Nice surprise, to see some people writing on this blog and also on my guestbook :)
How are things in Indiana? Not bad really. The weather has been a blessing, my students and I are starting to know where we’re going and what we’re supposed to be doing, I’m trying to be a bit more social (yes, miracles DO happen!!!) and it’s not as hard as it seemed, my classes are ok, and I’m learning tons of things about the adequte percentage of classroom use, the cost of renovating student housing, and the role of contractors. I even visited the Alumni Center, which is under construction, and the pictures are not very exciting but you can see me with a hard hat, which is quite a rare sight, on this page. All this and much more is done for a presentation I and other teammates have to do of the Alumni Center. For that, other than this construction site visit, I’ve discussed with the interior designer, the contractor, Purdue’s architect, and will soon meet the building’s architect too. This is fun and very hard for me since I am learning a whole new language!
Other than that… nothing much really. I got a plane ticket ($500) to go home for Chrismas, since I want to see my family, my relatives, and my friends. I thought I didn’t want to go home because I’m so tired and busy, but really, I just need to see people there, I miss everyone way too much! I’ll stay in Paris the first and last week and go to Switzerland in between. VERY HAPPY :) And also, I have decided to go to Utah during spring break! Yes, I’ll have enough miles to take a free trip there and will only need to rent a car. I’ll visit the ELC, Judy, Hae Jin, Bequie, and everyone else of course!!! I am so excited already!!! And Utah in the spring is just the best time! Seems like Utah is great in the Spring and sucks the rest of the time, and Indiana is great in the fall, and sucks the rest of the time. Yeah… now I just need to find a place which is great in the winter… let’s see… California! and another which is great in the summer… mmm… Finland :)
I am a bit overwhelmed by the pile of papers I must grade and the homework I must do, and I think I’ll take an Incomplete in Tony’s class because I don’t see myself writing 3 20-page research papers in December! In the spring, I’ll take World Englishes with Margie, which will be interesting, and I managed to get into the very elitist and private Human Resources class taught in the Education dept. thanks to my Space/Facilities Management teacher who seems to think that I am a great addition (PhD, English major, international student, etc.) to her class and consequently told the HR teacher that she should accept me in her class. Life is good!
OK, back to grading papers… Please write me, I miss you all. And if I don’t know you, you can still write to say hello and to tell me that you’re reading this useless babling. It’s always nice to think that I’m famous!