My Life as a Graduate Student: Fall time!

I survived my busiest month and have almost survived my first semester! I can't believe how quickly time has passed. This is the hardest semester of the program so once I get through this, I know I can get through the rest of it.
It is also officially fall. The colors here are gorgeous. I will start taking more pictures but here is one I snapped last week:

My classes are going great and starting to wrap up. I don't have many papers due this month which is a welcome break after the chaos of October. My field placement has me incredibly busy. Friday was the math teachers last day; I had a feeling she would leave but I thought she would at least stick out the year. Unfortunately, it was not a good fit for her and the relationship she had (or better yet, did not have) with the students was not strong. She blatantly disrespected, so in turn, they had zero respect for her. The school is in the process of finding a long term sub for the rest of the school year, but as of tomorrow I will be in charge of the class. I plan on having a discussion with the students about how to make the classroom a productive and positive place once the new sub comes in.
I am really becoming attached to these kids. As I learn more about the history of Chester - which I plan to dedicate a post to once I have a complete understanding - I understand how difficult it is for them as students. I really want them to succeed and have begun advocating for them. I am attempting to get them some recess time because I find it ridiculous that they only have PE once a week and only 5 minutes in between each class to collect their things. They have so much energy and I think letting off some steam for at least 15 minutes would be a welcome break and improve their behavior in the classroom.

Socially, I am growing some great friendships. My friend Mary Faith and I went to Philadelphia last weekend to participate in a painting event. Its called Paint Nite and they organize different social events that normally take place at a bar. There you drink and socialize and learn how to paint a certain artwork. Here is our masterpiece:

We were about 30 minutes late due to good old city traffic but were able to catch up in a timely fashion. It was probably one of the funniest things I have participated in. We definitely plan on doing it again and I hope to take my friends to an event in San Francisco when I come home. I have my painting hanging up in my kitchen and it makes me so happy and proud every time I walk in. I actually painted a piece of artwork!

This past week also involved some Halloween parties. I went to one on Halloween night and another over the weekend (its weird figuring out when to celebrate when Halloween falls in the middle of the week).

As a graduate with no extra funds to but a Halloween costume, I took the cheap, creative route. On Wednesday I went as a "Nudist on Strike" which all my human sexuality friends seemed to enjoy. Here we all are on Halloween :)

I went to a party with Mary Faith over the weekend. She was Jenny from Forrest Gump (during the 70s) and I went as a "minion" from Despicable Me. Mary Faith's boyfriend went as Forrest and even made his own leg braces. It was hands down the best costume of the weekend.

I'm happy I have been able to socialize, relax and blog in between school work. I registered for classes today and am looking forward to only taking 5 (technically 4 since my field placement is counted as a class) classes next semester.
Now for a Mushu update! He is getting bigger every day!