Quo vadis?

[kittie]

What's up, lurkers and semi-lurkers?

It's April. Either you received good news and/or you're waiting for the last of the bad news.

Where you going? How's the funding? Are you pumped or freaking out?

What are you doing during your last summer of freedom? Traveling or hitting the books?

I'm traveling a little mid-May, teaching Intermediate Latin, but I'm also trying to decide what I should translate on my own. Tacitus? Plus, I'm continuing my studies in German and French.

UB has a diagnostic test in Latin and Greek and I want to kick butt and take names on it. I think I may attempt my first Modern Language test as soon as I get there, just to get it over with.

I'm excited about this next chapter in my life. I just hope I can maintain my current level of health and not let the stress of it all wear me down.

[DiogenesCynicus]

What's up, lurkers and semi-lurkers?

It's April. Either you received good news and/or you're waiting for the last of the bad news.

Where you going? How's the funding? Are you pumped or freaking out?

What are you doing during your last summer of freedom? Traveling or hitting the books?

I'm traveling a little mid-May, teaching Intermediate Latin, but I'm also trying to decide what I should translate on my own. Tacitus? Plus, I'm continuing my studies in German and French.

UB has a diagnostic test in Latin and Greek and I want to kick butt and take names on it. I think I may attempt my first Modern Language test as soon as I get there, just to get it over with.

I'm excited about this next chapter in my life. I just hope I can maintain my current level of health and not let the stress of it all wear me down.

What's up! I'm going to UVA in the fall to study Classical Archaeology. No word on funding yet, but I can cover the cost of an unfunded first year with no real difficulty, so that's not really an issue. Still hasn't quite hit me that this is really happening, but I'm sure it will eventually. As for my summer, I get to spend the first half of it wrapping up at my current excavation, followed by moving down to Charlottesville. I've also got to brush up on my German for my modern language exam, and then I need to start learning Italian. As an archaeologist, I am exempt from taking a diagnostic exam for my ancient languages, but they could use some brushing up, in any case.

As long as I can remember to take time for myself, I should be good to go!

Good luck, everyone!

[GrexMaximus]

I am going to Buffalo as well (I just found out yesterday that I was going to receive funding). I am nervous about the diagnostic exams but really excited about having the opportunity to continue studying with someone like Prof. Dyson. I mainly focus on the history of the Late Republic, and recently I have become interested in Pannonia in general.

[kittie]

Yay, DC! Sounds like you are pumped. I'm worried about moving too. I don't want to pay to ship all my junk, but the family is worried that I may end up sleeping on the floor again because I'm too cheap to buy a bed. heh heh UHAULing it would be outrageous, like thousands of dollars outrageous! I'm hoping that someone builds a transporter between now and August or else I'm packing a suitcase and a car and leaving the rest.

Finally, GM! I've been trying to find people going to Buffalo, but they never post anything on the City Guide or the Meet and Greet page. I'm trying to figure out where to live, but since I don't know the city at all, I'll probably end up living on campus and paying exhorbitant rent for at least the first year. blargh. Still, it would be less annoying than living far away and having to pay for parking. (Are you the girl or guy from Florida?) I'm just hoping there are decent places to eat on or near campus and at least one on campus pub.

I don't know who I'll be working with. Professor Dyson sounds beyond awesome, but he may be too busy. I looked through the graduate students' page on the department website and added up the numbers. It seems like the majority of the grad students are working with him, but the other faculty members only have one or two students. At any rate, I'm super excited to be mentored by an experienced faculty member!

I'm even more curious to see how the department is run and how the Latin and Greek classes are taught. It seems like every department has a different way of doing things. I wonder what the students will be like and how strange it will be to be a TA again and not in charge of my own class.

I applied for the Ancient History track as well, but I'm definitely stronger with the language side of things. I keep going to the UB bookstore to see what books I need, but nothing is posted about Fall 2011 yet, just class names.

I did some FB stalking and found the UB -Classics fb page. They look like a fun bunch, but then again, all Classics phds are!

[ikatticus]

Going to do a fully funded MA at Toronto - yay

[Batavi]

I'm going to Oxford - MPhil Greek and/or Roman History. But I'm pretty certain that it will be only Roman History.

Provisional supervisor: Mr. Nicholas Purcell. I'm really hoping that I get to stay with him as a supervisor. He's just absolutely amazing!

Summer - I have an extra long summer since I'm moving from the N. American system to the British system - meaning I end pretty early (last exam in April) and then only start classes October 10th.

