You 2013 guys getting excited to start?

[vtstevie]

I'm not even sure how often the cohort from the 2013 thread come around here anymore, but if you're like me you can't believe there is still ANOTHER month left until you get back into the stacks again. Between trying to find an apartment across the country, saving money, dealing with moving dilemmas, I'm just ready to begin the next phase of my career! I'm trying to enjoy the last free month for the next five years, but it hasn't been easy.

[CarrieLe5]

Hi Vt--

 

I understand the "moving" pains. Like you, I'm ready to dive into the Fall semester. I arrived in DE a couple of weeks ago and am slowly building a routine. Fall books are arriving slowly in the mail.  

 

Have you settled into life in Philadelphia yet? What does your Fall schedule look like?

[LadyRara]

I am so excited my feet are losing out in consistent blood flow! Then again, the moving process is not fun. I already have a place, and am ready to see if I happened upon a place without too many bugs!

[dr. t]

Wait, we weren't supposed to start already?

[czesc]

Wow, some of you are way further ahead of the game than I am. I've received precious little info on course registration, etc., so I have no idea what books to order. All I have is a Cornell email address and an assurance from the history department admin that, yes, I am enrolled, and should be getting any relevant emails...

 

I did go up to Ithaca to lock down an apartment, but it was a tough trip. My girlfriend, who will be staying behind in NYC but is considering moving up there, came with and could not believe the distance to, isolation of, and all-around tininess of the place, which didn't really help assuage my own doubts about those things (she also has a newly-discovered medical condition that may prevent her from ever living somewhere so remote). Sure, a PhD is only three years in residence, but that's still a long time to be in a location you dislike that's remote from everyone you care about. To be honest it's given me a lot of cold feet and I keep wondering whether I can transfer if it gets to be too bad (though the answer I've gleaned from Googling and searching this forum seems to be: not really, unless I want to piss off the whole faculty, and I'd need them to be friendly in order to write new letters of rec...)

Edited July 21, 2013 by czesc

[stillalivetui]

Wow, some of you are way further ahead of the game than I am. I've received precious little info on course registration, etc., so I have no idea what books to order. All I have is a Cornell email address and an assurance from the history department admin that, yes, I am enrolled, and should be getting any relevant emails...

 

I did go up to Ithaca to lock down an apartment, but it was a tough trip. My girlfriend, who will be staying behind in NYC but is considering moving up there, came with and could not believe the distance to, isolation of, and all-around tininess of the place, which didn't really help assuage my own doubts about those things (she also has a newly-discovered medical condition that may prevent her from ever living somewhere so remote). Sure, a PhD is only three years in residence, but that's still a long time to be in a location you dislike that's remote from everyone you care about. To be honest it's given me a lot of cold feet and I keep wondering whether I can transfer if it gets to be too bad (though the answer I've gleaned from Googling and searching this forum seems to be: not really, unless I want to piss off the whole faculty, and I'd need them to be friendly in order to write new letters of rec...)

Dude, its Cornell. Be happy you didn't get denied from everywhere, and enjoy the great program you got into.

[TMP]

I'm from Upstate and have driven down to Cornell.  Maybe it's just me but I love, LOVE quiet, remote, beautiful areas so I can relax and breathe in fresh air while dealing with the tremendous stress of graduate school.  You will be so busy with your coursework that isolation won't get to you too much as you think.  You'll always have summers to travel/get away from Cornell.  

 

By the way, the snow is actually white there, not gray as in NYC

[czesc]

Yeah, I understand the whole pastoral/contemplative vibe is great for some people academically. That said, I attended two large, primarily graduate urban universities so Cornell is a system shock. I think the busy rush of serious grad student life in these places actually helped motivate me before and it's definitely a strange transition to go to a primarily-undergraduate, rural environment at this stage in my life.

 

Anyway, I know I should just shut up and be happy with it. My head has been a wrestling match between "be happy you got in this one place and go with it" and "maybe I accepted just because it was the only place I got into and has a good reputation and that was a mistake - I should have used the lessons from this cycle to get in somewhere else next year". Hopefully all of this goes away when I'm absorbed in reading. Has anyone who's not yet able to register for classes or access syllabi emailed ahead for reading lists from profs? I guess it's never too early to start studying for generals?

Edited July 21, 2013 by czesc

[lafayette]

czecz -- I haven't heard anything from my department either, and we register when we get there, so while I have course preferences, I'm not even sure if those will happen until I sit down with the DGS in September (save for the one required course). No syllabi available either, that I know of. I'd really like to get a head start in this area too ... 

 

I am more than eager to get started with the PhD adventure and September still seems so far away. I have been taking a language course for graduate students hoping to pass the translation exam -- but took this at another school here in the city. So I have sort of started in a strange way that doesn't feel like having started at all. 

