Week 2!!

Well, I've done it.

I've made it through my second week of graduate school. Yay!

I suppose it's a good sign if I didn't give up after the first week.

Although, I should note- due to the labor day holiday, I really only had two days of class. Is that cheating?

Maybe I should wait until I get through another FULL week of classes before celebrating my amazing accomplishment. :]

Although I had a short week, I suppose I do have a couple of things to reflect on.

First-- on Tuesday I was able to finally meet with my advisor. Namely, because I actually got my advisor. I guess it's important to actually HAVE one before you can meet with one. My advisor seems to understand my interests and the direction I want to take. I'm pretty excited about that. I think that she will be able to help me immensely. I'm excited to see how this relationship can help me in my development in the field of psychology.

Second, I'm finally getting work done with the other professor I am TAing for. I was only able to get work started with one professor last week, and was stressing out a bit about not hearing anything from the other one. I'm happy to finally get work started with that. Fortunately I am working with another grad student with this professor, so we're on the same page with our worries and whatnot. I'm happy to get crackin' with that. Being busy can kind of help me stay on track.

Third! For my intervention class, I was able to do a little practice therapy session with my partner. We both talked for 20-25 minutes, while the other listened. It was an exercise in non-verbal communication, so while we played the role of therapist, we weren't actually allowed to speak. Just listen and encourage, facilitate the session through nonverbals. Weird...but ultimately enlightening. I had an experience at a women's conference in Chico in which we did a similar activity, but for a shorter period of time. It can be difficult to just listen without interjecting your own thoughts.

So often in conversations we're not really listening, we're just waiting for our turn to speak. Completely eliminating the option of speaking and taking of the conversation is kind of amazing in how it allows the other person to fully realize their thoughts out loud. During those moments of silence especially. It gives the speaker a chance to reflect, and possibly expand further. For the listener, it can bring to light how in other situations you're not really listening. It gives you a chance to focus your attention so much more on the other person.

So, overall that was a very interesting experience. I am excited to further experience these little practice sessions.

Unrelated to the academic stuff- my leg is killing me. I don't know why, but as I was sitting at home working on putting things into blackboard and reading, I felt a really deep strain in my leg. I went upstairs and used my foam roller and that seems to have helped, but ding dang! I can't even find the tylenol. :c

We'll see how I feel in a bit. I'd like to do yoga, but I don't want to further exacerbate this achey leg thang.

Anyways, those are my thoughts concerning this past week.

Gotta get back crack-a-lackin' on this reading and assignment mess!