The First Week of School

Sorry blogging has been a little spotty, folks! We have been busy, busy bees over here. Want to know what we're up to?

Adam

So, Adam spent the summer doing a math bio research program. He loved his research mentor {one of his favorite professors} but isn't really into biology related stuff. That's just where the money is in cities with big medical centers, ya know?

This semester, his first of senior year, he is taking two graduate math classes, a computer science course and intro to piano, for his last "gen ed" requirement. He's taking it easy because he's pretty busy outside the classroom.

He's working as a teaching assistant, leading help sessions for college algebra. He's finally getting to delve into a different field of research, fluid dynamics. And to top it all off, he's got some major church commitments, with teaching Sunday School and leading his bible study. Which is a new thing because their old bible study leader had to go off and graduate and become a FOCUS missionary.

As I mentioned earlier, he took the GRE last week, which is the first major hurdle to grad school admissions. Next on the check list is narrowing down where he'll actually apply, which involves a lot of "can we afford to live there?" research. Then he'll take the math subject test of the GRE in October and get the application process underway.

Caitlin

I spent the summer working in the computer lab, my old campus job. Getting paid to blog, read, and work on the occasional craft project was pretty nice, I must admit. But all good things must come to an end.

I started my new job as a test prep instructor at the beginning of August. I have been pleasantly surprised that a very large majority of my kids actually want to be there and improve. Which is not always the case when you're holding teenagers hostage on the weekend and lecturing them about the SAT.

Starting this week, I am also working as a nanny two days a week for a really nice family. My new charges are a three year old little boy and a one year old little girl. They keep me busy, that's for sure, but they are ridiculously cute.

There's definitely a part of me that wishes I had found a full-time gig in non-profit fundraising, a field in which I had three summer internships in college. But I spent several months searching and came up with one interview. The interview was at an animal shelter that was so over-crowded that the office staff was required to keep animals in their cubicles. If you know me, then you know that I am not so good with strange animals. Plus, the pay was less than working as a part-time nanny, part-time SAT teacher. And someone more experienced ended up getting the job anyway. Basically, things aren't so hot for recently graduated history majors who would love to work in the non-profit sector.

But, I like teaching and I like kids, so I'm pretty happy. And I really like making ends meet by only working thirty hours a week, so I have time to get all the housework done before Adam gets home.

While we are settling into our new routine, things will be a little crazy. But I promise blogging will be back to it's regular schedule again soon!