I'm certain I'll travel a bit and I'm still looking for an excavation to go on - one which won't ask me to pay lots to do manual labour. If they want my free labour, they can't expect me to pay much

Other than that, I'm going to brush up on my Latin, French and German. And maybe, if I manage to do that and still have time, I'll pick up my Greek textbook and take a look at what I hate so much

[kittie]

Congrats, ikkaticus!

Maybe I'll meet up with you at some point for a conference or a party. I've got so many buddies of mine doing phds at Toronto in history. I'm sure you'll have a great experience there! My Canadian pals are glad I'm moving to Buffalo. They say it'll be easy to jump the border when Palin wins in 2012! heh heh Are you excited about being a TA? That's how most people get funding in Canada. I went to a 2 year MA program in Canada and I actually got more funding in my 2nd year than I did in my first. I was a TA for everything I could get my hands on, from Greek and Latin to all periods of Ancient History. It's truly the best part of being a graduate student.

Awesome news, Batavi. It sounds like you were already at Oxford and you already know how sweet it is to study there. I bet you were able to make some nice connections, which are always beneficial to a mphil/phd app. Two buddies of mine are finishing up their first years at UCL and Trinity and they are always jetting off to some conference in a far-flung European location. Talk about exciting! I wish I could go over there and couch surf.

In regards to Greek, I understand what you mean. In my first year, Greek made me so mad. I had to get even by studying even more and taking no prisoners. It was definitely personal to me. Latin was fun and so I never gave it the amount of attention it deserved. It was always on the backburner for the Greek. A few years later, professors were shocked to learn that I didn't like it all that much and loved Latin. hahahaha They thought I was going to become a Hellenist! WTF?

I'm so glad people are posting! Let's keep this up, people!

[corinna27]

Starting a fully funded PhD at Toronto. And, to be honest, it still hasn't sunk in! It's a move halfway across the world for me, so I hope things work out. Our seasons are the other way around, so we're in autumn now, and I'll essentially have two winters in a row. Fun stuff.

I'm currently teaching a high school Latin class, as well as tutoring a first-year Greek lit in translation course. But really I'm trying to enjoy the last of my freedom, cuz I won't have any for the next 5-6 years!!!

[kittie]

You're a rockstar, Corinna! Were you the kiwi that got accepted into UB as well or is it possible to have two rogue kiwi Classicists applying for Classics phds in North America? heh heh

Two winters in a row?? Sounds like my idea of a good time. Aside from getting a tan, summer blows. I'm looking forward to wearing all my winter attire and drinking scotch and vodka to stay warm!

When I told my bro that I was moving to Buffalo, the Toronto Film Festival was all he could talk about! It takes place in September and I'm thinking of going up there to watch a film just to make him jealous. I'm sure you'll love living in Toronto. In fact, the only bad thing about living there is that so many cool things will distract you from your work!

Now that we know where we're going, we have to figure out where we're living and picking an apartment sight unseen is never fun! But it does force me to meet and interact with some interesting characters. Right now, I'm just in the research phase, but I know that I'll have to bite the bullet soon.

[GrexMaximus]

Kittie, I too am looking for a place for my girlfriend and I to live. I was hoping Flickinger Court campus apartments, but like all university housing I've run across they have a no pet policy. I am currently looking through ads, craigslist, and every apartment website known to man. Since I know absolutely nothing of the city I am trying to stay within walking distance of the North Campus. I also do not want to uhaul all my crap out there, so I'm trying to find furnished places on top of that.

I am (not surprisingly I suppose) from Arizona. Despite all the people who have received their MA's from Arizona in the program, I only know Jennifer Kendall because I TA-ed for her last Fall (she is an instructor at the UA while finishing her dissertation).

I am really excited to see how all the classes are taught. I just can't wait to finally get started up again. Having graduated in December has made this an uneasy and boring spring.

[kittie]

Arizona! We're practically twins! When I was a kid, I applied to UofA for Classics and got in, but I went off to Canada because it was ridiculously inexpensive and 12 time zones away.

I looked into Uhauling all my crap and they wanted me to rent the truck for a minimum of 9 days, even though I could easily get there in 4 or 5. Plus, they wanted to charge me almost 2k, so I told them to suck it big time. I'm looking in to mailing all my junk on a crate or something, otherwise I'll probably end up sleeping on a walmart special futon. blargh.

