Another beautiful day

After a week of rain when I first got here, this week has actually held up quite nicely. It's been mostly sunny and nearly 60 degrees, perfect fall weather (and now I've become one of those people who insists on talking about the weather like it's something vitally important...). I'm worried, however, that I've got a cold coming on... My nose is a little stuffy and I have that tickle in my throat. Fingers crossed it'll just blow over, I've been downing orange juice like it's my job and getting at least 7-9 hours sleep every night.

My research has started off well enough, I suppose. I've just been sitting online, sifting through databases trying to find articles of relevance. Though I have managed to find a number of great sources (and contacts to email later on), it's so frustrating to find an article that seems perfectly suited for what I need just to find that it requires a subscription, which means I can still order it through the library...for a small fee...which will probably be reimbursed by the school...but still... That being said, if the worst thing I've got to complain about is finding articles that will require a slight delay before I can read them, I'd say I'm doing pretty well.

And I've survived demonstrating my first two labs. I have somewhere between 29 and 31 students in total (2 were absent this week, not sure if they'll be showing up or not?). Yesterday was a little bumpy to start because I really didn't know what I was doing, but I figured how hard could it be for university students to figure out how to use a microscope. Obviously, I should think again. It wasn't bad, but I was definitely being asked questions every second I turned around for about 2 hours. Today went a lot smoother, though I ended up staying a 1/2 hour longer because one student wanted to be a perfectionist on this non-graded lab drawing of an amoeba, aka a blob. How one can draw a perfect blob is beyond me, but kudos to her for putting in such an effort. And today's students seemed to have a better idea of how to use a microscope and all of them basically asked the same questions about calibrating this microscopic ruler in the eyepiece (which is fair enough because I didn't understand it when I first saw it either). I also had a pretty funny experience with a student from a different TA's lab bench. She asked me if there was a loo somewhere, but she said it so quietly I couldn't make out what she was saying. So I asked her to repeat it, but she said it equally quiet, and got this mortified look on her face when I continued to look confused at her question. I mean, it is a pretty standard question, but I just couldn't hear her at all. Anyway, after staring at each other with our mortified/puzzled faces for a few moments, I finally figured out what she was asking, and everything was fine. I chuckled a bit on the inside.

Might I add that the cafe in my building makes delicious paninis. I went down for lunch today thinking this could be the last time I forget my lunch depending on how the food tasted. But I got this chicken curry and cheese thing, and it was so good. I was sad when I had finished it all. I have a feeling that I will be getting to know the two old women that work at the cafe quite well this year.