Twinges of homesickness

This morning I was awakened by a police officer cruising down the street on the loud speaker saying “Please move ya caaaah.  If you don’t move ya caaaah, you will be towed.  We aahh about to staaht street cleaning.”  Whoa… I’m not in Chicago anymore!!!  In Chicago, you would have awakened to find your car gone. Like POOF! Gone.  Good luck finding and getting to the tow lot and even bigger luck getting it back without coughing up some serious cash. So, even while I was awakened out of a sound sleep, I wasn’t even upset.  I consider that wake up call to be a true public service announcement!

The other night I had a visit from my BFF who drove up to take this poor college student out to dinner.  It was so nice to see a familiar face!  I haven’t been gone very long, but my brain has been on overdrive learning new faces and names.  I missed the comfort of seeing a familiar face and I hadn’t realized it.  I enjoyed her visit, but I was definitely homesick by the time she left.

The homesickness has passed, but I’m sure that this will not be last time that it will make my acquaintance in the next year!  I just have to hunker down and keep my eyes on the prize. It’s one of the sacrifices that I chose to make when I accepted admission into the program.

I invite you to do your part to keep the homesickness at bay: SEND CARE PACKAGES! (Especially chocolate...I'm partial to chocolate!)

signed,

Chicago Girl At Heart

Boot Camp Has Begun!

That damned placement test. 

I guess I didn’t do so hot, because I’m in the section that meets five days a week instead of four.  So, while my classmates are sleeping off their hangover from Tuesday night, I’ll be in classes for most of the day on Wednesday.  Does it suck? Yeah, but I’m kind of glad it turned out this way. 

Each of my instructors has made it known that I shouldn’t take my class placement personally, and in all honesty, I don’t. 

Many years ago, I used to fly airplanes and I was actually quite good at it.  I knew all the checklists and V Speeds for the airplane I was flying and could execute a smoooooth landing.  But if you were to put us in an airplane right this second, you’d have better said your prayers because we are going to crash and burn!  Given the right refresher, I’m sure I could quickly come back up to standard and feel comfortable flying family and friends around safely.

This is the same situation. Instead of getting a refresher in flying, I’m getting one in Quantitative Methods and another in Microeconomics. And did I mention it was fast?  I believe we’re covering 14 weeks of material in 14 class days, and there will be a midterm and a final.

This is the perfect intro to a rigorous one year program, so I say BRING IT!

In the Beginning...

A journey of 300 days begins with the first day.

My first day at Harvard wasn’t so bad.  I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but it did meet some unconscious expectations…and exceeded others.

We arrived at 8:30AM to hear our pep talk, about how we all were chosen specifically to represent the Harvard name and that we deserve to be there.  It was all nice and feel good. I liked it, but then again who wouldn’t?!

After the pep talk there was a coffee break, outside, in the courtyard, where the temp was 90 degrees!  I don’t know about you, but it was too hot for me to enjoy some coffee.  It looked like I was in mid hot flash the *entire* coffee break. (If you’ve never had a hot flash, ask someone.  They will tell you that it’s not pretty!)

We went back inside for a short question and answer session.  Then BAM! They hit us with our placement tests.  First test up was the quantitative test.  Uh…I’m no slouch when it comes to math, but when I got to the derivatives and logarithms, I accepted the fact that I had reached my limit and turned in my exam.  We broke for lunch and then came back to the economics placement exam. 

After the second placement exam, a reception was held in the Forum.  Beer, wine and food!  Just the kind of sustenance I needed after a hard day of testing.  After the wine had loosened a few tongues, the real fun began!  I actually got hit on a couple of times.  I guess people get a little food and a little wine they think they’re at happy hour or something! Most of the people are very genuine, humble, salt of the earth type people. 

I am impressed at how Harvard could assemble such a diverse group of people and it work so well.  I’m not working on my second Masters Degree, nor do I speak multiple languages nor am I a judge or a diplomat.  I am Michelle from the south side of Chicago and I held my own and enjoy myself.

So far, so good.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow….

Tomorrow will be my first day of university studies in over 15 years!  Truthfully, I’m a little numb about the occasion.  I’m too wise to think that I know it all, too experienced to think it will be easy, and too humble to think that I’ve gotten this far on my own.

I have always known that I wanted to go to grad school, but the timing was never right. With little pangs of envy, I watched as friends pursued law degrees, medical degrees, and doctoral degrees.  Some ladies get jealous when all their friends seem to be getting married, but not me! I was jealous because I desired an advanced degree and I had no idea how I was going to make it happen.

Several years ago, I read a book called The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  It wasn’t life-changing in the way of The Holy Bible, but I learned that I must follow my heart and to never let my dreams die.

“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.”
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Last week, I left my home state of Illinois to begin this new adventure.  It was difficult to leave behind everything that I know and love.  In preparation, I re-read The Alchemist.  In it, I was able to find another nugget of wisdom that spoke to me about the journey on which I am about to embark.

“When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.”

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

So far, the strong current and my dream have taken me to the front gates of Harvard University. My three hundred day journey starts…tomorrow.