I put my email for this place called the Villas at Chestnut Ridge, which is right to the left of North Campus, and they keep emailing me, telling me to apply now. It sounds too good to be true, almost like a resort, with a gym, pool, shuttle bus, heavy security, and leisure rooms. For $689 a month, you can live in an apartment with 3 other people, but you all get your own bathroom and just share the kitchen. It's definitely a contender, but I'm worried it might all be undergrads, which I don't mind too much, but my parents are wanting me to move up in the world and live with people who are all over 21, unlike during my MA where I lived in a ghetto apt run by a slumlord who never turned on the heat. For $350 with everything included, I couldn't complain too much. I just slept in layers and I made some great friends who got a kick out of watching me cuss everytime I had to grade a horrible first year paper.

I've been teaching this semester with a short timer mentality and I have to say that everything is looking sunnier and smarter than previous semesters. When I got the email saying I got in to UB, I just started yelling "YES" in my office over and over again. heh heh. Good thing you couldn't hear me in the hallway or someone would have gotten the wrong idea!

What if it's just us in our whole cohort, GMax? The UB and Buffalo, NY threads are so dead and hardly anyone is chatting on the Classics thread, but go over to the English and UB is always a hot topic! I'm impatient and I want to use this forum to pass the time before August, but aside from you, I'm dying here!

I still haven't gotten anything in the mail from those bums at UB. I'm hoping that they'll send me something now that the April 15th deadline has passed, but you never know.

[GrexMaximus]

It could be just us in the cohort, but that seems small. In 2007 the department reported to the Classical Journal that the average number of new graduate students per year were 2 PhDs and 4 masters. I wasn't able to go to the visiting day. So I don't know how many potential students attended or anything. Were you able to visit?

I'm still compiling possible places to live, but I'm finding it difficult to find apartments within walking distance from the North Campus. I have a list of 9 that are within 2 miles, but I don't think I want to walk that far when it gets snowy outside. As you know, out here that is not that much of a problem, but I can imagine the cold, ice, and snow make quite a difference. I can't believe the difference right now between the temperature in Buffalo (36) and Tucson (88).

Arizona! We're practically twins! When I was a kid, I applied to UofA for Classics and got in, but I went off to Canada because it was ridiculously inexpensive and 12 time zones away.

I looked into Uhauling all my crap and they wanted me to rent the truck for a minimum of 9 days, even though I could easily get there in 4 or 5. Plus, they wanted to charge me almost 2k, so I told them to suck it big time. I'm looking in to mailing all my junk on a crate or something, otherwise I'll probably end up sleeping on a walmart special futon. blargh.

I put my email for this place called the Villas at Chestnut Ridge, which is right to the left of North Campus, and they keep emailing me, telling me to apply now. It sounds too good to be true, almost like a resort, with a gym, pool, shuttle bus, heavy security, and leisure rooms. For $689 a month, you can live in an apartment with 3 other people, but you all get your own bathroom and just share the kitchen. It's definitely a contender, but I'm worried it might all be undergrads, which I don't mind too much, but my parents are wanting me to move up in the world and live with people who are all over 21, unlike during my MA where I lived in a ghetto apt run by a slumlord who never turned on the heat. For $350 with everything included, I couldn't complain too much. I just slept in layers and I made some great friends who got a kick out of watching me cuss everytime I had to grade a horrible first year paper.

I've been teaching this semester with a short timer mentality and I have to say that everything is looking sunnier and smarter than previous semesters. When I got the email saying I got in to UB, I just started yelling "YES" in my office over and over again. heh heh. Good thing you couldn't hear me in the hallway or someone would have gotten the wrong idea!

What if it's just us in our whole cohort, GMax? The UB and Buffalo, NY threads are so dead and hardly anyone is chatting on the Classics thread, but go over to the English and UB is always a hot topic! I'm impatient and I want to use this forum to pass the time before August, but aside from you, I'm dying here!

I still haven't gotten anything in the mail from those bums at UB. I'm hoping that they'll send me something now that the April 15th deadline has passed, but you never know.

[kittie]

When I got the invite to come down for visiting day, there were 6 other emails next to mine. I googled the names like an expert online stalker and discovered that two of them were in Florida, one was a New Zealander, and another was a girl just finishing her MA. I couldn't find the other names. Maybe since you were waitlisted for funding, you were in the second round of acceptances???

I never went to the visiting day because I knew that I was already sold on UB and its awesome funding package, but mostly because I had a medical appointment that Friday that I couldn't miss. I wanted to tell Professor Coffee that I had accepted their offer on visiting day, but I felt that I had to wait for the response from my last two schools.

As far as walking goes, I wouldn't worry about it too much. When I lived in Canada, I walked to campus every day through all kinds of weather. Trust me. When it comes to the cold, the last thing you want to do is stand still waiting for a bus that never comes. One time it was -31 celsius and it occurred to me that I could freeze to death waiting for this CSing bus and so I ran the two miles home, which is not easy to do when you're so covered up that only the whites of your eyes are showing!

