New York, New York, It's a Helluva Town

Wow. New York = Crazy.

First off, graduate classes here are very similar to high school. We do a lot of ungraded work, we "work together in groups" and we have projects instead of papers and quizzes. I'm not complaining. If anyone wants to breeze through graduate school, I highly recommend the CUNY system. If you want a legitimately good education, however, perhaps you would be best served by going elsewhere.

I have the same group of about 20 kids in both of my classes, which is fine since I like all of them. There's one other group of Spanish fellows up here, and I really dislike about half of them, so I guess that I got lucky to be in the class that I am. I have one psych class, one spanish ed class, and one Teaching Fellows class (the biggest joke of them all).

Second off, my job rocks. I will be working at a 6-12 building, teaching Spanish to 8/9. THe school is allied with the College Board, which means it's a highly preparatory school, lots of AP, and it gets lots of money funneled in through the College Board. Fantastic. Some of the kids are rough, but a lot of them are dedicated. My eighth grade should be good--the middle schoolers have to interview to be accepted in to the program, show good grades, etc. My 9th graders could be a challenge--they come from anywhere and everywhere. The teacher is pretty cool. I also get to design one class of my own, so I'm going to do a Speech class first semester, and then second semester offer it again along with a competitive Forensics team. I'm pretty pumped about that.

Finally, New York City. Honestly, I've been so exhausted from class that I haven't done much over the week. WE leave for class at 7 am, and don't get home until 7 or 8, and then we have a bit of homework, must search out dinner, etc. Friday I went out with a friend from the program. Originally we planned for an easy night--we'd see a movie, maybe get ice cream or something, go home. But one of her friends from the area called in the middle of the movie (Evan Almighty, which I liked better than Bruce Almighy, but maybe that's just because I adore Steve Carell) and invited us to the Village for drinks. So we went out with him and his gorgeous Brazilian roommate. And we went around. And around. And around. And I came home at 6 am, which I have NEVER done before (in memory). And then, as you know, I cannot sleep in, so I woke up at nine.

Anyway, there are a billion things to do in NY, but nothing is free. Except drinking, because guys here will buy any girl anything she wants. Which is really kind of sad. My goal is to find free things to do, and dorky friends to do them with. Wish me luck. Because neither my wallet nor my not-delicate figure can handle nights upon nights of boozin

Later, gatorz
J