Now we’re into our first real week of class (with labs and everything!) I can tell you that this is going to be a very challenging semester. We postbacs are finally settling into our schedules, trying to figure out when we can eat lunch and go to the gym, feeling out our easier days and our hell days, and looking ahead to those multiple-test weeks looming over the horizon.

No huge homework assignments are yet due and no tests are coming until the end of next week, but I think we’re all beginning to feel a little bit of the pinch. There’s that sense of, “we’re about to get murdered with work, but we aren’t sure where it’s going to come from yet” hanging over everyone. At least, it’s a nagging thought in the back of my mind – “what should I be working on right now?”

As a group, we’re much more separated across different classes, sections, and labs. During the summer, we spent almost all of our time together, with relatively little interaction with the general undergraduate population. Though there’s a large contingent of us in each lab or recitation, we tend to find ourselves clustering on random corners after class lets out, simply because we’re not used to being split up.

Many of you know that I was a psych major in college, and so I pay annoying amounts of attention to things like group formation. I’ve noticed that as we’ve been thrown into unfamiliar environments, we’ve drawn close to what we know – each other. Thankfully, I think that the strength of those relationships is what will get us through this semester with acceptable results. More so than when I was in college, I’ve quickly figured out with whom I study best, where the best environment for that is, and when it’s time to say goodbye to a study session to go do my own thing.

Anyway, I promised not to complain about classes, so that’s all I’ll say about that. Back to late-night shenanigans and strange occurrences soon…