I'm bringing my car to Buffalo, but I'm scared to drive it in winter weather. I've never driven in snow, and I've only driven in rain a few times. If I hydroplane in Buffalo, I'll probably be a goner! If I end up living somewhere bordering or on North campus, my butt is walking it, as long as the area is safe.

What have you been up to since you graduated? Have you read any of Dyson's books?

I have all these super ambitious plans for my last summer pre-phd, but part of me just wants to sleep until August.

[ikatticus]

Congrats, ikkaticus!

Maybe I'll meet up with you at some point for a conference or a party. I've got so many buddies of mine doing phds at Toronto in history. I'm sure you'll have a great experience there! My Canadian pals are glad I'm moving to Buffalo. They say it'll be easy to jump the border when Palin wins in 2012! heh heh Are you excited about being a TA? That's how most people get funding in Canada. I went to a 2 year MA program in Canada and I actually got more funding in my 2nd year than I did in my first. I was a TA for everything I could get my hands on, from Greek and Latin to all periods of Ancient History. It's truly the best part of being a graduate student.

Thanks kittie! And yes hopefully we shall meet at a conference Yeah I will be TAing, although because I am doing the MA they said it will be more marking etc than actual teaching. But I won't bite the hand that feeds, whatever they tell me to do I shall do Where in Canada did you do your MA? Glad you loved it, it sounds an intense yet great ride!

[GrexMaximus]

My email invite had ten names next to mine. I was only able to successfully stalk/find out more information on one of them. I have an idea of some of the other schools some are coming from, but I don't know if they were finishing bachelor's, post-bac, master's, etc. Maybe the other ten and I had been accepted without funding.

Were you walking two miles everyday to and then from school?

I am also nervous about driving in the winter. I drive in the rain during the monsoon down here, and it actually did snow one Easter when i was pretty young, but that is all my experience with driving conditions that are not clear.

I used some of Dyson's newest book (Rome: A Living Portrait of an Ancient City) in my thesis, but I'm trying to read a bit more of his stuff. It is hard because the school library won't let me check out books anymore and the public libraries in Tucson are terrible when it comes to books dealing with any classics topic.

My plans are also super ambitious as well. I want to read at least an hour each of Latin and Greek a day. I also want to relearn German, while starting French for reading. None of that has not been happening. I've only been going over a history of Rome again to keep everything fresh in my mind. Even that has started to slow down a bit. I also really need to work on Greek history. Most of my time up until early April was spent obsessively checking my email for news from schools. Currently I've been unwinding from all the stress of not knowing what was happening with my applications.

Has it been any harder teaching since you were accepted? Have you been teaching for a long time?

[kittie]

Thanks kittie! And yes hopefully we shall meet at a conference Yeah I will be TAing, although because I am doing the MA they said it will be more marking etc than actual teaching. But I won't bite the hand that feeds, whatever they tell me to do I shall do Where in Canada did you do your MA? Glad you loved it, it sounds an intense yet great ride!

I did my BA and MA at Dalhousie. They're holding the CAC conference there in May and I wish I could go, but my students are having their final exams during that time. I was a TA in everything I could get my hands on, first Latin, then Greek, then an ancient history survey course, then the Roman Republic, Roman Empire, and finally 5thBC Greece. I swear, I learned more History from my role as a TA, than I did as a student! I wasn't the instructor in these classes, but I was a wicked sub. Many profs still owe me lunch for a few last minute favors.

I had no idea that Buffalo was that close to Toronto until I googled it. A one way bus ticket from Toronto to Buffalo is only $18. I checked out my future department's event page and it says that the grad students go on field trips to different museums, some of which are in Canada! YAY! I'm gonna love living on the border. Buffalo seems like an awesome place, but it's all perfectly located between Toronto and NYC. I doubt I'll have the time, but I bet a road trip in any direction would be awesome!

GMAX! Sorry I haven't replied as fast. I keep forgetting my damn password to this site, getting a temporary one, and then forgetting it. blargh.

ooohhhh 10 names! That is a lot. I bet that most of the people who were accepted to the Classics Phd already had a MA in something. I found alot of information on my emails and I was really pleased to see that we were all experienced in some way. One guy was a Humanities instructor in Florida and one girl was IMO an experienced archaeologist, but who knows if they accepted. They sent the email to us, and then kept at us for a response by sweetening the deal with a possible extra fellowship. People either accepted quickly like myself or rejected early, leaving the door open for a much nicer person like yourself!

