Purgatory

These last two days have been just as I assume purgatory might be: boring, frustrating, pointless, but unable to leave.
The new GAs have had to be in training all last week and through Thursday this week. Thankfully us returners only have 3 days this week, but knowing I have to sit through one more day of pointless sessions, makes me want to scream and then run away.
Yesterday was just angering because they told us we are mandated to use four different kinds of software programs and their duties overlap and it’s pointless to have to keep attendance and grades in four different places.
Also, they couldn’t get their act together and have the same answer on anything and it was just ridiculous.
Today was just so incredibly boring. It was basically how to use a computer.
Would you have thought that if you can’t remember your password that you should click the “forgot password” button? You did? And you didn’t have to sit through a two hour training session? You must be smarter than a room of graduate students.
There were also the stupid and repetitive questions that made things just drag on even longer.
I’m fairly certain my eye roll skills tripled today.
Tomorrow will be the sexual harassment session, and after last year’s explosion, I may have to bring popcorn this time. Then again, I would imagine most people don’t want a repeat so they will probably keep their mouths shut. Bummer. Would be the only excitement of this three day torture marathon.
Tomorrow is also the meet and greet with faculty. I signed up and then realize it wasn’t mandatory and basically no one is going. Not excited but looks like it would look bad if I didn’t show. Meh.
So if anyone has any Good books to recommend, I would appreciate it because I have another 7 hours of awful tomorrow that I need something to keep me occupied.

Back on Track

Today was the first time I had to hang my head and send an e-mail to a professor that I am embarrassed of.

For those that have been around, you know I’m starting my second year of grad school for my master’s. That means that I am working on a thesis since I want to go on for my PhD and most schools want a thesis, not comps scores.

Middle of last spring, I was super motivated and typed up a big long thesis proposal. The professor I wanted to work with is going on sabbatical this fall, and I was a little nervous he wouldn’t want to take on another project. However, I had a little edge over others.

Mr. A graduates in May. That means we could be moving who knows where for a job for him. So unlike many other master’s students that could possibly stretch this out for an additional third year, I don’t have that luxury. I HAVE to be done in May. That means a thesis written, revised a million times, and defended by May.

So I have an extra push to get this business done.

So after hearing my proposal, some discussion, and realizing that I would not be wasting his time by dragging this out any longer than necessary, he agreed.

I should also mention that I adore this professor. He is brilliant and kind and encouraging and studies/teaches the same subjects I’m interested in. I feel honored that he agreed to be my thesis director, and also a bit nervous and do not want to disappoint him.

But, as you all know, this summer was…not ideal. Stepmom did that terrible thing that I try to block out and any sense of normality for me went out the window.

I was still having tot each my summer class, be a student in a very intense 4 week summer course, along with all the other responsibilities an adult has. Add in the additional stress of that event, and any spare time I had I was trying to relax and regain sanity.

Well, since professor is going on sabbatical, we had agreed that I would have a very detailed, 8-10 page outline for him by the start of the semester.

Guess who doesn’t have that, or even anything remotely close to that?

*hangs head in shame*

So I emailed him this morning to apologize and ask if he wanted me to send it to him once I got one done, or to just meet with my second reader and get her input on it all and we would meet again in the spring.

He hasn’t responded yet and my stomach is in knots because I feel like I let him down. Mostly, I’ve let myself down.

Motivation to do anything more than absolutely necessary has been minimal and I need to get my act together. I have only one semester of classes left and then a semester of thesis hours and I have to be completely finished in those two semesters.

Hopefully he understands and isn’t regretting working with me. I WILL have a lot to show him when he returns in January and hopefully he is impressed. Hopefully.

So any thoughts of motivation and encouragement that you can spare, would be greatly appreciated. Mostly so I don’t have to hide from him come January. And so my husband doesn’t kill me for not being ready to graduate in May.

Weeks Ahead

Hello again. The last week of the summer session was crazy busy on top of some added family stresses. I then left the very next day to go visit a good friend of mine in Wisconsin, so I’ve been gone.

Of course, the day I got back, I got emails sharing both our pre semester training schedule and my new teaching schedule.

As for the training, well, it’s……special.

