First Week in Amherst

It's finally weekend! It has been a long and intensive week, and I'm glad I've made it.

Monday: flight after flight to Hartford, CT. The flights were smooth, and got to the destination a few minutes earlier. Was able to catch an earlier limousine shuttle, and got to my new residence an hour earlier than my estimate, around 8pm! Unpacked the suitcases, ate the leftover sandwich from lunch, and went to bed... zzz

Tuesday: took a bus to UMass. Registered at International Programs Orientation, and visited office after office: International Programs Office, UCard Office, Graduate Programs, and to the welcome ceremony. Lunch was sponsored by the Bank of America - a compensation for sitting through their 'promotional' session titled 'Information on banking in America'! Walked all the way to the department (the far of the campus!) to sign a Teaching Assistant contract, went on a bus tour of the community, met a Japanese grad student -yey!- and had a BBQ dinner. Took the bus to Walmart to shop daily necessities, and went home. Walmart and most shops are on my way home, and that comes in handy! So much working in a day - glad I was wearing comfortable shoes, but yet my legs were soooooo tired.

Wednesday: Getting on a bus was a little hassle this morning; there was road work going on, and the bus stop was surrounded by all the trucks and rollers and everything. I crossed the road over a newly paved hot asphalt (I realized it was hot when crossing) without realizing what was going on! And then I realized that the bus couldn't come close to where I crossed to - the traffic was blocked with cones and police officers. I signaled to the road construction workers and used some body gesture that I need to get on a bus. They said they had no idea but not to worry, and one of the man on a big roller machine did stop the bus for me and instructed when to cross the road. It was nice to meet someone who was so willing to help!!

Graduate academic information session in the morning at UMass, and then took a bus (35 min.) to Smith College in Northampton, where I will TA. Had a meeting and lunch (Smith College cafeteria food was WAY better than UMass cafeteria food, and it's not expensive!), and took a bus back to UMass. The bus fare is free only during the semester, so I had to make sure I have enough $1 bills. A few more orientation sessions at UMass, some question and answer sessions, and a session on employment. Then a dinner reception with live performances - nice food and performances. It seemed to be going on until midnight, but I had to leave so I could take the bus safely home :(

Thursday: Finally some time off from the orientation while the on-campus students move out of a temporary orientation housing... cooked breakfast, wrote emails and talked over skype. The afternoon started with new graduate student employee session for filling out paperwork. The Human Resources person came and we filled out a line by line! I wish I had had this session back in Hawaii!!! I had to leave before it finished because there was a departmental orientation starting at 2pm. So excited to finally get to meet people who'd be classmates! Talked a lot with fellow students and senior students while waiting to meet my adviser who had so so so many advisee - in the end she came out the office and met me and another incoming doctoral student together for a couple of minutes and gave advice on what courses to take... I'll have her class next week, and she'll hopefully have more time later... Took a bus downtown as the department is so far from the center of the campus (bus stop for going home), and grabbed dinner, and then the bus. This week the buses don't come as frequently as in the semester. The bus schedule is my best friend now :) UPS boxes had arrived home, so I did unpacking. So happy to meet again all my belongings I used in Hawaii!

Friday: Bus to school, an immigration information session, followed by Teaching Assistant orientation. After lunch I sneaked out the orientation to finish up payroll paperwork for TA and visit GEO office to ask a question regarding my employment. TA orientation was practical, but not by disciplines, so some info was not very relevant... Anyway, the orientation is finally officially over!!! I went to the computer help with my friend who needed help logging into course registration system, and we went to eat Thai food in downtown Amherst! Good Asian food was what we needed badly. Many students started moving into the dorms, and around the dorm was full of cars. Many families accompany the freshmen to help start up the new life. Saw Moms and Dads walk carrying laundry basket and bedspread with their kids. More are arriving on Saturday and Sunday... The campus will be very busy!

Saturday: My landlord offered me a ride to a grocery store while she ran errands, so I happily went in the morning. I picked Stop & Shop, which had an atmosphere of Safeway, but the price was closer to Foodland. Most things were at a reasonable price, and I bought all I thought I'd need on a shopping list, other than rice (the rice there was long grain only). I did monitor the price of each item, but not the total, so it was a larger amount at the checkout than I expected, but learned that I could get a membership card and get a big discount and I did! Now I have all basic things (soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic, oil, corn starch etc) and at least food for a week. Stop & Shop is also on my way home from school, so I can stop by any time. I stopped by at an international market called World Food Market, where I bought a bag of short grain rice!! Yey! I can eat rice for lunch...

This is about it for now. It's finally a three-day weekend, and I'll relax, organize the room and do some cooking! It's getting cooler, and is just good with a long sleeve shirt. Monday is a holiday and there's no service, so maybe I'll walk around the town of Hadley.