I never actually counted the distance between my apartment and my office, but I do know it took me almost twenty minutes to get one way. I would leave in the morning and not go back home until I was done for the day, because no one wants to do that walk more than they had to. I took the bus for my first semester, but I froze my nuts off so many times waiting for a bus that never came that I eventually said the hell with it and walked from then on. I can deal with snow and cold, no problem. What I hated was when it would rain and then the temp would drop and the water would freeze and get all slippery. I had a bad fall once. eeh Landed on my sacrum so bad that I couldn't even cry for a minute. I almost puked I swear. My back was so inflamed that I couldn't even touch my toes for over a month. After that I decided to leave for good and get outta that weather for awhile.

I haven't read any of Dyson's stuff. I'm intimidated by all things archaeological. I go to the thrift stores a lot and pick up random books for a quarter about improving the writing process, but don't read them. Producing an essay at a decent speed has always been a problem for me and I know I should try to improve my level of output, but I would just rather be translating something fun. For this summer, I'm so tempted to translate some Tacitus because I think that it's a crying shame for me to be at my level and yet have never translated any of his works. I'll probably buy the latest commentary by Cynthia Damon and get cracking. I like to call myself a practical procrastinator!

I'm in my second semester of German right now, which I like alot! I'm also on Level 2 of French Rosetta stone, which I'm not a huge fan of, but it's better than nothing! There's no third semester of German offered this summer so I guess I'm SOL, and I'll have to teach myself the last 4 chapters of the textbook, along with what's left of French. booo Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and German are all awesome, but WTF happened with French? Seriously! We can't blame it all on the Celts. I can't wait to meet Professor Woodard and discuss how Latin + ? evolved into French!

It's been the easiest semester yet! I have embraced my short timer mentality and it is GOOD.

I love teaching, despite all the ups and downs involved in the process, but I'm very constrained by the misguided methods of my department. I've only been teaching for 2 years, but I feel as if I have been lowering my standards during that entire time to fit the mediocre expectations of my direct supervisors, who "teach" Latin in a way that I find abhorrent. I'll give you a taste of what it is I have to deal with from them:

"Don't assign homework in your Latin class because the students won't do it."

...

"They'll do it if they want to get a decent grade in my class!"

....

"Yes, but, if you assign homework, you know you'll have to grade it."

..........................................

"I figured that was part of my job description."

...

I went to school in Canada and they follow the British system of instruction, which is the grammar by hammer, memorize everything, get tested on everything, method. But here at UNLV, I'm not allowed to give quizzes, I had to fight to be allowed to assign homework, and I can't make my own syllabi or final exam. I can make the chapter tests, but I have to make half the test multiple choice and I am not allowed to ask them to decline nouns or conjugate verbs.

It has to be better somewhere else.

I'm pursuing the Phd, despite the fact that I feel completely inadequate as a writer, because eventually I want to have tenure and all the freedoms that come with it! I want to work with likeminded people in a Classics department and not be the only Latinist in a Foreign Language department comprised mostly of native Spanish speakers who have no idea of what it means to actually study a foreign language from scratch.

As you can see from my posts, I'm very informal and open, but I love teaching and it's the only thing that I've ever taken seriously.

lolz

[GrexMaximus]

Kittie, that is awesome that you have college teaching experience outside of when you were a graduate student! With this information I have now been able to find out more about you. Nothing to worry about; I was just curious. I wanted to teach at the local community college, but the're were not open teaching spots when I applied.

It is sounding like it is really hard to find living within walking distance of the North Campus, but I have heard that parking is pretty cheap and easy to find in the lot around the department; especially compared to the terrible situation at the universities in Arizona.

From the little I have read of Dyson's stuff, it is really clear and straight forward, even for someone who has as little experience with archaeology as I do. I really liked the book on the city of Rome. It sounds like your practical procrastination is working a bit better than my procrastinating due to amount of work in my ideal plans. And I do blame French completely on the Celts, at least that's what I always tell my celtic friends.

I have a really good feeling about the people in the department from what I've heard from one grad student and all my interactions with the faculty. I really like that the department takes field trips together. The MA program I left had an awesome group of people, and I was nervous that I wouldn't have another great experience while getting a PhD. I become a whole lot less nervous the more I interact with members of the department and you.

[kittie]

I know right? I still can't believe how lucky I am! The previous professor went nuts and bailed on a Tuesday, they called me on a Thursday, and then I was a full time Latin instructor by Tuesday! I taught four classes a day and it was very hard on my voice. I drank water constantly and yet I was always thirsty. It wiped me out. Things are easier now that I'm doing two classes everyday instead of 4 twice a week. I'm so lucky to have a job, especially one that comes with the best health insurance in the state. I've been unemployed and uninsured and I don't want to go back to that.

