I grew up in Topeka, Kansas, which, both figuratively and literally, is many miles from Boston. I thought that moving from a place like Kansas to a big city would be overwhelming, but I am here to tell any prospective students worried about the transition that Boston could not be a more welcome change of pace. After a three day drive with all my belongings and a cat in my tiny car, I entered Boston around rush hour and thought I was probably in well over my head. Things move quickly here, but even I (coming from the land of meandering) assimilate to the pace quicker than one might think. I've noticed that even my GPS is challenged from time to time-often acting as shocked as I am at the inconceivable time it can take to get to Target on a Tuesday night. However, it is truly just a way of life that, I believe, people here have come to live with. Certainly, it was shocking at first, but I have come to enjoy my extended travel times and find that I am operating much more efficiently than I was in Kansas, where there was no need to plan your day around transportation.

With about a month of classes behind me, I feel like I have finally gotten into the swing of things at MSPP. My courses are going really well and my practicum site has been so informative and exciting. Last week, however, I encountered a challenge of graduate school that I had been worrying about for some time. I gave my first in-class presentation.

Moving, starting a new job, meeting new people, re-entering the world of homework: For many (myself admittedly at the forefront) these are often cringe-worthy topics. Certainly, many transitions in life are accompanied by a certain sense of anticipation and excitement, but I want to be very candid in this blog, and in doing so, I must admit, I have spent the summer primarily overwhelmed, frightened, and anxious about any one of these tasks. I don't know if it was the prospect of uprooting myself from the life and friends that I had known for the past few years, or the looming task of driving halfway across the country with a motion-sick cat, or even just the general trepidation of having homework again after a (lovely) year-long hiatus. Whatever the cause, I was nervous, to say the least. I had spent the summer at home with my parents and my brother, surrounded by home-cooked meals, free rent, and cable television, and given my past experiences with "moving on" in life, I didn't have high hopes that what was to come would be particularly savory.