It will be three days where an office mate and I will sit in the back, try to contain the rolling of our eyes and find other ways to stay awake. Plan is to brainstorm lesson plans and to print short stories so we look engaged.

Now, I am typically a rule follower. I take a million notes at trainings and am actively engaged.

But when I looked over the schedule for the three days, there is only ONE session that looks even remotely helpful. The rest are being run by either people that have no business training others or about subjects that will only help/affect about 5 of the 95 GAs. Add in that last year was a total cluster, and I’m just trying to do things to keep me from quitting in those three days. I love my job, but this training will be pure torture. And not helpful.

I even have to help lead a session, but there are 3 other people on the panel for a 45 minute presentation and none of the other three will get with me or talk about what the hell we’re supposed to be presenting. Doesn’t help that 2 of them are from a group of girls that can’t differentiate between business and personal and if I won’t have my head up their ass in the personal, then they will screw me over in any way possible in the business. OH, and one of them hasn’t even taught the class we’re presenting about. Her section got cancelled. Again: cluster.

My plan is to be quiet and if someone asks me a direct question, answer as best I can. I can tolerate anything for 45 minutes. Or so I hope.

As for my new teaching schedule…it’s good and bad.

Good, because I no longer am teaching sections at 2 and 3 on MWF. NO one wants to be teaching at 4pm on a Friday. Certainly not me. No wonder they had to cancel those sections. When I last checked there were only 5 and 6 students registered for them.

Bad, because now all of my classes both taking and teaching are on Tuesday/Thursday. On Thursdays, I go from 9:30am-7:30pm with only a 1.5 hour break. I’m guessing on Fridays I will be SUPER unproductive.

Also, teaching 101 instead of 102. I have mixed feelings about this. 101, strangely, allows more variety in writing assignments, but the theme for this year is TERRIBLE. 102 is basically all research and can get tedious VERY quickly, but there isn’t a set theme.

Overall, I think it’s a better thing. Yes, it will be rough to have 5 classes those days, but then I can work on my own stuff the other three days. It will be a change from what I’ve been doing, and for my last semester of classes, I think a change will be nice.

Training starts Monday and then school starts the following week. Not a whole lot of free time left, so I’m trying to enjoy what I have left. That is a little more difficult since our mattress which was supposed to be delivered by today, won’t be delivered until late next week. Sleeping on the floor isn’t nearly as fun when you don’t have any other choice.

BUT, positive thinking on my end. I have a week and a half to relax and try to enjoy the rest of my free time, which will involve lots of kitty snuggles and fun reading.

Well then…

Wouldn’t you know. I have all this free time and not much to talk about.

Huh. Funny how that works out.

I guess it’s because I’m on a real summer break. I’ve never had this much time without any responsibilities or work or school. Summer teaching doesn’t start until June 11th and the class I’m taking doesn’t begin until July 9th. So I’ve already had two weeks off, and I still have another week and a half.

So basically, I’ve had a lot of time to sit around and not do much.

I guess this will be a bit of a brain dump. Hopefully once classes start I will have much more to discuss.

– Did I mention I’m on summer break? It’s awesome. I’ve slept in a lot. Far more than an adult should ever admit, but it had been glorious.

– Even better? Mr. A is on break and we’re finally in the same state for the first summer since we’ve been married. So it’s been a lot of not doing anything together. I’m a fan.

– Tomorrow is our two year wedding anniversary. Still can’t believe we’ve been married for two whole years. I remember our wedding day perfectly and even though I can get caught up in other people’s weddings and second guessing choices, I really did love it. It was so much fun and full of the people we love.

– Tomorrow’s game plan: I will go run secret errands in the morning to get Mr. A’s card, pick up the super amazing tiramisu cake I ordered and grab a couple cigars to have with drinks on our deck once we get home. We will then head out to our favorite winery for lunch and sun and lots of wine and relaxation. We could potentially go to a couple wineries since there are roughly 20 around the area, but I bet we just enjoy our favorite and relax for a few hours without needing to rush. We then have dinner reservations at a really nice restaurant that we haven’t been to yet, but the menu looks awesome. Then head home for dessert and drinks and hanging out. Not a fancy anniversary, but I’m certainly looking forward to it.

