Hello! Remember when I asked you what you would be interested in hearing about on this blog? Well, here it is, three months later. I figured now that since my first semester is over, this would be the time to write about it seeing as it’s pretty much irrelevant. I’ll divide it up by category so you can skip over any parts you don’t want to read about. Okay? Let’s do it.
General Thoughts/Ann Arbor:
1. Everyone here uses an insane amount of acronyms. I was totally lost for over a month because nobody from Michigan actually speaks English.
2. Everyone is SHORT. At school I tower over all of the other students and I feel like King Kong. Agh. Its probably be because the school is 70% female, but that doesn’t make me feel like any less of a weirdo.
3. Ann Arbor is beautiful. It’s got a beautiful old downtown and trees everywhere, so, especially in the fall, it was gorgeous. They also have great Christmas lights. And a Singin’ in the Rain mural that immediately won my heart.
4. AND THE RIVER. LOVE THE RIVER. It looks like it was designed for lazy tubing.
5. Tons of bike paths that are great to run on
6. VERY AGGRESSIVE DRIVERS
My Apartment:
Is great! I have a studio with an entirely purple bathroom (the tub, tiles, and walls are all lavender, which I love.) It’s remarkably quiet. I don’t see my neighbors much, but when I do they’re very friendly and nice to talk to. Most days on my walk home I pass a woman out on a walk with her baby in a stroller. It’s just very nice.
My complex is a 15 minute walk from my school and a 5 minute walk from an awesome little park on the river. So, all in all, my dad (who did basically all of the work to find this apartment) knocked it out of the park.
School:
AWESOME.
The classes are pretty similar to my undergrad – lecture and discussion format, stuff like that – but so much cooler. The curriculum is designed so all of the classes work together. My homework almost always requires use of concepts from all of my classes in combination and it makes everything so much more interesting. It’s different from undergrad, though, in two main areas.
1. Everybody actually wants to be there. Huge and awesome difference.
2. The focus is much more on the students learning than the teachers just droning on at us. That’s what I felt like in so many of my science lectures in undergrad. It could not have mattered less if we showed up or not. But here, all of the faculty and staff seem like they genuinely want to help the students in any way possible, and they are all really passionate about the work that they do. It’s great.
A Day in the Life:
I feel like my days are pretty much what you would expect from grad student days. I wake up early, blearily glare at the wall for a while, finally get up, feed the cat, get ready, etc. Then I hop on the bus and go to school! My school days generally have some combination of lecture, discussions, workshops, labs, and then working on homework. Then I come home, make some semblance of food, then inhale it while fighting off Munchkin. She insists on being in my lap and likes to stick her face in my food. Then I usually watch some TV and collapse into bed!
I wish that sounded more exciting.. sorry. I think it’s wonderful because the stuff I’m learning is super exciting, but from the outside it sounds very dull. I’m in a cool student org that basically deploys us as volunteers anywhere public health help is needed, so I got to do some cool things with that. I worked at clinics where they gave free flu shots a few times, so maybe that makes my days a little more exciting?
My stress generally revolves around trying to find an internship. I want to work in infection prevention and internship opportunities are very rare, so I’m almost always trying to figure out how I’m going to swing that. Blarg. I think it will be really exciting if I can convince someone to hire me! The work sounds like everything I nerd out about all at once. But until then.. more lectures and discussions.
My fun stuff usually comes from my chances to volunteer or my Bible study. Volunteering breaks my routine up in almost always interesting ways. The people in Bible study have lots of game nights, we make food together, watch movies, stuff like that. So it’s fun!
Munchkin:
Very cat-like. I like her a lot. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that she was named Munchkin at the shelter because she’s a little cat – something like 7.5 pounds. I have come to be extremely grateful for her size because she likes to sit on my neck like an intrusive, purring scarf. If she was any heavier, I think I’d suffocate.
I’m pretty sure she’s got a crush on Jason Mraz, because she does this when I play his music:
She sheds more than any other cat I’ve ever seen, but she’s super soft so I get over it. It can be unfortunate though, because if there is anywhere she can sit on me, she will.
My clothes are virtually never cat hair-less.
Oh, and she sleeps like Superman.
So, overall, Ann Arbor has been very good to me. I can’t say the transition here was easy, because it just wasn’t. At all. In fact, I was miserable for a while at first. But eventually I was able to get connected, make some friends, and get more familiar with the city, and I’m certain that coming here was the right choice. The loneliness and stress were worthwhile for the new adventure.
So now I’m on to my next semester! I get to take more classes in my specialization – hospital epidemiology and clinical microbiology – so I’m pumped. This semester I’ll have more volunteering opportunities, and since I’m getting more comfortable with my routine and the area, I think it will be fun.
I hope that gives you some idea of my life! Let me know if there’s anything you else you want to know. 🙂
Here is a red panda, as a token of my love.
An Anne in Ann Arbor 