 

My moving situation is quite easily, luckily. I have a dorm room down in Princeton that I jokingly refer to as my 'pied-à-terre,' as I'll be there about half the week. Spending the rest of my time in my current apartment I share with my partner (and dog).  Having had to move many times over the past ten years, my heart goes out to all that have to deal with that -- especially long distance hauls. Always, always the worst. 

[LadyRara]

I'm packing everything I own into my Mustang. Unfortunately, it all fits. I will be moving into an empty apartment and hopefully furniture shopping in one weekend.

[TMP]

Guys, it's YOUR last summer of freedom!  This is a time where you don't have to show your adviser (or committee) what you've done over the summer.

 

Nobody expects you to do anything other than be familiar with the grand narrative in your field over the summer preceding first year of graduate school.

[czesc]

My moving situation is quite easily, luckily. I have a dorm room down in Princeton that I jokingly refer to as my 'pied-à-terre,' as I'll be there about half the week. Spending the rest of my time in my current apartment I share with my partner (and dog).  

 

I've been thinking of doing something like this, if the class schedules work out. The ~4 hour trip from Ithaca doesn't make much sense given a two day weekend, but given a four day version, it might be more doable (timewise, even if it is a financial drain). I assume you're not planning on taking any languages, lafayette? They usually span the week and would be the biggest obstacle to this for me.

Edited July 22, 2013 by czesc

[drimlin]

I will be moving in about 2 weeks. I know orientation starts on the 20th so I'll have an additional two weeks to get used to the area. I also recently found out due to my unique circumstances I will be excepted from the Intro to Historical Inquiry Course. I'm thinking I might want to take it anyway as a baseline and get to know the cohort, but I won't know until I can talk face to face to my advisor.

[Sigaba]

Wow, some of you are way further ahead of the game than I am.

 

@czesc Keep in mind that with your law degree and work experience, you've got skills and seasoning--not to mention a commendible level of humility--that will not only help you, but other graduate students as well.

[vtstevie]

Hi Vt--

 

I understand the "moving" pains. Like you, I'm ready to dive into the Fall semester. I arrived in DE a couple of weeks ago and am slowly building a routine. Fall books are arriving slowly in the mail.  

 

Have you settled into life in Philadelphia yet? What does your Fall schedule look like?

 

Classes Tuesday and Thursday, TAing MWF. Just got my first syllabus and my TA assignment yesterday - definitely have some reading to do come August.

I haven't even found an apartment yet and probably won't be able to move in anywhere until 9/1 - that's going to mean at least a week of hotel living. Whole situation has been kind of a mess so far, but I'm confident it'll work out in the end. Moving across the country is way more of a pain then I remember it being last time.

[getitlow]

I received my TA assignment, a course syllabus for Asian historiography, and some words from my potential adviser. For me, summer has been really chilled and low-key so I'm sort of in the mood for the semester to come already. I will start moving in early August and get my apartment furnished. This is my first time renting unfurnished housing so it's a headache to think of what to get and whatnots

[hdunlop]

czesc. I'm going to send you a longer version of this via PM, but the short version is that college towns -- even those in the middle of nowhere -- have a vibrancy all their own. It will obviously still be a hell of an adjustment from New York, but so would be anywhere.

[lafayette]

I've been thinking of doing something like this, if the class schedules work out. The ~4 hour trip from Ithaca doesn't make much sense given a two day weekend, but given a four day version, it might be more doable (timewise, even if it is a financial drain). I assume you're not planning on taking any languages, lafayette? They usually span the week and would be the biggest obstacle to this for me.

 

As an Americanist I only have one language requirement -- and I'm working on that now (basically a review of the French I took years ago). Hopefully will pass the test this fall. So yes, it is a big thing out of the way, but also not too much is required of me in this area to begin with. 

[annieca]

I have an apartment and a roommate so the two hardest things are done! I got my lease yesterday and I have 45 pages of legal jargon to read through and initial. I'm slightly terrified I'm going to miss something and be liable for something I wasn't expecting but my parents have offered to run through the lease with me. So far I've only signed the gym access sheet and the "we'll tow your car if you have a flat for more than 48 hours" sheet. ...But I move in on Friday!

 

Classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I've never had night classes so it'll definitely be an adjustment. Hopefully I'll have a job to occupy my day time! 

 

@czesc - I feel your pain. I have been seriously doubting Maryland as I miss the UK like I'm missing part of my soul. But, there was this lovely article on the BBC that compared Aber to a South American state which forced me to say "I'm happy. I'll be okay." St Andrews was out of the question because of cost. *sigh*

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-23301526

[czesc]

I can't imagine having to TA right off the bat! Good luck to all of you preparing to do that.

 

And thanks for the kind words from others.