It's also been really eye opening! I thought that I was such a badass with 4 years of Latin and Greek, but I knew absolutely nothing. Teaching has risen my Latin and Greek game to new heights. I feel like I just get better and better at it every time I teach. I can never really forget Latin, but this job has definitely allowed the language to evolve in my mind. Like I said today in class, you'll never truly understand the Aorist, until you try to teach it! I'm honestly not sure which is harder, learning it or teaching it. blargh

I'm grateful for a lot of things. Still, I'm glad I'm leaving. In fact, I told them this was my last year in August, regardless of whether or not I got into a phd program. My Plan B was to fly to New Jersey, stay with relatives, and then just go do interviews at every school in New England looking for a Latin teacher. But I was saved from that intimidating fate!

Isn't it amazing that our theses both have Manipulation in the title??? Quite the coin-ki-dink! I focused on Caesar, you on Augustus! :>O We might as well be a pair of crime fighting vigilantes!

I wanted to bring it all up earlier, but I wasn't sure if you would be scared off by my mad google stalker skillz! (That icon of you in Gladiator is awesome btw. That pic of me at UNLV is outdated. I'm healthier now and with longer hair, but I could definitely use a tan. I figure I should get one while I can before I go to Buffalo and turn all honkey.)

My upper level Latin class is supposed to review for their exam in the first week in May, but I may just pass on that and let them watch a few bootlegged episodes of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena! (But we only have time to watch 4 at the most, not the entire season. argh) One of my students even wants to bring CAKE. Man, I'm spoiled. hahahahah The semester's almost over and I have the professor version of senioritis! Hurry up, May! It'll be my birthday MONTH and I just want to sleep, tan, and eat, not necessarily in that order.

What did your contact have to say about the department? Did you cold email him/her? That's so bold! I used up all my chutzpah emailing potential advisors and didn't even think about chatting up a grad student, but I probably should have. I want to know more about the Latin and Greek placement exams. Is it going to be a sight translation or will we be allowed a dictionary of our choice? If it's poetry, do we have to provide scansion? If so, I am so DOOMED!

I'm a bit worried about the feel of the department. I did my BA and MA at the same university so to say I was close to the faculty and undergrads is a bit of an understatement. I loved going to Classics parties, attending conferences, and watching the undergrads grow up to be decent Classicists. I don't know what it's going to be like at UB, but I'm trying not to set my expectations too high!

I still haven't received any more paperwork in the mail, which means I don't have a UB number. I can't apply for on campus housing without a UB number. blargh Have you heard anything?

I'm so glad that we're able to bond like this before we even get to UB. Just think about it! With our powers combined, we could snag the best office and tag team the competition! I bet they're all going to be archaeologists without any Greek!

Bring it on!

[GrexMaximus]

It is a strange coincidence that we both discussed manipulation in almost the exact same time period.

As for the icon, we all were not so happy about being victorious as much as just being alive one more day. Being a gladiator is tough. Thank goodness Maximus was able to make a tight unit from such a rag-tag group.

You would be a fool to turn down a cake offer. I think I would be offended if you pulled such a stunt. The great thing about your May plans are that you can do almost all of them at the same time. Now that is PhD level multi-tasking.

You think I am bolder than I actually am. I did not cold email anyone in the department. I couldn't even arouse myself to emailing potential advisers. I stumbled upon my contact by being a TA for them while they were in Arizona working on their dissertation. They assure me that the diagnostic exams won't be too bad. For the Greek there was one harder and one easier passage for them. For someone who is teaching the languages, I am sure it won't be all that bad. I am rather worried for myself though. I doubt there will be scanning on them. I would be worse than doomed. As soon as I see the word "scan" my mind goes blank about everything, including translating!

It is always best to keep expectations low. It is easier to be less disappointed then. It is very difficult to keep expectations low for something that makes me so happy and excited.

They didn't email you with the information about how to get your number and everything? I have set up my UBmail already. I don't know if that shows how excited I am. They should have sent you an email with a single use password to set up your UBIT account. Maybe you are talking about something different though.

We totally need to claim the best office first year's can get. With two Roman historians working together (Late-Republicans nonetheless!) the others won't be able to stop us!

[kittie]

The UBITName and account are exactly what I'm talking about! grrrrrrrr

I haven't received anything about that in an email, but I did just get a welcoming email from the Dean of the Graduate school, which has assuaged my fear that someone may have forgotten about me and my acceptance into the program!

