Penn GSE: Home to the world's future speed readers!

Hello, my friends, and welcome to my first ever blog! I feel like a celebrity! So it's my first full week at PennGSE and I am at a crossroads...do I smile incessantly because I am soooo loving all of my classes and how interesting they are? Or do I cry because I have more work this semester than I've ever had in...well...ever? For the sake of my sanity, I'm choosing the former, but let me just say that the Higher Education Masters program is not for the faint of heart!

Yesterday, I spent much of the morning being waaaay too excited about my evening plans, which were...drumroll please...to create a list of my weekly tasks from now until December! As I reflect on how much I was dying to make this list, I sort of disgust myself, but it just had to happen or I was going to flip! I get too nervous about missing due dates or forgetting readings, so now I have it all in one handy dandy packet that I can look at if I ever fool myself into thinking I have a chance to relax!

But really though, I think all the crazy work is going to be super ridiculously worth it because I already feel like I've learned a TON of stuff about higher education, and I am genuinely shocked to say that even on my Wednesdays, when I have six hours of class in a row, I am rarely bored by the professors here. Being as I'm so interested in pedagogical methods, I'm pretty happy for the chance to witness the successful ones firsthand!

Work is fun, too, and I love meeting all the people who come through the GSE office. Being a happy, customer service type person is incredibly fun. I know a lot of people aren't into such things, but I'm starting to think they must just be crazy because I don't know what could possibly be more enjoyable than to have the chance, many times a day, to brighten someone's day simply by cheerily directing him/her to a bathroom or to someone's cubicle! My coworkers also rock a whole lot, which I think can truly make or break a job!

All in all, life is good. Busy. Crazy. Exhausting. But good! In fact, it's fabulous!