– I need to get back into a gym schedule. I just….meh. Not feeling motivated, even though I should. I just…eh. I’’ll figure something out. But any positive words of encouragement are welcome.

– Mr. A and I only have one more year here! WOO. We each will be done with classes in December. Mr. A will do a semester away (only 2 hours and will be staying at my mom’s) and I will be finishing my thesis in the spring, so I am pretty excited and can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Remind me of this when I’m freaking out at the end of the fall semester since I will be taking a class with our department chair and another in an area I have NO background in. Eeeep.

– Scout…is…Scout. She seems to be in a bit of a terrible toddler phase. I am not a fan. Also, any ideas on hoe to get her to quit biting?! It’s driving me nuts and I don’t like when she does it to play with guests. She’s just a little bratty, and I’m assuming she will grow out of it, and she still has moments of sweetness, but man she is feisty. SOOOO not ready for kids. At all.

– I have been a cooking machine. I made baked tomato halves stuffed with mozzarella and topped with fresh parmesan. SO DELICIOUS. Also, made homemade meatballs. And awesome sugar cookies. And Mexican chicken bake. And I have a bunch more recipes to try. Any new recipes you’ve tried and would recommend? Especially baked goods because my favorite thing is to bake. Found a recipe for white Russian cupcakes that I will have to try soon. 

– I need to get onto summer lesson planning. Might be the plan for Thursday. Or early next week. It will get done, but I have just wanted to enjoy my time off without worrying about school. Silly responsibilities.

– What is new with you? What should I know? And please, don’t go to Miami since apparently there are face eating cannibals wandering around there. Creepy.

Busy Bee

Apparently I should get one a blogging schedule BEFORE the semester starts, not in the middle of it.

So, Orlando was fun. I was sick for a lot of it due to my massive sinus issues prior to the flight, which then made it nearly impossible for my ears to pop like they should so I was just off and blech for most of it.

BUT, I did enjoy myself and learned a lot. It was great to see some presentations before I have to present my own in a week. (YIKES)

This semester has been kicking my booty. Between the insane amounts of work for my own classes and trying not to suck at teaching, I am feeling pretty overwhelmed. To the point that I don’t do anything because I don’t know where to start. It’s a vicious cycle.

However, I have ALL of my paper topics for the remaining 4 papers that I have to write this semester, so that’s a huge load off my shoulders. Sounds goofy, but now that I know what I’m writing about, I think about the topics, work out the arguments in my head and it makes it easier when I sit down and write the damn things. I have a weird writing process. Looks weird to others and probably wouldn’t work for anyone else, but it works for me and has been paying off, at least so far. (Fingers crossed it continues until I can work out a better, less spastic method)

Mr. A is hitting his own rough spot of the semester. Happens every semester, at least has so far. He’s getting a little better at dealing with it, but it is stressful. Unfortunately, unlike the previous three semesters, I’m not able to be the cheery ray of sunshine that I usually was in order to cheer him up. I’m so stressed and frazzled myself, that I haven’t been as helpful as usual. I know he understands, but I do feel bad.

School…is…well, school itself it good. Some social drama has been a bit distracting, but working on moving beyond it and not letting high school drama get in the way of what I need to do. Next week will be a little awkward, but nothing I can’t handle and going to make the best of it.

In other big exciting news, I got one of the few and competitive summer teaching positions. I’m not trying to brag- mostly I feel like God was watching over and knew what was best. SO much off of my shoulders to know I will have a paycheck.

Even better?? Mr. A and I will finally be in the same place for the first summer since we’ve been married. Our first two summers of marriage have been spent in different places and adjusting to new things on our own. It will be nice to both be working and taking a class, in the same city. Lots of trips to go canoeing on the lake and studying at the winery, because that’s what grad students do that don’t want to live in a library. It will be amazing.

Can you all believe that I will be done with my first year of grad school in a month?! Because I can’t.

I remember crying when I got my acceptance letter. I remember  when Mr. A got a raise at his summer job, on a Friday, and he told me I could turn in my two weeks notice at the awful retail store an entire month early. I remember spending hours picking out my outfit for the first day of training for teaching college students. I remember walking into my first grad class and being scared to death that I couldn’t do this. I also have the first grad paper that I got an A on with some of the most supportive commentary I’ve ever received.