I just sent an email to Professor Coffee telling him that I'm in a bind, and so hopefully I can get some help.

We watched the first ep of Spartacus yesterday and one of my students asked if it was rated NC17. heh heh I said No, baby, it's just HBO.

hahahahaha

That's exactly what people are going to think. She teaches those languages. She must do awesome! argh

No pressure or nothing.

blargh

crap...I'm being pulled away from the comp by adorable babies!!!!!!!!

Sorry to cut it short!

[GrexMaximus]

That is really weird. I received a confirmation of acceptance from the Dean of the Graduate school on Feb. 24. The instructions for my access to a UBIT account was emailed on Mar. 8 and the single use password to complete the instructions was sent out on Mar. 11. Both of the dates were over a month before I notified the department of my decision to attend next year. I did not follow through with the instructions and password until April 17. I don't know why you have not received these emails yet. I hope they have arrived since you posted this.

I have only watched the first few minutes of Spartacus. Despite the content it had trouble holding my attention and seemed a bit too corny. I don't know if I gave it a fair chance though.

I think you will do great on the languages. I know that creates a bit more pressure, but I will deflate that quickly. Just one look at my scores in comparison to yours and you will look golden; no matter how well or how poorly you do on the tests.

Adorable babies? That is a pretty good excuse.

[kittie]

Well, I've been in touch with the admin people and they said that I should email them if I haven't received anything by Friday. I didn't get anything and so I did email. blargh

I think all this has been my faulty somehow. I told Professor Coffee and that other guy from the scholarship office that I was accepting their offer. I even sent out the confirmation letter way ahead of time I thought that was all I had to do, and so I never went back online to my grad application at UB. I finally looked at it last weekend and there was a prompt asking me whether I wanted to accept the offer of admission! argh. I did it, but I'm not absolutely sure that it's the reason why all my paperwork has been delayed. meh

Everybody important knows that I'm going, but leave it to one little thing online to stall the process! booo

Spartacus is awesome! It's a campy orgy of blood and boobies! What's not to love??? We ended up watching episodes 1, 2, and the finale. heh heh The finale is called "Kill Them All". I made brownies and one of my students brought in these fancy cupcakes! I had a chocolate one with peanut butter icing, plus chocolate stripes and morsels on top of the icing. yummmmmmmmm

Spartacus is a lot like Rome. They spared no expense making both shows, the sets and costumes are amazing, and both plots don't attempt to be historically accurate, just plausible. I prefer Rome over Spartacus, because a slave's life is a bit of a downer. Still, the scenes in the arena are awesome and can't be beat!

May is my birthday month and it extends all the way until June 6th, when I have to start teaching intermediate Latin. I don't plan on thinking hard at all during the month of May. heh heh. But once June starts, I'm going balls to the wall! I'm making a schedule and sticking to it! That's the only way I can get everything done. The problem with being a teacher is that there is always something related to your classes that you choose to do rather than research or translate. I now understand why there are faculty that prefer to teach and others that prefer to do research. Doing both requires such a difficult balance. My main goal of this summer is to keep my Greek review, book reading, and French and German studies at a priority almost equal to my responsibilities in the classroom.

You'd think that it wouldn't be that hard since I'm only teaching 1 class in June and 1 in July, but these classes take place Monday to Friday, requiring constant preparation. We'll be doing all the subjunctive chapters of Wheelock and I'm pumped! When I first did the subjunctive 11 years ago, it was all about shoving the information into your head as fast as possible just to survive the final exam. Looking back, I realize that I didn't comprehend all the subjunctive clauses and their different translations at all. I think I even translated every subjunctive clause with a 'may' or 'might' regardless of the type!

Any luck with apartment hunting? How's the logistical nightmare lining up?

Somebody at the UB meet and greet or city guide forum said that parking at UB is only $25 a month!!??? That sounds too cheap to be true, but it's making me rethink my whole live on campus idea. Since I have a car, I could live further away and if parking is that cheap, there's really no reason to hold me back. argh I just need to hold out until I get my UB number and then I can just apply for on campus housing and be done with it! I can't do the whole wait until I get there to find a place fantasy because I'm planning to fly from here to Halifax, then to Toronto, and then taking a bus down to Buffalo because I want to visit all my peeps. It's going to require a lot of planning and I might even get to do it almost free by using my miles. huzzah

I still can't believe it's May. I've been embracing my short timer mentality since January and so May's arrival has been pretty anti-climactic. All I have to do is grade 46 exams and then I'm in the clear!

