We made it!

King of the boxes!

The move went well! The movers were professional and the furniture and boxes arrived almost completely unscathed. I was very impressed. We had heard a ton of horror stories about movers and I am so glad to say that we didn't experience anything unpleasant.

Also, I was really, really relieved that all of our stuff fit into our new place. We knew ahead of time that we were decreasing our amount of living space by about a third. I went ahead and attempted to weed out about a third of our stuff so that we wouldn't be cramped in the new apartment. I must have done a good job as everything we brought we're using and there's actually room for us and our stuff without a feeling of clutter.

Living closer has allowed me to also make some progress on things like financial aid and registration. On Tuesday I spent a large amount of the day making arrangements to discuss my funding and aid with "people in charge." So far, I am quite lucky that it all seems to be working out for the best. To meet my appointments, I had to figure out the university shuttle system. There are a few campus sites around the city and different offices may be located at any campus.

The shuttle is wonderful and saves me time and money. The city has incredible public transportation, but the shuttle is more direct. To ride it, you do need some courage. Careening down the hills here is...exciting. A couple of times I thought that I'd left my stomach at the top while my body continued down without it. The drivers accelerated down some of the hills, and when I looked around to see who else was about to lose their lunch, everyone was just quietly reading! Acclimation or fearlessness? I'll let you know.

I also figured out when orientation is supposed to take place. Now, I got this info. from the school website, so I still don't know important stuff like when and where to meet. I await an e-mail or packet or something about all of that...

Finally, yesterday I had another meeting with a  researcher whose work I admire. I'm hoping to work with her during my program. She invited me to a seminar on the area of research that I'm most interesting in studying. It was one of the most interesting lectures I've ever been to, and it re-ignited my drive to do this. During the move, there were many times when I questioned my resolve and even my ability to be a PhD student. When my husband had to fly back and I knew that he wouldn't be with me again for 10 days, I came very close to a real crisis. To be re-connected with why I want to be here was so very helpful this week.