Week 1=Complete!

This feels very momentous considering it is not only my first post on here, but my first blog post ever.  Hopefully I don't get too carried away and start focusing more on blogging than school work! ;)

I just finished my first week of classes and my graduate assistantship (GA), followed by a tiring but exciting Labor Day weekend.  I really like my classes and professors, and it's refreshing to do readings on topics that I'm really interested in.  I majored in History for undergrad, so I'm used to tons of reading, but this feels a lot more practical.  Additionally, the professors all have such diverse and interesting backgrounds/research interests/work experiences.  I feel that I will learn a lot from each of them!  The Higher Education program requires 5 classes per semester, which is one more than average for most Master's programs.  This allows us to finish our degrees in one year, but I'm bracing myself for a very busy year!

The graduate assistantship (GA) is an integral part of the Higher Ed Master's program here at Penn GSE.  It's a way for us to gain work experience in higher education by working in various offices around Penn and other colleges in Philly.  Most of us work between 15-20 hours per week.  My GA is in GSE Admissions, which I'm really happy about since I would like to work in admissions after graduating.  The title of my position is Enrollment Management Events, so I help plan different types of interest sessions and events geared towards prospective students.

Week 1 of grad school was also my 3rd week living in Philly.  I grew up and went to college in New Jersey, so I'm familiar with the area, but I've never actually lived in the city.  I love it so far!  Philly is easy to navigate and there are a ton of fun things to do on the weekends, both at Penn and around the city.  This past Saturday I went to the Made in America music festival by the Philadelphia Art Museum.  It was really crowded and involved standing for nine hours, but my friends and I managed to get really close to the stage for Beyonce's performance.  She was amazing!  On Sunday I went kayaking in the Schuylkill river with two friends from the Higher Ed program.  It was quite a workout and we got a little lost (couldn't bring cell phones on the kayak, so we had to use a paper version of Google maps!) but it was so much fun. 

Well, I'll wrap this up for now.  I'll continue to update on classes/work/Philly life.  Thanks for reading!  Feel free to post comments and questions.