The week that was...

I have the difficult task of putting the happenings of an entire week in a single post. I really want to get even with my schedule and I thought I should set things right immediately.

Monday morning saw me taking the twelve minute walk from Oak Tree to the Daniels Building of the Chemistry department. Neatly laid out pavements, little gardens dotted with flowers, pedestrian signals, overtaking bikers, cool breeze, sunshine kissing your skin... I enjoy my walk and hope to continue with it till the mercury comes calling (or falling, rather!).

I met Stephenie, the graduate program coordinator and Sue, the Analytical Chemistry coordinator. I was received warmly, spoken to patiently and made to feel at home. A single question was answered verbally and supplemented by a two page printout. Information is used and passed around at a fast pace here. Coordinators hold the key to the proper functioning of any program and, more often than not, do a pretty good job of making things easy for the faculty and students. I also registered for a course and got my students' identity card. Some formalities later, I walked back home for lunch.

All grad students were welcomed to a continental breakfast, photo session and introduction in the department on Wednesday. My class seems to have an interesting mix of people that includes the biggest basketball fan in the world, two dads, a guy who counted till 12,000 in ones in class five, a girl who was sure that no one in the class got her name, and others.

What followed on Wednesday and Thursday was a set of advisory exams. These were supposed to point out deficiencies in the learning of an entering grad student and the grades would help in course selection. Now that I have enrolled into the courses of my choice, I don't think my exams were that bad. We followed the exams with a pizza session (I have a feeling I will see many more pizza sessions - after talks, before talks, at picnics, at home and away). I met a few people, said hello, asked about their undergrad school, told them a little bit about India. A common remark was that my English was good. I didn't know what to say, so I must have mumbled a thank you, or something of that sort. But people were very polite and courteous, keeping the door ajar for the person behind them, offering to press the floor button, allowing others to steer their carts past theirs in supermarkets, etc.

Friday began with a meeting of the Analytical Chemistry division, for which I was late by five minutes. I felt horrible about it, even though the meeting had barely started, and have decided never to be late for an appointment ever in life. This was followed by a one-on-one with my advisor regarding course selection. Prof. John Wright has been in Madison for more than forty years and spoke with a mentor's assurance.

I was off pretty early on Friday and spent some time walking around the place. Saturday and Sunday flew away at home, apart from a nice long walk with Sri. The highlight was probably the pulao I cooked on Sunday afternoon. It tastes really well with the Sambhar masala mom made for me.

TA orientation started on Monday morning. I guess I will write about that in a separate post. We went for groceries this evening inaugurating our bus passes. Copps supermarket offers fresh fruits and vegetables, plus the very best of muffins, brownies and cakes. We also met an Indian couple on our way out, had a long chat and ended up with an open invitation to their place. We seem to have bought enough stuff for two weeks and had an awesome dinner of dal, aaloo, rice and buttermilk, topping it up with some chocolate cake. Our friend Raja particularly enjoyed the homemade touch to his food, quite different from the 'cornflakes and milk' dinner that he would make do with otherwise.

Sri is busy taking Vinod's case as Raja and Sankar watch on. I have to crash now, planning to get up early and burn out all that chocolate in the morning. My day starts at ten and I am looking forward.