And here I am, planning my thesis and graduation and realizing that in a year, we will be moving and finding/starting new jobs. I will have a Master’s hood. You will all have to call me Master NewTeacherWife. Maybe that will be my new blog name when I graduate…

So that’s us right now. Scout is doing great. Ornery as ever, but cute as can be and just so snuggly. Mr. A and I both agree that she has been a major stress reliever for us both. We love coming home to her meeting us at the door and, even though she plays rougher than I would like, she’s a ball of fun and we are absolutely in love with her. So, how doomed are we once we have kids??

I miss you all. BUT, I will have time off before summer school, so lots of catching up. Also, I am running my first 5k at the end of the month, so I will be sure to let you all know how it goes. Mr. A is coming to cheer me on and I will make him take pictures of me before I’m all gross and sweaty!

Time Out

I called it.

As soon as I tried to get back into blogging, life stepped in and halted it.

I mean, who needs a job? (Kidding. Obviously.)

School and teaching have come crashing in and I am having one heck of a time staying on top of everything.

Admission: I never even opened the novel for one of my classes. Terrible, yes, especially since I adore this professor and class, but I simply did not have time. His class has over 100 pages of theory a week, plus a novel a week, so I will just step it up for next week.

And teaching. TAKES. SO. MUCH. TIME.

I know this is an obvious statement to anyone who teaches or has experience with the education field, but add that on top of 3 graduate classes that require insane amount of reading and responses, and it’s completely overwhelming.

I still haven’t even touched papers that my students turned in a week ago. My goal is to get them back by next Friday, but the way things are going…who knows. Oh, and my students turn in another paper today. And another one next Friday. It never ends.

And no, I can’t do anything about spacing since the course is standardized. However, this is the first semester with this layout, and I am going to talk to the program director and say, “Hey. This is entirely too much to keep up with. Something needs to get cut or I’m just giving everyone a B and moving on.”

Doesn’t help that I am feeling a bit frozen in place since I haven’t started a single paper of my own. And I leave for Orlando in 3 weeks. And will be in Boston two weeks after that. And then there’s like 3 weeks left before finals.

I have 5 papers to write between now and then. 3 of which are 15 plus pages. 2 involve no fewer than 7-10 sources each.

Cue panic attack.

Just writing all that out makes my heart race. My goal this weekend is to get one of them written, or at least a draft or detailed outline done. Looks like the library and coffee shop will be my home. Too bad I can’t bring Scout…

So, I am dedicated to keeping this blog going, just bear with me. Some weeks I just simply don’t have time, even though I have a million things to tell all of you. And to catch up on all of your blogs! And please don’t think I’m not reading. I am. Just sometimes I’m reading between breaks or classes and don’t have time to comment.

So what’s going on with all of you? And what are some of your favorite stress relievers? Because I sure need them.

My Mean Face

Yeah…I don’t so much have one.

Yes, I can’t rant and rave to friends and family about anything. I can talk all big a bad, but I’m not typically mean.

This sometimes causes problems for me in teaching.

I am easily intimidated. Always have been. I care what people think about me. And not in a “I hope she likes my shoes!” way, but I don’t want people to get the wrong impression of me. I want to be friends. I know I won’t be friends with everyone, but if there is an issue, I like for it to be a real one, and not imagined.

Unfortunately, I’ve been a little too nice so far this semester. If a student said they couldn’t print, I would let them e-mail it to me. If they had an unexcused absence, I would still accept their homework.

I was being nice.

However, this lead to me being responsible to print the assignments so I could comment then pass them back. Students were turning in assignments 3 and 4 days late, but because I had been accepting late homework, I would lose track as to when the original due date was. It was causing me some clerical nightmares.

So today, I had to put on my mean face. Or at least “I’m Serious” face. I made it clear that I wasn’t picking on anyone or mad at anyone, but that I couldn’t continue to do these things.

They seemed to understand and we moved on.

Except today I passed back their first units.

I explained that I won’t answer any questions for 24 hours about papers, for obvious reasons. They get all riled up if they don’t like a grade and they need the 24 hours to cool off and maybe realize that they didn’t do the work. Now, I might have made a mistake. I’m not above that- but at least after 24 hours, they will be calmer when they approach me about it. Then I will fix it and we will go from there.

