Thursday, August 11, 2011
Five Points
Five Points is THE place in Columbia. One of my undergrad profs had his major dissertation break through while sitting in a bar in Five Points with the house band (later known as Hootie and the Blowfish---if you don't know who they are, you are entirely too young to be reading my blog!) playing in the background. The first bit of advice that I received upon learning that I would be moving here was to go check it out. This is where one finds most of the "urban recreation" venues. So, for you USC folks out there, I have down as commanded! I walked away from my first Five Points experience with a $10 giftcard to the local bar & grill, Harper's. This was the third place prize from trivia. We would have won first had it not been for all of the college football questions. Oh well, we'll get 'em next week!
Department Orientation
We had the math department orientation this morning. It consisted of a lot of the typical welcome, paperwork, and administrative stuff, and they went over the degree plan. For the next two years, this week will be consumed with qualifying and comprehensive exams, respectfully, so I should enjoy any leisure time now! I will qualify in Algebra and Analysis (rather than taking the more applied route). My comp topics are to be determined, but if my current interests hold and the offered course work out, I'm planning for functional analysis, topology, and perhaps graph theory.
More importantly, we recieved our office and course assignments today. I'm sharing a very long, narrow, windowless office with three other grad students. Two of my office mates are first year guys that were over the other night, both pure math (this pleases me). The third is a chick who is already established in the program and of whom I know nothing. I do not actually have a key to the office yet, but they are ordering more and one chick is meant to move out by Monday, so I should be getting one in the next couple of days.
I will be TAing two sections of a calculus 2 course. I will run a recitation and a Maple lab for each, so I'll be "teaching" four late-morning classes each week. Calc 1 (which most of the other students were assigned) would have been an easier assignement for a couole of reasons, but this is definitely the assignment I would have selected if given a choice. I'm thrilled with it. I am TAing for Dr. Kustin. I don't know much about him, but I'll be calling on my external resources (you know who you are!) for advice.
The university-wide grad student orientation was this afternoon. I sat with a large group of the new math students on the back row. After the first half hour of welcome addresses by various people (which many of us ignored in favor of browsing the calculus text, dept specific info, and training assignments we received this morning) we were given a break to meet people around us. A couple of my counterparts and I took this opportunity to discretely depart from this very boring, only slightly informative session. We wondered about campus a bit then called it a day, at least until we all meet up for trivia night and drink specials in Five Points in a couple of hours. Don't worry, living so far from campus I am shackled with the inevitable and eternal responsibility of being my own designated driver. :-/
I had some concerns about coming into a program that I had not visited, particularly since I did not get a great feel from the few programs that I did visit. But, all in all, I couldn't be happier with USC. It is definitely a "pure" program, and a good fit for me. I have only met the grad director and the chair, but they are both cool enough. And the other students are great. I was not impressed by the current or potential students at the programs I visited, so this is a huge relief. And having spent time with most everyone before hand was really beneficial. We were all comfortable with each other going in, many have interests that are similar to mine, and there is already a strong sense of camaraderie. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
More importantly, we recieved our office and course assignments today. I'm sharing a very long, narrow, windowless office with three other grad students. Two of my office mates are first year guys that were over the other night, both pure math (this pleases me). The third is a chick who is already established in the program and of whom I know nothing. I do not actually have a key to the office yet, but they are ordering more and one chick is meant to move out by Monday, so I should be getting one in the next couple of days.
I will be TAing two sections of a calculus 2 course. I will run a recitation and a Maple lab for each, so I'll be "teaching" four late-morning classes each week. Calc 1 (which most of the other students were assigned) would have been an easier assignement for a couole of reasons, but this is definitely the assignment I would have selected if given a choice. I'm thrilled with it. I am TAing for Dr. Kustin. I don't know much about him, but I'll be calling on my external resources (you know who you are!) for advice.
