Day Nine

Today is another case of there not being anything worthwhile to report. 

My two week long class hit its midpoint today. Which means that this weekend we have a midterm-level project to do. After spending all afternoon and evening on it, I can report that I'm halfway done with it. Technically I'm two thirds done, but the program has errors and won't run, so I had to dock myself a little. Hopefully my classmates are having the same issues as I am, and Dr. Bauer will post some tips on the class website. He's done it with all the assignments so far, so I can't see why he wouldn't for this one. Unfortunately the school's class website system is down for maintenance tonight, so I won't be able to get any help until it comes back up. 

And that's it. That's all I did today. Dinner was leftovers. Lunch was drive thru McDonald's on the way home from class: I wanted fries and pop, and McDonald's has Diet Dr Pepper, only the one between here and school DOESN'T!!! Guess I won't be going there again. >.<

Day Eight

Stupid blog editor just crashed and erased my almost finished post. @_@

Today's homework only took three hours. I wasn't as perfectionist about it as I have been though, so hopefully my grade will still be ok. 

I spent the rest of the evening watching Netflix and enjoying having some free time. 

But that's the end of the day, let's go back to the beginning:

Class today was easier and therefore more boring. But I did meet Alex and Ben (the guys I sit next to) during the break. They're in my cohort so I'll be seeing a lot more of them. [For those who don't know: the college of business at GSU is really into the cohort experience. Basically what it means is that everyone in the same program takes all the same classes together. So I'll be classmates with the same 24ish people for all my classes for the next year and a half.]

Dr. Bauer ended class early today. And by "early" I of course mean "on time" as he has a tendency to run half an hour long. They took the baby off the breathing tube during class, so he rushed right over to the hospital when we were done. 

Because we got out early, I wandered around Buckhead a little. Here are some pics of the building I'm in and the park across from it:

There's a shopping center just two blocks away from the building. What I should have done is go shopping for another sweatshirt. The A/C is cranked up so high indoors that I've been wearing jeans and haven't taken off the lone sweatshirt I brought.

Uncle Nick took me to Captain D's Seafood Kitchen for lunch (yet another chain we don't have in Spokane). The food was good. I had my first hush puppies (they literally came with every item on the menu). It was weird though: my dad's brother reminds me a lot of my dad, except that he likes all those foods my dad can't stand: of which seafood is a major one. 

It had been grey and cloudy (and very humid) all morning, and while we were eating the thunderstorm hit. It POURED for almost half an hour and then abruptly stopped. It was the kind of pouring where I got soaked walking the five feet to the car. (I have video, but I haven't watched it yet. Maybe I'll post it once I do.) << The lightning started again about fifteen minutes ago, and as of five minutes ago I can hear the rain just pounding on the roof. 

Which leads back to homework and the evening. I'm headed to bed half an hour early tonight, ah the simple pleasures. 

Day Seven

My fifteen hour day in a nutshell:

Three and a half hours of class followed by nine hours of homework. Plus three hours for eating, showering, commuting, etc. 

Thus I'm posting solely for keeping up the habit of posting everyday. 

This qualifies as news, even though it's technically not mine:

Dr. Bauer, my professor, has a five week old baby. That baby has been in the hospital with a viral infection for the past two weeks, and has been intubated for something like ten days because he can't breathe on his own. They hope to take the baby off the respirator tomorrow. So hopefully/prayerfully everything goes well and the baby will recover and they'll get to take him home soon. 

Day Six

Well today is over and done with. Just about, anyway. 

It's 11:30 and I literally just finished my homework assignment that I've been working on since 2. That's 9 and a half hours for those who don't want to do the math. Graduate level Intro to Programming is really starting to suck. 

The only "adventure" I had today was lunch at Chick-Fil-A, another chain we don't have back in Spokane. The food was good and they have Diet Dr Pepper. Yay! 

Grocery shopping with my uncle was sort of an adventure, but it's nothing worth sharing. 

Other than that I went to class and did homework. Ah the thrilling life of a grad student. @_@

As promised, here are some pictures:

The view from the classroom window. 

The classroom. My home for the next semester (all of my classes are going to be in that same room). 

And that's all she wrote. Maybe something more exciting will happen tomorrow. 