 

Annieca: While it's far from the UK, U Maryland (I assume you're at College Park?) is literally right next to DC - hopefully you can find some things there (a store? a restaurant? a rowhouse-lined street?) that will remind you of your erstwhile home. 

[annieca]

czesc - Yes, I am at College Park. I'm renting right next to the end of the Green Line so I'm just about an hour metro ride into the heart of the city. DuPont Circle reminds me a lot of the Promenade where I lived, so I might be spending a lot of time there. 

 

I was checking out the library's catalog and I've found hundreds of books I now want to read. At Carroll we maybe had 100,000 books. At Aber, 1 million, plus the "anything-published-in-the-UK" 5 million at the National Library. But with Maryland's 8 libraries I have 80 million books accessible to me, most for a semester(!), plus the Library of Congress down the road. Oh, I am in nerd heaven.

[Andean Pat]

So so so HAPPY Vt has started this thread! I have missed you guys!!!

 

As somebody said, I am enjoying my last nothing-to-do weeks. It's winter here, I have quit my three jobs (but get paid until the end of July) and now I am visiting my parents farther into the snowy south before flying to the States. I am already packed in two suitcases (just enough what I can carry by plane) and have sold/given away most of my furniture/clothing. So once in the US, it's shopping time! 

 

I know the courses I will take and their timetable, although I cannot register until orientation day (I have three orientations!). I have an apartment and two roommates, one of whom has been living there for a year so I don't have to buy kitchen appliances/dinnerware right away. 

 

I still cannot believe I am actually doing this. 

 

Oh, BTW, I have met one frequent Gradcafe poster who came to do some research. So I am beginning to really "feel" this community as that: a virtual network of colleagues. So excited!

[CageFree]

Oh, BTW, I have met one frequent Gradcafe poster who came to do some research. So I am beginning to really "feel" this community as that: a virtual network of colleagues. So excited!

I wonder who that could be.

[AKACaz]

Hi all - glad to hear everyone's been having a good summer! I'm 4 days away from quitting my office, and since I was last on this forum have accepted a Columbia housing offer, which means a move for my boyfriend and I next week. I've been trying in several little ways to prepare - completing insurance forms, planning a moving strategy, and researching reading and teaching materials from previous grad students - but it still doesn't seem quite real yet.

 

I've also been a bit caught off guard by what feel like conflicting priorities from the university. For example, most of the history courses in their directory don't have descriptions yet, and we don't register until orientation in two weeks time. On the other hand, I've been asked to fill out a form which included the question of who I want to be my advisor, which seems crazily early (luckily for me I was relatively secure in my choices, despite my topic mostly falling between gaps in the faculty). Has anyone else found themselves feeling a bit topsy-turvy over the whole thing?

 

P.S. I hear you, czesc - I've lived in very small places and very big places in my time (semi-rural Maine and Cyprus vs. London and New York, to be precise). My guess is that after an initial period of adjustment, you'll find Ithaca the perfect safe haven for your working life, and NYC will be all the more fun and exciting on the weekends.

[czesc]

I've also been a bit caught off guard by what feel like conflicting priorities from the university. For example, most of the history courses in their directory don't have descriptions yet, and we don't register until orientation in two weeks time. On the other hand, I've been asked to fill out a form which included the question of who I want to be my advisor, which seems crazily early (luckily for me I was relatively secure in my choices, despite my topic mostly falling between gaps in the faculty). Has anyone else found themselves feeling a bit topsy-turvy over the whole thing?

 

P.S. I hear you, czesc - I've lived in very small places and very big places in my time (semi-rural Maine and Cyprus vs. London and New York, to be precise). My guess is that after an initial period of adjustment, you'll find Ithaca the perfect safe haven for your working life, and NYC will be all the more fun and exciting on the weekends.

 

We're registering already! It does feel topsy-turvy, given I haven't had the chance to talk to anyone about what, precisely, I should be studying at this point (especially significant given most of the teaching here is done on a one-on-one tutorial basis), nor do I feel like I know exactly which levels of language courses I should be enrolled in without taking assessment tests, nor has the department even published its official graduate rules! I guess it doesn't even matter right now, given I had a registration hold placed on me for not submitting a form I didn't even know about because it turned out half the university's emails to me were routing to the spam filter of an email address I didn't even know to check. I haven't had to go so far as figuring out my advisor yet - unless there are even more places emails might be hiding - but I definitely remember attending students asking me about this (or my committee) as early as admitted students weekend.

 

Thanks for your thoughts on the urban/rural situation - they're comforting. My biggest problem now (as a poor PhD studen) is that transportation to the city costs an arm and a leg to use often, more than twice as much at best as the cost of bus transit between Boston and New York (the same distance). And my gf is now seriously contemplating moving two hours+ further east on Long Island to do a masters at Stony Brook, which would mean an even longer/more difficult commute to nowhere particularly interesting. Sigh...the "two body problem" commences!