school...

So it's the end of the semester.  Technically, I believe classes end December 11, but one of the classes I'm taking is already done with lectures and the take-home final exam is already out for us to work on.  The exam is loooong, with lots of math and equations and thinking required.  I'm operating on the idea that I'll go through every question once (they build on each other), do what I can on each, and keep working iteratively until it's done and I magically understand it all.  This exam is definitely a 'learning exam', the kind where you do the problems and have a *so that's what I was supposed to learn in that lecture/lab/homework!* moment...well, at least I hope I have that moment of brilliant understanding!

My other class ends next week, and yesterday in class the professor mentioned he'd try to get the final exam (also a take-home) to us 'Saturday or Sunday'.  Mostly, I wanted to say 'Yeah, don't worry about getting it out this weekend, Monday is fine', because really, who wants to get an exam over the weekend??   And I'll still be working on my first exam over the weekend so it's not like I will be chomping at the bit to start another one!

I have my first committee meeting December 12.  All grad students need to form an advisory committee before the end of their first year. I have 4 members on my committee and I think they'll be excellent mentors.  At this meeting we all decide on which classes I'll take in the spring.  I have already picked what I *want* to take, but will need their approval and guidance.  I don't anticipate any objections to my selections.  If things stand, I'll have two tough classes and a moderately easy seminar (for reference, this semester I would say I have one tough class, one 'medium' class, and a super easy seminar).  However, I'm still really excited about the classes for next semester - even more excited than I was for this semester. 

One of the classes I'm hoping to take next semester is taught by my primary adviser - a population dynamics class.  It's the class I'm the most excited about because it's basically what I've come back to school to learn and do.  My adviser co-wrote a fish population dynamics book about 12 years ago...in many ways it's THE book on fish population dynamics, and he uses excerpts from it to teach his class.  (As a side note, he doesn't require students to buy the book since it's really expensive these days).  I do have a copy and I've made it a personal goal to read the book cover to cover before the class starts.  I don't think I'll actually meet this goal since it's 400+ pages long and equations start, quite literally, on page 1.  But, it's a goal.  I'm on page 14.