Day Five!

Well the first day of classes is over and done with.

But not really. Technically the first day of classes is the 24th. Today marked the first day of my program's two week intensive programming "boot camp". There were about 60 students in the class: half from my Anaytics program and half from the Risk Management program (with a few students from other misc. programs). From where I was sitting, and therefore as far as I could see, I was the only white girl in the class. Having come from the very white Ellensburg, where I did my undergrad, that was definitely weird.  Not a bad weird, just different.

Dr. Bauer, the professor, is German; he doesn't have much of an accent, but you could definitely hear it in certain words: he often pronounced "java" as "yava".  He was fun to listen to and reminded me a lot of Brian back home. The three hours of class went really slow. And no one said much of anything, we all just sat there and listened to the professor talk.

After class it took me FIVE hours to get the homework done. We had to write the same program in five different programming languages: C, C++, Java, Python, and Visual Basic. That was a pain in the @ss. Fortunately the assignment will be graded on completeness and not on elegance.

The other adventure of the day:
My uncle took me to Bojangles for lunch. (For those who don't know, it's a fast food chain similar to KFC; we don't have any up in the Pacific Northwest.) I was the only white girl in that room too. The food was good: best coleslaw I've ever had, and their seasoned fries were really good.

I'm off to bed now. Maybe tomorrow I'll remember to take pictures.

Day Four

Short and sweet:

Today Aunt Sarah took me shopping for some of the necessities I wasn't able to bring with me (laundry basket, shampoo, that sort of thing). The Walmart here in Roswell wasn't any different from the Walmart I shopped at back in Spokane. Which leads me to a couple other comparisons: gas is 60 cents a gallon cheaper here, and a two liter of Diet Dr Pepper is 15 cents more expensive.

I spent the afternoon reorganizing my jewelry supplies. Uncle Nick grilled hot dogs for dinner. And we spent the evening watching Big Bang Theory.

I'm off to bed early tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep. Tomorrow is my first class as a graduate student!

Day Three!

Not much happened today. We took the train down to the Buckhead area and located the building where my classes will be. It's a gorgeous area. I didn't get any pictures, but seeing as I'll be there basically everyday it's not like I won't get another chance. ;)

(The specific area I'm referring to is hiding behind the trees, so you can't actually see it.)

Also the train system: MARTA (the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority). It reminded me a lot of Japan's train system, with how clean it was, and all the rules, and how it runs on time. At least on a Saturday (it runs on a reduced schedule on weekends), so I guess I'll find out soon if it's the same on weekdays...

After that we walked down the street a few blocks to the Lennox Square Mall. OMG that place is HUGE!!! I don't know if I can properly describe it, but for anyone familiar with Spokane: if you took all three malls (Valley, Northtown, Riverpark Square) and combined them into one big mall, it would still be smaller than this one. And they were all really expensive stores, places I've seen before but never gone in because I could never afford to buy anything there. To illustrate my point: I saw a cute skirt in the window of one of the stores (Neiman Marcus to be specific) so I went in to look at it closer and it was 300 dollars! Who in their right mind would actually pay that much for a skirt?!? Anyway... there were only two stores in the mall that I would actually shop at: Gamestop and Wet Seal. Three if you count Auntie Anne's Pretzels. (I'm kind of a poor excuse for a girl, huh?)

This evening Aunt Sarah (yes I know she's not really my aunt, it's just easier to say that way) and I watched Gone Girl and Charlie St. Cloud. They were very different movies (kind of an understatement, I know).
Gone Girl was ... weird. And that's coming from someone who likes to binge watch Criminal Minds, so you can make of that what you will. I think the scene that will stick with me longest is *Spoiler alert* the scene where Neil Patrick Harris' character dies.
Charlie St. Cloud was a really cute movie (and in a redeeming "girl moment": Zac Efron is hot). I have rules about movies made out of books: if I liked the book I won't watch the movie, and if I liked the movie I won't read the book. Otherwise I just end up disappointed and feeling like I wasted my time. However, watching that movie makes me want to read the book it's based off of.

And a couple random little notes to finish off this post:
I'm still getting used to the time change. It's after eleven right now, but it only feels like nine.
And I am loving the weather: especially the humidity.