful) so I use that as my long weekend social event. I might do something Monday but there was no point going anywhere today because football. 

Two weeks of grad school complete! Achievement unlocked.
It feels like such a long time ago that we all applied. So much happened since then.

i need to make more time for going out. man nature's calling.

My sister (finishing up her PhD in atmospheric science) just sent me this: http://legogradstudent.tumblr.com/
 
You NEED to check out that tumblr as a grad student. You will laugh, you will cry...

at this point, as I see the clusters of students walk across the intersections, I tend to visualize them as bowling pins. if it were a video game, I'd be driving a hummer and bowling strikes.
 

My oldest son works at the local Amazon distribution center. He loves it there - 4 day work week (10 hrs each day), plus an additional discount on orders thru Amazon. The local center is actually paying a little bit higher than anywhere else in the area, so they are attracting workers from other facilities. Which basically forces other companies to upgrade wages also so they can get workers.
I know a few other folks that work there also, they seem to like it also.
 

So, I'm taking the evening off. I plowed through 11 hours of work today, but I need rest. Tomorrow's agenda includes the university's first association meeting for my discipline, and, well, I think that's it. Probably include reading. Lots of reading. I have to write an essay, too, but I like writing much less than I enjoy reading.

So I'm finally furniture shopping and am I the only one who didn't know mattresses and bedframes had weight limits?!  Some of them are kind of low its a wonder 2 people don't regularly collapse mid sleep.  Hell I've put on weight, even I could collapse by myself.  I found a bedframe that holds 1200 lbs so that should be plenty.
Or paid for gas with nothing but change.....or gone to any relatives home for a free meal with tupperware in hand......or buying anything off craigslist and realizing what a bad idea that was.

I also think current freshmen have so much technology at their finger tips. Get lost? Use google maps. Don't know what time the coffee shop opens? Google that. Don't know how to get vomit out of your carpet? Someone will have written a whole blog on the topic. Theres so much more information out there that they don't really need to think, they just follow the swarms.
I took my final new class today and I was really apprehensive about it. It's an ME/IE/E Design class which is so far out of my past experience it's crazy. It sounds like there's going to be a steep learning curve but the professor is crazy (in a good way), and looks like there will be some entertaining times. There's 3 kines students in there so it's fun to get some experiences from others.
Ooohh. I got my social security card finally today so hopefully my advisor will give me tomorrow afternoon off so I can go to the DMV and get my drivers license (or start the process). 
P.S. This is my 1000th post on grad cafe...I spend too much time on here

I think it's at least partially a millennial thing.
I guess that were all more or less millennials here, even if I'm a little bit of the earlier period, and I've noticed several changes in freshmen over the long course of my college education (I began school in 2001). For one, while I wouldn't call the current wave of freshmen spoiled, they are certainly far more hand-held than I ever was. This year, when moving into the dorms, there were entire teams of people who unloaded all of their belongings for them, organized those belongings into labels tubs-on-wheels, then unpacked it for them in their dorm rooms. They didn't need to think about anything throughout the entire process, and while I'm certain those freshmen are incredibly thankful (I certainly would have been), these hand-holding measures probably impair their progress towards becoming independently-thinking individuals.
I wouldn't be the free-standing person that I am today if I didn't have to figure out a mountain of stuff out on my own, and doing so granted me the willingness to always attempt new things, even if I have no clue how to do them. 
That's my random musings for the moment.  Back to reading. 

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who feels this way. The busses are so jam-packed with undergrads and it annoys me to no end!

@janetjanejune I think white Christmas lights indoors are pretty! It also gives you nice moody lighting.

You guys over the past two days I've bought a mattress, a sofa, a chest of drawers, a TV, an iron, a vacuum, an entire kitchen accessories (plates, silverware, cooking utensils etc), bedding, and now a car. I don't think I've ever spent so much money at one time in my life! 
I love my car though I move into my apartment not this coming saturday but the following week so all my stuff is going to be lying around the basement of my airbnb. Oops! It's also my birthday the day after I move into my apartment so I have no idea how that celebration is going to go ahaha. 

When I had no clue about cooking I found a crockpot to be a lifesaver and still use mine regularly now.  Anyone can dump ingredients in it, close the lid, and hit start.

Being stressed from our impending move... my cats have started watching "cat tv" to entertain them. 

Been lurking the past few months and don't think I posted in this thread before. I'm all settled in to my grad school city, my apartment is all set up/fully furnished, and I'm getting used to being the mom of a cute little puppy (and I mean *puppy*). Worried about how caring for a puppy will be with grad school, but many in my program have multiple dogs and cats, and of course, children! But I knew it would be a challenge, just need to get over this hump and hit my stride. Hopefully that happens by mid semester!
I see familiar and unfamiliar faces, hope everyone is well!

Woohoo I made it to the US! Immigration was a breeze and the officer had a huge chat with me about Penn State and my degree and ended it by saying "Good luck future Dr. Hippyscientist".Aww yeah! 
Of course the first thing my father says is "I hope State College has places open on a Sunday because we need to go to Walmart for snacks!" He does make me chuckle. I'm pretty sure one of my first orders of moving will be to get a full toolkit because I'm gunna have to put together lots of furniture! 

Came to say this... I will leave out details for the sake of privacy but I have had some hard enough times to make me consider whether life was really worth it. But stuff has gotten significantly better for me and I'm sure they will for you too soon enough. We all go through some tough times at different points in our life, we just have to remember that they will get better. And I know that can be annoying to hear when things aren't going well but I hope it helps anyway.

If it means anything... I was in a similarly shitty place last year, and things looked pretty awful... But they got better. I really hope that things get better for you. If you work really hard, things will turn out for the better, and hopefully sooner rather than later.

So I have officially left the Airbnb and am in my new place.  The ac totally broke, but the landlord had a repair guy here in an hour.  Quite impressed.  The layout is odd so it'll take some adjusting to figure out where to put things and what furnishings will be best, but overall I think I will be ok here.
@Danger_Zone Congrats!  Glad it worked out and just in time too.  If you haven't already thought of this take photos of your new place to document what is and isn't there, any existing damage, and the overall condition of the place.  Not crappy cell phone photos (unless of course you have a very nice phone), but actual camera photos (if you can't borrow one most major drugstores still sell disposables) that can be enlarged if necessary.  Do this again when you move out, that way if your landlord tries to say you trashed the place you have proof otherwise.

Another thing to realize is that just because members of your cohort are being supported by their parents doesn't mean its affordable.  Their parents may be living way beyond their means, maxing out credit cards, taking out loans, etc and their kid has no idea (or doesn't care).  I've known plenty of students who thought the parental gravy train would never end and all of a sudden it did because their parents reached a point of no return.  Those students are then in for a rude awakening as they realize they know nothing about money management and there is no way they can maintain the lifestyle they're used to with zero income while being a full time student.