And so it begins

After having a weeklong orientation, classes have finally started. My first class of the semester? Econ on Thursday nights from 6-9. So unlucky, but I guess it's good that it's only for half a semester. My program has module classes that meet for half semesters (module I at the beginning, module II at the middle of the semester) alongside a few full semester classes. So what am I taking?

Monday
Rights-based Development (mod I)
Monitoring and Evaluation (mod II)

Tuesday
Sustainable Energy (mod II)
Ecology (mod I)
Gender & Development (mod II)

Wednesday
Framework for Development (full)
Planning & Implementation (full)

Thursday
Masculinity & Gender (mod II)
Economics (mod I)

Written out like that... it doesn't seem like this semester is going to be too bad. I'm trying to get most of my required courses out of the way so I can take fun classes next semester. It's hard to pack it all in to one year because there are SO many interesting classes. I'd like to take as many gender and ecology classes as I can because those are the most interesting to me.

Orientation was a little frustrating... but just because it was so long. I thought it would be a week of name games, but it wasn't too bad on the forced togetherness. I'm a little tired of the "what is your name? where are you from?" conversation, but I'm sure I'll get to know more people in my classes. I've met some really cool people so far and it's great to know that there are people out there that are somewhat similar to me. Working at the PR firm before was like hitting a wall - wanting to do good, but not being able to because it's not the bottom line.

In the middle of orientation, I celebrated my 26th birthday. I went out with some new friends and caught up with an old friend. :) I don't really do birthdays, so it was nice to keep it low key. Looking back, 25 was a pretty good year. Different, but good. I don't like to stay around too long in one place, so it's nice to have my 26th year in a brand new place with all new people.