Institute Week 2

WOW! So I have not been good about keeping up with this already- I promise, it's just because institute is so so busy. So, this week was definitely difficult. Lesson planning is so time consuming- I have SO MUCH more respect for my teachers (...well, the ones that didn't just run off a million worksheets every day.) But I like my kids a lot, so at least the actual teaching part of my training is great. On Thursday we were learning about how to identify compare and contrast in a text, so as a warm-up activity we compared-and-contrasted Texas and New Jersey in a venn diagram-- they LOVED it. They love hearing about New Jersey, and yes, they are too young to know about Jersey Shore :-)

This week I also started to get a little taste of Houston- last night I went to a Houston Dynamos soccer match with 3 other corps members and it was definitely a blast. (There were also 2 Jersey guys on the opposing team! Whodathunkit?!) Next week (like, one week from Thursday) I'm going to an Astros game- $20 MLB tickets?! MADNESS! I'm super excited.

In other news, I was finally able to pick a car with the help of my dad yesterday (Hyundai Elantra- wooo!) and it looks like I'm buying new- AHH! I'm waiting a little bit to actually make the purchase, but now that I made a choice it seems a lot more "real." Between buying my first car, graduating, moving away from NJ, and the Harry Potter era ending (July 15... omggg,) I think I might actually be an adult now. (Cue crying.)

Anyway, I'll be honest- I'm having a little bit of a rough time. I'm making a lot of "acquaintances" but actual friends are coming a little slower than in college- that being said, I definitely have two "real" friends that I'm so excited to get to know better over the next 2+ years. Also, institute is definitely comparable to the amount of work/sleep deprivation I had while I was freaking out about my course load + thesis this year. However, we only have 1 more week of "real" summer school before the kids take their test to advance to the next grade, and then I can teach whatever I want (HISTORY!!) which will make life a lot more enjoyable. And of course, I cannot WAIT for institute to be completely over so I can get to know my new city-- right now, all I know is that it's really, really hot and humid all day (and most of the night).

PS Sorry Mom and Dad, I reached out to a rugby team yesterday (for practice info and also for recommendations of sports bars that play rugby matches.) I need some type of team to keep me sane, but I'm not 100% committed to playing rugby again- I'm still keeping my eye out for other things to do :-P

Institute- Week One

Greetings from Rice University! I've officially completed my first week at institute, and it was nuts. First of all, this is the earliest I've had to get up regularly since high school- my bus leaves at 6:50. This week was mostly just training- and a LOT of it. We get back from the school between 5 and 5:30-5:40. This week, we had a lot of 8pm sessions, so I only had time to run once this week :-( but it was not entirely pleasant anyway- even around 6 the temperature is around 90 and the humidity is nuts! At night, I spend crazy amounts of time lesson planning, but now that I've had some practice I think it will be a lot easier.

I had my first real teaching experience on Thursday, and I think it went really well. I'm teaching 6th grade English/Language Arts for summer school, which is a HUGE relief because a lot of social studies/english teachers were given summer math assignments. (That would have been the blind leading the blind- oy!) My middle school decided to focus on just English and Math for the summer, so the students have 2 ELA and 2 math periods a day. My "partner" teacher (the guy who teaches my kids' other English period) is really chill- I definitely lucked out! My SMT (summer mentor teacher) also seems really nice and my CMA (corps member advisor) is absolutely awesome and soooo patient while putting up with my type-A/OCD/perfectionist tendencies! (haha)

Yesterday I found out that I have officially been placed at a school- YAY! (The anticipation was killing me.) I'll be teaching social studies at the middle school level, but I don't know what grade yet. I'm really excited- I really wanted to teach social studies, and after this week I know that middle school is definitely the right age group for me. I can't wait to share more details once I get them! Since I have a placement, this means that I can also start apartment hunting and car shopping, which is also a huge relief!

That brings us to this morning- I had to wake early on a Saturday so I could take a practice TExES exam. (It's like the Praxis, but Texas has it's own teacher exam for some reason.) I can't wait until tomorrow morning so I can actually get up AFTER the sun rises. Anyway, I have some lesson plans to write and then I might actually get to the gym today! Happy weekend!

Okay, so QUICK update because I absolutely must get to bed soon:

I got here around 11 a.m. on Thursday, which was a record-breaking day- apparently it's the earliest Houston has reached a 3-digit temperature ever(?)

Anyway, induction has been so crazy- I feel like I'm taking in a ton of information AND taking in Houston (ish.) I'm always FREEZING because the hotel is ridiculously air conditioned and I did NOT bring enough sweaters! Tomorrow I'm interviewing for a high school social studies position (9th grade geography) and I'm SUPER excited- keep your fingers crossed that I get it! The only downside to the switch to high school is that I'm going to have to pay some dollas to switch my certification exam to reflect the specialization change.

Anyway, I definitely want to write more induction (like visiting the East End and my dinner tonight with a 2010 corps member) but that will have to wait until tomorrow or Sunday! Goodnight from the central time zone!

Moving Day!

So I'm (almost) all packed- which is good because my flight takes off in less than 5 hours- AHH! Today was a pretty sweet last day in New Jersey: I had some delicious gelato with the lovely Catie Carr and Jennifer Zimmermann. I also had an AWESOME massage (happy graduation to me!) and a haircut (...ok, trim.) My mom and I enjoyed some awesome Chinese food (from Hungs!) for the last supper (hah!) before I went into packing-denial (watching reruns of Top Model... ew) and then finally going into a packing frenzy.

My official very last person that I will see (other than my mom and dad) will be Karina and I am very excited that I'm seeing my twin for one last time (until Thanksgiving) in a few minutes. Karina and I had dinner and went to the pub in Fanwood yesterday before getting some quality HGTV viewing time in. She was also super sneaky and left me a present which I will hopefully be able to post on here when I have a break in a few days and can upload some pics!

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about tomorrow- the nerves have taken a temporary hiatus. Gahhh!