It worked out wonderfully last semester, so I expected the same.

I guess a lot of their instructors for 101 didn’t do this, and they were not too thrilled and tried to make me answer questions. Also, I got this idea from our program director, so I know they won’t be able to complain about me when it comes to this.

But even better, about half of my first class stood outside the emergency exit door, didn’t realize that it was the exit door for our classroom, and started saying all sorts of things about me, without realizing that I could hear every word and knew who was talking.

Now, I am trying to remind myself that they were just mad about their grade, and it’s easy to rant in a group. I get that. I know I’ve done it.

But after everything that happened with my student from last semester, it’s a little difficult to not get really angry, really quickly.

Add to it that some of the stuff they were saying was just wrong. No other way to put it. They were 100% factually wrong.

I will not let this make me a jaded teacher. But you can bet my niceness is going to be much more limited in the future.

I need to work on the mean face I guess… Being nice sucks.

College Life

The world of a university is weird.

It truly is its own universe with its own rules and understandings and super annoying people.

I have been out of school for a little over two years. My lest semester in college, I was student teaching, and while I did have to put together a final portfolio, I wasn’t going to classes or writing papers. And while I am hesitant to say that I was in the “real world” during those two years since a lot of it was spent both unemployed, underemployed, and still being supported by my parents even though I was married, it was much more real than this.

I am in a constant state of feeling both like an adult and a college freshman, all at the same time.

Here I am, teaching two college classes. I am in charge. I AM the teacher. I don’t report to anyone in the sense that no one has to approve what I’m doing in class. I give assignments. I grade papers. I hand out consequences  when rules are broken. I decide if an absence is excused or not. I’m (basically) in charge. So much of my time is spent planning for classes and grading and responding to student e-mails and holding office hours that, at times, I feel like a true college instructor.

But then I’m also a student. I have to go to class, do readings, write papers, complete daily assignments, coordinate group projects, and just do everything that is involved with being a student. I go to the student center for coffee runs with my friends. We complain about papers. We make study nights (that usually involve a lot more snacking, drinks, and talking than studying…). We go out for classmate’s birthdays and laugh at buying them shots and giggling just like college kids do.

So where am I?

Am I an independent adult that has bills (grant, parents are still helping a little) and responsibilities, not only for my own academics, but for the educations of my students?

Or am I still a kid? Hiding behind the walls of this university and not truly being in the “real” world?

Where does one stop and the other start?

I know this doesn’t seem like a real problem. It’s very much a #firstworldproblem. VERY MUCH SO. And I know that. But it puts me in this weird state and I can’t quite figure out the balance yet or which world I’m supposed to be in.

The problem is also that I’m married. Yes, Mr. A may still be a student, but he’s a law student and they seem to be on a whole other level than I am. He has always been a bit of an old soul. Even in undergrad, he might go to the fraternity house for a little while, but he always left before me and I would meet up with him later. I am the social butterfly of the two of us.

So now that I have all these awesome new friends, I want to go do stuff with them and hang out and go to the mall and go to movies and make dinner and everything they are doing.

But I have a husband at home that, while he likes my friends, he likes his downtime a whole lot more. And I’m feeling a little torn.

Believe me. I know where my loyalties lie. If it ever came to it, I will always pick my husband. I love him and would do anything for him. However, I also have new friends and people to mingle with and make connections and just become better friends with.

This whole balancing act thing has not been nearly as easy and I thought it was going to be. I’m nearly halfway through my first semester and I still can’t seem to find a way to make it all mesh together and work.

I guess that’s life. Figuring out how to prioritize and meet all the responsibilities while still being yourself.

I’m not going to figure this out anytime soon, am I?

Week One

Technically, I still have one more day tomorrow, but we’re close enough.

I was going to do just a first day post, but it, yet again, involved me making a complete idiot out of myself. And after the rolling down a winery hill incident, I wanted to give my ego a few days to recover.

Well, it’s about as recovered as it’s going to get.

Monday was my very first day. I was super prepared. I had made a PowerPoint and had handwritten notes and I had double checked to make sure I had enough copies of everything. I ironed my clothes the night before. Everything people do before their first day at a new job.