ROWR

[GrexMaximus]

I don't understand how everything got so crazy for you. I hadn't even confirmed I was going and I was still sent all the stuff for creating my UBIT account and everything.

Perhaps I will give Spartacus a second chance. I really, really liked Rome; so maybe once I get into the show I'll like it more. I wish I had instructors like you during my undergrad years. All that food sounds amazing, and now I am craving tons of chocolate at 9:30 in the morning.

I didn't realize you were going to continue to be teaching this summer. You are going to make me look really bad in August now. Here you'll be having taught and studied German, French, and Greek, acing all the entry exams, and there I'll be struggling through everything when all I did was work tennis camps and made attempts to better prepare myself for the program.

My contact had told me that parking was incredibly cheap as well. They also said that parking near the department was actually pretty easy to find. Especially compared to the incredible lack of parking there is in Arizona. That made me feel better about living a little further from campus too.

As far as apartment hunting, I sent my very early list to my contact to see what they thought about it. My trip is going to be much more direct; so I may have the opportunity to look for places while I live in a hotel for a week. I'm also trying to figure out if I can get up to Buffalo while I am visiting some family in Pittsburgh. I am only going to be in PA for a week which probably means I won't want/be able to get up there.

No matter how I look at the move it seems like it is going to be a nightmare. I can spend more money than what my furniture is worth to uhaul it, or I can give/sell most of the stuff and have none when I get there. I think the second option may be the one we go with.

It was so hot yesterday, and I was outside teaching that I was just ready to drop everything and move right then. I can't believe the first week of May is over. After the painfully slow months of waiting to hear back about program's decisions, things have been flying by!

[kittie]

Good news!

Just when I was about to call her, I got an email today from one of the department secretaries. She said that there was a glitch in the system and that's why I never received my UB person number. She said that everything should be up and running for me by tomorrow!

Unfortunately, my butt is leaving tonight for vacation and I won't be able to mess around with it until the 22nd. booo

Did you get all your UBIT account info through an email or did you log on to your application and it was all there? I want to know what to expect.

Aside from getting in with funding (YAY!), I have had the worst luck applying to UB.

1) Even though their deadline was the latest one out of all my schools, they were the first school that I sent all my stuff to around mid-November! I even paid extra to track it online and everything. According to UPS, my envelope never arrived and was never signed for. It was completely MIA. I was in the process of filing a claim with UPS and about to send everything again when I checked online at my grad app and it said my stuff had arrived December 10th, which is almost a month after I sent it!

2) All of my references brought their A-game and they had all sent out my reference letters. I kept them updated bi-monthly on deadlines and all that, but still, one of my references to UB was lost in the mail. He had to resend it and I was freaking out because I thought it would be late.

3) I did the GRE again in July and I thought I put UB as one of my schools. Unfortunately, in my desperate haste to finish the damn thing, I sent my scores not to SUNY-Buffalo, but to SUNY-College! argh. When my transcripts never arrived by November, I had them resend them. Once again, a helpful admin secretary told me that they might have been sent to SUNY College and the GRE people confirmed it. I had to pay out of pocket to send my scores to the right school and they arrived after the application deadline.

sigh

I honestly thought that these were all signs and not very good ones! But then I felt that all that bad luck was worth the awesome result. If only I wasn't still dealing with unlucky administrative crap! blargh If it wasn't for you, I would probably still be in the dark about all this nonsense, so thank you!

Don't worry too much about me and my mad language skillz. We've all got our talents and weaknesses. As I've said, I'm the slowest writer known to man. heh heh I did so many languages just to avoid writing undergraduate essays. In my third year, I took 5 languages just to avoid writing a single paper! Man, it was beautiful, but it made grad school very difficult for me. I've always felt that papers relying heavily on literary analysis/philology was like pulling BS out of my butt. That's why I want to switch over to history so much. I feel that ancient history has more to do with archaeological and numismatic facts instead of just opinion with minimal evidence. My brother always told me that I write like a scientist.

I'm so worried that my on campus housing application will be too late and all the spots will be taken. I even looked at off campus housing for a couple hours the other day, but I was unimpressed. The on campus apartments come with everything (except with Flickinger), including furniture, so I wouldn't have to buy or ship anything. I wouldn't have to worry about parking and I want to live at the one close to the gym, Flint Village. My mom doesn't like the idea of me living on campus because she thinks that she wouldn't be allowed to visit, but that's not true, right? The plan is to live on campus first year, live in a house with other grad students in second year, and then live solo after that.

I know you don't want to give up your pet, but when you think about all the bennies of living on campus, it's definitely tempting!

I'm off to Miami tonight!

WOOT!