First Week Goings On

Welp, I survived my first week of PhD class and whaddya guys know, maybe I can manage this whole thing after all. It has been insanely busy, chaotic, and somewhat stressful but mostly exhilarating after waiting around all summer for things to get going. I love my cohort; there are ten of us and everyone seems really interesting and motivated and, thankfully, pretty lovely to be around. We have most of the same classes this first semester, so we will be spending LOTS of time together in enclosed spaces, so it's a relief to have generally positive feelings towards everyone.

It's a remarkably diverse group—not just in terms of race/ethnicity (though it is diverse in that way, too), but also in terms of age, life circumstance, academic/professional background, etc. which makes for some neat conversations. I think it also really cuts down on the competitiveness that might fester in a program like this, since people tend to have pretty different interests and goals.

Anyway, my classes seem great. On Thursdays I have a lovely Indian professor with the most beautiful accent ever. Also he wears a bowtie and is taking us out for "gin and tonics" next week. My other professors all seem pretty good too, and I'm taking one in the medical school which seemed totally intimidating at first but now I'm all like I GOT THIS. I'm sure things will get super stressful in a few weeks, but for now I'm still in that honeymoon phase of being excited and inspired.

Some non-school updates: Sleep is much better, thanks in part to a combination of reduced stress, drugs, and some all-natural hippie stuff. My foot also seems to be somewhat improved, though I am still super skittish about it and have drastically limited my walking. I hate how an injury throws your whole body out of whack. What started in May as a teeny fracture in my right foot has domino-ed into tight/uneven calf muscles from hobbling around in the boot, big toe pain from limping to compensate the fracture, knee pain and stiffness from too much biking/squatting, back pain from sitting too much, etc. etc. etc. Is this what it feels like to get old?

Oh, and yesterday I got hit by a car. Yes, A CAR. I was biking to campus when it pulled out of a side street without looking and totally wiped me out. I was fine (she wasn't going fast), just shaken up. Actually, I think the lady driving the car was in worse shape than me. She freaked out and started screaming at her son to call the paramedics. Meanwhile I was dusting myself off and taking inventory; once I confirmed that nothing was broken or bent out of shape or anything else seriously wrong, I convinced her to chill the heck out and not bother with the ambulance. They helped me put my bike chain back on and I rode off to no ill effects. Arrived totally breathless to my meeting with J and blurted out "HI GOOD MORNING GUESS WHAT I JUST GOT HIT BY A CAR." His response? "Well, you haven't really lived until you've been hit by a car." Um, what?