Orientation

Today began the graduate school experience, orientation. If you've ever been to an orientation, whether for school or a job, then you know what it was like, mostly boring. There were some amusing highlights, like the president of the graduate college using the politically correct non-word "personkind" instead of the oh so awful "mankind." But mostly it was just boring.

The great exception was the meeting with the US history portion of the history department, which was enjoyable and greatly alleviating as those I will be working with are not obnoxious or maddening. I was able to pick two good classes, one on the early republic and the other on the atlantic revolutions from ours to those in latin america spurred by the Napoleonic Wars. The other class is an annoying one that was impossible to get out of, on interpretation and the social history of the United States. I anticipate much confrontation, but so be it.

So anyway, school starts on Thursday for some reason, and I will be able to report on the early republic class then. Starting next week I will only be attending classes Monday through Wednesday and should start getting some classic anecdotes from the social history class.