It's a Wonderful Semester

This is how I felt three weeks ago:

After an ill-advised over-an-hour-long run through the pouring down wet snow of Christmas Eve, I came down with a horrible sore throat on Christmas Day, which quickly developed into a stuffy nose, chills, coughing fits, and general awfulness. I can't remember the last time I was this sick this suddenly, but there it was. Every day from Christmas to New Year's involved me waking up multiple times in the night to cough, blow my nose, and soothe my inflamed sinuses, then I stayed indoors all day every day trying to keep warm and not lose my mind from boredom (thanks again to Matthew for the first seasons of "Once Upon a Time" and "Revenge" and to my in-laws for the life-saving Christmas present of a slanket and a blanket). I tried to read, but found it too exhausting (need I reiterate that this was no ordinary illness?). This sort of thing lasted all the way up until the first day of the semester, when I finally was able to go for several hours in a row without needing to cough-explode my chest or give myself a hardhanded YOU CAN DO THIS pep talk before each swallow.

Flash forward to the second day of the semester, when I felt like this:

This blissful transformation was due to the coincidence of the following happy events: 1) I am auditing and super-enjoying an American Southern history class that I finally mustered up the courage to take after waiting and hoping in vain for a teacher I was familiar with to teach the course. I was a little intimidated by my Mississippi Delta-accent professor with glasses, typewritten syllabi, no Learning Suite materials, and business attire, but after meeting with her in her office and making a few comments in class, I am delighted to say that she is lovely! She seemed to appreciate me introducing myself and has no problem with me being an outlier from the Humanities graduate student department. She also is friendly, funny, and calls on me quite often in class. And the material - good gracious, how I looooove learning about the South. It's definitely where my heart and head click together the most. 2) It turns out that the department did me a favor in canceling my class, as I got a second TA job at the last minute. I am now TA-ing for two Humanities 202 classes (for different teachers, both awesome people whom I've worked with before) and probably getting more pay for less work than either of my 101-teaching peers (TAKE THAT, SOMEBODY!). The overlap in 202 material from the classes is also quite enjoyable and informative, as I just might be teaching 202 in the future. I am so grateful to have the added income and experience for this semester and can't believe my luck, really. As for actual teaching, I only have to teach two 50-minute discussion sections on Fridays, which is SO much easier than having to prepare 3 hours worth of new material every week. Not only do I have a lot of free rein over what we do, but my students so far seem to enjoy and get into the material (not to mention TALK) a lot better than my 101 students. Maybe it's because we meet at 10 and 11 am rather than some ungodly hour like 5 pm. 3) I got better! Remember how I was sick? Well, I got better! Papers, reading, and exams seem like nothing compared to two bedridden weeks of misery. And I'm even feeling confident that I'll stay well throughout the entire semester since, you know, I'm immune. 4) My two best graduate student friends are in both of my classes, and we are thick as thieves. I'm really enjoying the extra time we spend together since they will both soon be graduating. It's nice to already have friends at the beginning of the semester. 5) Both of my classes are looking great. Only two papers to write for one of them, and no papers at all in the other (but a lot of report-style writings of books and films and whatnot)! In one class we're studying adaptations - wait for it - and with that, we'll be looking at Poe, Hitchcock, LOTR, Jane Austen, and Shakespeare. Yup, dream class. And with both my friends in my late-night class on the western genre, it's kind of a "movie night with my friends" type of class than a "we're REALLY going to be here for five hours?" type of class. 6) My intermediate volleyball class has been quite fun. We have a good mix of experienced students but no dominant, annoying personalities as of yet, and I've recognized some old friends as well as made some new ones already. And I like the teacher. And last week I went on a serving streak of about 7-8 points. Booyah!

In conclusion, after the horror of last semester's first-time teaching stress combined with reading exam nightmare, I am overwhelmed at how nice it feels to look forward to rather than dread each day at a time. At this point I can only suppose that this semester will be one of the best ones I can remember having (and definitely the best one if it ever warms up). Here's hopin'.