The first glimpse...

After being here for almost an entire month, I finally met some of my classmates.

Today was the first day of orientation for masters students in the school of journalism. We started off the day by a breakfast. Apparently the breakfast, which included a nice spread of hot foods like eggs, hashbrowns, and meat, as well as cold foods like fruit and muffins, was a huge hit with the professors.

"I'd like to thank [the dean]" said one professor, "for the hot breakfast. I would like to recognize that breakfast is bigger than pastries!" It was pretty funny. After eating and mingling with the people at our respective tables, we went around the room and introduced ourselves.

I loathe standing up in front of a class and introducing myself. However, I did it and announced who I was and my schooling (as well as my 1/3 of a law degree!) and said I am terribly excited to be here because I've been in Bloomington for a month and know no one and I'm sick of talking to my husband. That got a good laugh out of everyone.

Our class is very diverse, with educational backgrounds varying from math to engineering to economics to journalism (of course). We have students from eight countries including China, Iraq, Kuwait, and the Ukraine. The fabulous girl who sat next to me had also finished her first year of law school. She is currently doing a dual degree, but is only taking journalism classes this semester. It was really good to actually talk to people and learn about the different opportunities in the program.

One of those opportunities involves a class in the spring about Ernie Pyle, a journalist whom the school is named after. The professor intends to teach about Ernie and then take the class overseas to see some of the places Ernie wrote about -- London, Normandy, and Paris in particular. I have no idea if I will end up taking this course, but I'm excited that there are classes like that being offered in my school.

After the breakfast, I scheduled my adviser's appointment and was able to finally register for classes. I am taking nine hours, which is full time for a graduate student in my program. I will be taking:
Introduction to Mass Media Research
Theory and Research: Macro-Social Level
The Press and the Constitution

I'm not sure about the Macro-Social class because I'm not really sure what that means, but I was assured that it should be a good and interesting class that would provide a good foundation for future classes. My meeting with the dean went really well. I was able to ask her some questions about things that I have been interested in and she did her best to give me candid answers. I really think she does a great job at being welcoming.

It looks like, barring any major catastrophe, I should be able to be finished with my masters by December of 08, so three semesters from now. Hopefully, that works out!