To begin the day, as I was getting ready to walk out the front door, I leaned over to pick up my purse and my pants completely split open. Like, waist to crotch along the seam. And I swear, the pants weren’t even tight. I had, no less than 10 minutes before, told Mr. A how the pants felt loser even after just wearing them the week before. I was not happy, but thankfully, there was a pair of khakis already ironed in my closet. Mortifying, but better at home than in class, right?

I teach at 8am and then at 9am. The classrooms are two doors away from each other. All good.

My first class went perfectly. I showed up to my room about 7:20 just because I wanted time to calm down and relax and not be rushing to get everything loaded up. There were students there BEFORE me. FOR AN 8AM CLASS. I took it as a good sign, and so far, it’s been right. They were friendly and, although a little sleepy, they laughed at my dumb teacher jokes and seemed willing to do what will be asked of them this semester.

I was on cloud 9. I was all full of confidence for class two.

Well, as you can imagine, this is the point in the story where it all goes downhill. (Luckily there were no literal hills for me to fall down or I’m sure I would have.)

I went into my second classroom. I logged onto the computer and was loading my PowerPoint. But the computer wouldn’t recognize my thumb drive. I was annoyed, but the ppt wasn’t crucial, so I was just going to say what was on the slides. I started writing on the board some of my other notes and things to cover.

Then, my fellow officemate and GA walks in. I thought he was just saying hello, but he then said that he thought the room was his classroom.

I checked my notes and told him that this was the room I was given. He left and i figured he had just looked at the wrong thing.

Nope. Turns out it was his classroom. They had switched classrooms and didn’t tell me.

I was embarrassed and annoyed because I had spent all this time setting up. I had given out my syllabus, but luckily the other GA just gave me his stack so I would have enough for my  real class.

I was scrambling to gather up all my stuff and get to my class since by now I was 5 minutes late.

The instructor’s podium is immediately in front of an emergency exit door. So as I was stepping out of the way so the other GA could get signed onto the computer, my butt BARELY tapped the bar and the door went flying open and causing all the emergency alarms to start going off.

Talk about embarrassing.

I was already frazzled from being in the wrong room and all of that and then to set off the alarms to half the building?! Mortifying.

Luckily, I was super prepared so as soon as I got to the right room, I was able to recover and just keep going.

I’m hoping this is the end of my embarrassing stories for a while.

But after the first day, this week has been amazing. I think I lucked out and ended up with some great kids in my classes. Or they haven’t shown their true colors yet. I’m thinking the latter.

My own classes that I am taking are going well. I like my professor and I think I am really going to enjoy the readings and such.

So, that’s been my week.

Hubs and I are having a date night tonight. Tomorrow, I am taking my friend from North Carolina to the fair and it is going to be hysterical. She is excited for fair food, mullets, and corn. Again, hilarious. I will definitely be telling you about that adventure.

End of the Summer

Again, I apologize for my terrible blogging. But it’s for a good reason this time.

I have been having a freaking blast finishing off my summer.

Wednesday was the last day of workshop. The sexual harassment session became its own beast and some issues within the department became evident, but that thing deserves its own post and I’m still waiting to find out about a few more things.

But, it was over. Thankfully. I learned a lot, but like any training time, lots of it could have been shortened and there was NO need for it to be a week and a half.

Despite training being long and boring, I have met some of the greatest people. I have made some fantastic friends who crack me up. My group leader was so nice and the big group leaders were thrown into their positions last minute, but they did a great job and I know if I have a question, they will be more than willing to help.

So, to continue the fun and to get ready for the school year, M and K came over to my apartment on Friday for a lesson planning party before heading out for the night.

We didn’t really get much lesson planning done. We DID create our blackboard accounts for our classes and filled in our gradebooks. We discussed a couple things and asked a couple questions, but we then decided we needed a Target trip. Target rules all.

M’s friends from home came down, so we all headed out to dinner then to get ready for the night. I was so excited to take them to my favorite bar. And hey, they had $6 mixed drink buckets on Friday nights. It was going to be an awesome and cheap night out.

Nope.

My all time favorite bar in Cville is under new management and no longer has their drink buckets. They no longer have their rail drink specials.

