Okay, so by now all our diligent readers are well aware that last week was orientation, and classes start tomorrow.  I am both excited and anxious about jumping into classes.  Pretty normal, right?

I suppose I should introduce myself before proceeding too much further.  My name is Sally and I am in the MSEL program part time while working full time.  Yup, it’s gonna be tough, but I can do it… that’s what I tell myself, anyway.  I don’t want to go into too much detail about my job but will say that it has to do with my pet cause, renewable energy.  (VLS seems like a pretty great place for those of us who are concerned about that issue, by the way.) 

No introduction is ever complete without answering the unavoidable question where are you from?  I rather dislike that question because it’s not easy to answer; I’ve lived in a number of different states, and the one that I am from originally (by birth, not by choice) does not fill me with a great sense of pride.  (I’ll give you a clue: it starts with a T and Mr. President wasn’t born there.  No, not Tennessee.)  Before moving to New Hampshire (where I live now) this past spring, I spent several years in Maryland working as a spacecraft engineer on a constellation of environmental satellites.  It’s been over five years since I graduated from college — nearly six years since I completed all of my undergraduate requirements — with a degree in physics.  Although science is a common undergraduate major for VLS students, I think physics is not.  So I’m an oddball.  But getting back to the issue of having lived in numerous different states, I must say that it’s great to be back in New England.  This really is a very special little corner of the world.  And would you believe the autumn leaves are already beginning to show?

So orientation was good, aside from the fact that the Student Ambassadors (JDs, of course) seemed to continually forget that we lowly MSELs also exist.  They would repeatedly wonder why they couldn’t find us on their list of names or in their computer system until we told them we’re MSELs (which they didn’t think to ask).  Geez, you’d think after a year or more at VLS they would have heard of us, huh?  Guess again.  But yeah, the week was good, if a bit busy, but now I’m back to providing my own meals every day.  Oh, well, it was nice while it lasted….

I have a tendency to ramble on and on sometimes once I get started, which may become obvious in future posts, so I should take this opportunity to say goodbye before your eyes glaze over.  As if they haven’t already.  Will be back with more gossip sooner or later.  Cheers.