The university-wide grad student orientation was this afternoon. I sat with a large group of the new math students on the back row. After the first half hour of welcome addresses by various people (which many of us ignored in favor of browsing the calculus text, dept specific info, and training assignments we received this morning) we were given a break to meet people around us. A couple of my counterparts and I took this opportunity to discretely depart from this very boring, only slightly informative session. We wondered about campus a bit then called it a day, at least until we all meet up for trivia night and drink specials in Five Points in a couple of hours. Don't worry, living so far from campus I am shackled with the inevitable and eternal responsibility of being my own designated driver. :-/
I had some concerns about coming into a program that I had not visited, particularly since I did not get a great feel from the few programs that I did visit. But, all in all, I couldn't be happier with USC. It is definitely a "pure" program, and a good fit for me. I have only met the grad director and the chair, but they are both cool enough. And the other students are great. I was not impressed by the current or potential students at the programs I visited, so this is a huge relief. And having spent time with most everyone before hand was really beneficial. We were all comfortable with each other going in, many have interests that are similar to mine, and there is already a strong sense of camaraderie. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The Adventure Begins
The initial entry of any great blog must include justification for its existence... So, I've moved away from family and friends (and friends that might as well be family) to start the next chapter of my life. But, I'm not always great at keeping people updated on what's going on with me, and some people, particularly my family, find this to be one of my more distressing qualities. Hopefully, if I manage to keep this updated, this blog will serve as a good supplement to individual communications. Also, I am continuing a USC legacy started by several of my undergrad professors. These professors, and others, are eager to relive their gradschool days vicariously through me. Some folks won't believe it, but I'm not really a fan of blogging. I enjoy doing it, but I'm not presumptuous enough to think that all that many people really care what I have to say! None-the-less, here it is...
I've been in Columbia for a little over a week now. I'm about 10 miles from downtown (where the campus is located) so I haven't really seen much of the city yet. I'm in a two-story duplex on a lake. The neighborhood might be considered "questionable", but I feel comfortable and safe, and the neighbors that I have met seem to be pretty cool. I'm liking the house more an more, and I'm loving the lake and my daily kayaking trips. The downstairs (kitchen, living/dining room, utility room) is unpacked and awaiting the arrival of a new tv and drumset. The upstairs (bedroom, master bed converted to an office, and bathroom)...well, it's not nearly settled, but perhaps today will be a productive one.
I invited all of the new students over last night. Of the 12 entering (including myself) 10 were here, plus one fiancé. Looks like it's going to be a good group. Everyone is pretty chill, and the social awkwardness that is the math student stereotype is minimual if it's there at all. 5 chicks, 7 guys. Everyone seemed to have fun and we all got on smashingly.
Training and orientation sessions begin tomorrow. Classes begin the 18th. I'll meet for advising Friday, but I expect I will be taking Analysis, Algebra, and Graph Theory. I also expect to be teaching a few sections of Calculus lab and recitation, but I reckon that assignment will be finalized after my class registration is official. I've no idea what to expect, but I'm planning to have fun with it!
I've been in Columbia for a little over a week now. I'm about 10 miles from downtown (where the campus is located) so I haven't really seen much of the city yet. I'm in a two-story duplex on a lake. The neighborhood might be considered "questionable", but I feel comfortable and safe, and the neighbors that I have met seem to be pretty cool. I'm liking the house more an more, and I'm loving the lake and my daily kayaking trips. The downstairs (kitchen, living/dining room, utility room) is unpacked and awaiting the arrival of a new tv and drumset. The upstairs (bedroom, master bed converted to an office, and bathroom)...well, it's not nearly settled, but perhaps today will be a productive one.
I invited all of the new students over last night. Of the 12 entering (including myself) 10 were here, plus one fiancé. Looks like it's going to be a good group. Everyone is pretty chill, and the social awkwardness that is the math student stereotype is minimual if it's there at all. 5 chicks, 7 guys. Everyone seemed to have fun and we all got on smashingly.
Training and orientation sessions begin tomorrow. Classes begin the 18th. I'll meet for advising Friday, but I expect I will be taking Analysis, Algebra, and Graph Theory. I also expect to be teaching a few sections of Calculus lab and recitation, but I reckon that assignment will be finalized after my class registration is official. I've no idea what to expect, but I'm planning to have fun with it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)