Yesterday, the incoming graduate students in UCLA’s Department of History were officially welcomed with an orientation and reception. The experience actually made me feel like I’m quite ahead of the game. During the 90 minutes or so of orientation presentations, I actually didn’t learn all that much. I have been eager to learn about the sorts of classes I need to take and have been pushing forward with that. I have a readership lined up with Bartchy. I’m enrolled for classes. I know the basics pretty well.

When they brought in the experienced folks to help get the newbies acquianted and acclimated, I already knew the two guys there from my field. There are only five people in my field, including myself, and I’ve met all of them. It’s an amazing team.

When I went off with Kevin (fourth year, ABD, teaching fellow) and James (second year) to chat it up, we hit the ground running with all the ins and outs: what I have to know about language exams, what’s expected for grading, how to go about juggling classes. I had already discussed some of this stuff with them, but we went even deeper. And we just laughed and had a good time.

Later, when we were partaking of the treats laid out for us and chatting with Bartchy (our faculty advisor), Kevin mentioned how surprised he has been with this program. We all hear PhD horror stories about abusive bipolar advisors, uber-competitive grad students who hide library books, etc. Kevin has been amazed at how gracious and warm the people have been: Bartchy himself, the grad students, even the department staff. Kevin himself, along with the three others in my program, is a model of that graciousness.

I joked that Kevin was getting my hopes up high, but Bartchy told me to let my hopes remain high and soar on them. On that note, I am ready to start soaring this Thursday when class sessions commence!