Day 1

Greetings!

I arrived yesterday in New Rochelle, and got situated pretty quickly. Instead of just assigning us a room, the coordinator brought us around to a few rooms and let us choose one ourselves. I was able to get one of the last rooms on the air-conditioned hall (the rooms are still sans AC, but they're a little cooler because of the AC in the hallway). I still don't have a roommate; maybe I just lucked out, but it seems there are fewer people than they expected, and we are all just spread throughout the dorm. Anyway, it's a little quiet, but I'm hoping to get a lot of productive studying done, distraction-free.

The campus is quite cozy... especially in comparison to what I was used to at UNC Chapel Hill. It's nice to be able to walk just two buildings down to the Student Center for breakfast, then just walk up the stairs to class. And if I need to use the library, it's just the building in between our dorm and the Student Center (which also houses the College's bookstore). Convenient, eh? It is also a beautiful campus. The buildings look like small castles, and, don't quote me on this, but I heard our dorm used to actually be a convent (the College of New Rochelle began as a small Catholic women's school). The chapel is right across from our dorm.

This week, I am taking classes giving an introduction to Montessori philosophy. We have class all day, 9-4:30, with a break for lunch. I must admit, it's a LOT of information. This evening I've been typing up my notes from class, and it ended up being about 6 pages of single-spaced bullets. And that was just the first day! And it isn't even focusing on my particular age group yet (Infant-Toddler classes start next week). I am slightly concerned I'll get carpal tunnel by the end of the summer.

Apparently, I am going to have to change my eating habits a bit; the dining hall actually closes at 6pm every day (Monday through Friday). I feel like I'm back in high school, having to eat dinner early before rushing off to band practice! But there's pretty good variety, the salad bar is reeeally good, and there's coffee. We all know that last one is the most important component, anyway... And it was definitely a sudden (college) flashback, putting my lunch tray down on that conveyor belt.

After classes, I checked out the student bookstore and purchased an ethernet cord I ended up not needing and a sweatshirt to wear in the classroom (freezing AC...), then headed back to the dorm to do some laundry! Definitely starting to settle in.

It has been fun meeting all these Montessorians, especially the teachers and coordinators. I can already tell I have so much to learn from them, and can't wait for them to start talking and demonstrating and sharing their ideas.

The one downside is that I'm really missing Toby, my family, my friends, my school, my coworkers, my students, my home. But I know that this is where I need to be right now, and that this is really changing my whole outlook on life and the way I interact with people... child and adult alike.

And this was just the first day.