The semester hasn't started yet and already I'm getting the jitters! My head has been swirling, my stomach churning, and face twitching for some time now.... Actually, school has been the last thing on my mind the past couple weeks. Firstly, I am starting two small jobs. One is at Newton Wellesley Hospital, where I volunteered the past few months. I begin working (for actual money!) in their nutrition department in a couple weeks. The second is at the Yoga Power studio a few blocks away. This is a pretty cool gig because all I have to do is sign people in before class twice a week, and my form of payment is unlimited yoga classes! The best part is that this is a really great studio with particularly challenging teachers, but the worst part is that I will probably have to cut down my time with
Pop Pilates. I suppose change is good every now and then...
My second source of anxiety is the big trip I have been planning with Seth. We will be heading to SE Asia over Christmas and into January! The itinerary isn't set in stone just yet, but the first stop will be Penang, Malyasia, for my cousin, Christina's, *second* wedding, then perhaps Bali, and finally Hong Kong to visit our awesome friend, Synni. Synni is also getting married soon but unfortunately we will have to miss it :o( Organizing this trip has been particularly challenging because the best flights have been disappearing very quickly, leading to the alternative costlier, and longer, flights. These crappy flights are something you want to avoid when dealing with travelling half-way around the world, but the planning haste increases the frequency of mistake making (also a very terrible thing, which should also be avoided).
Third, I have been giving the apartment a big, thorough, much overdue cleaning. Yes, one room a day... dust everywhere... papers and boxes to be sorted... blah. But, at least it will look very nice when our friends from Florence, Claudia and Stefano, visit on Sunday! How exciting! However, even the peak of my Italian speaking skills was never very good, and after a year of not using it it certainly hasn't gotten any better. This is a cause of some additional stress, but I think Claudia will take pity on me and practice her English when she sees me fumbling around and butchering her mother language.
So yes, tomorrow is my first day back at Framingham State Uni. Now, however, I am no longer some masters student--I am a student enrolled in the Coordinated Program in Dietetics! Yesterday, the first official day of school, I was notified of my acceptance. I don't know why they wait until classes begin before informing us of the results, because I think that those who do not get accepted (about 60%) have to make alternative plans pretty darn quickly. I really don't understand why that school does the things it does, but for two more years it will continue to be my problem :o)
One nice relief from stress is the raspberry bush near our apartment, which shall remain undisclosed. Here is our haul from the past couple nights (maybe I should set my productivity goal to Raspberry Bush):