LAMEEEE

It was pretty much dead. All night. And that place used to be wall to wall packed by 9:30. Hopefully it picks up because the other bar options aren’t my favorite.

BUT. M and I decided to meet up with a couple of her other friends at the “undergrad bar”. It’s not only undergrads, but it’s 19 and up and it always has a much younger crowd. I had never been, but had heard about it.

I have never felt so old in my life. And I’m only 24.

We both were entirely too covered up and not drunk enough. Girls were in painted on dresses and I saw more butts and other things than I ever needed to see. We kept getting looked at like we were aliens since we weren’t showing all of our personal space to the bar.

But, it may have been the best place on earth to people watch. Holy cow. I know I didn’t act like that when I was in undergrad.

And…since when did mom jorts come back in? And I’m not talking about cute jean shorts. Full on mom jorts. We saw at least 4 girls wearing them. Ridiculous.

All in all, it was a good night. We’re fairly certain we will see some of these kids on our classes tomorrow. Which will be even more awkward for them since 99% of them will be freshmen and shouldn’t have had that beer in their hands anyways.

Saturday.

Oh Saturday.

We all headed to the best breakfast place around before heading out to go hiking. We didn’t know which trail we were going to do, but decided to do the moderate one which was a mile and then the rugged trail which was just over a mile.

First of all, this area of the state is SUPER hilly. You don’t think that when you think of us, but it is. Crazy hilly. The moderate trail was about to kill me because my legs were just killing me.

However, there was also some amazing sights. There are some cool rock formations and cliffs and we all had fun climbing all over the rocks. We saw the biggest daddy long legs that I have ever seen in my life. Pretty sure they have been living there since the dinosaurs and have just been chillin’.

Everyone still thought the rugged trail was a good idea. My legs were already sore and a little shaky, but I wasn’t about to be a party pooper, so I went with it. it was amazing until we came to these rock steps that went straight up for 100 yards. Pretty sure we all thought we were going to die.

And then I had the only injury of the trip when my foot slipped on some moss and my knee slammed into a rock. It’s all kind of scraped and bruised, but at least I got it doing something fun.

Then, the winery happened.

We all got cleaned up and headed to one of the best wineries around here. We live right in the middle of a huge wine trail and there are probably 20 different wineries within a 45 mile radius.

There were about 12 of us and we were all just joking and having a good time. A wedding was going on so we were having fun making fun of the absolutely horrific bridesmaid dress and the late guests that showed up. But the bride was stunning, and other than it being super hot, they had a pretty day for it all.

However, the outdoor area is on a slight hill. This is important to the story.

K was sitting next to me. She is a riot and we were making jokes and she likes to mimic people’s hand movements. The problem is that I tend to use my hands when talking as well, and we both motioned at the same time. She had her wine in her hand and I ended up making her spill her entire glass all over her shirt and side of her face.

I. Was. MORTIFIED.

I felt absolutely terrible and I was embarrassed. So what do you do when you’re embarrassed?

You start laughing uncontrollably. I was crying and we were all laughing.

And then it happened.

I leaned back a little while laughing and my chair fell backwards and my feet came up and over my head and I rolled down the hill.

Yes people.

I rolled down a hill. At a classy winery. While a wedding party was taking pictures feet away from us. Mind you, I was not even drunk.

I shall let you pause while you imagine this scene. (There were also about 200 other people outside enjoying the winery and the sun. )

I just laid there, on the ground, in the grass, laughing uncontrollably and dreading having to get up because then I would see all the people staring at me.

Our group was all crying laughing. I have never been so publically embarrassed in my life. My husband was considering possibly never taking me out in public again. I think K forgot that I just spilled wine on her since I had just rolled down a fucking hill at a winery.

I keep repeating it because I just can’t believe it’s true.

But I have the worst purple bruise on my arm to remind me.

So that was the end to my summer. I spent it with fun new friends. I explored our area a little more and made an ass of myself. Good end, no?

So tomorrow is my first day with the college kids. I’ve spent time figuring out how to look tough so that maybe they will fear me enough to do what I tell them to. I’m betting they figure me out by Wednesday. Here’s hoping I don’t fall in front of them!