We've begun

Although school doesn't officially start until next Tuesday, I feel like we've both begun. Orientation for both the college of Engineering (me!) and the college of Kinesiology (Katsu!) was yesterday and our graduate school one for all of the University of Michigan is tomorrow. And boy - are we going to have diametrically opposite experiences. My school is HUGE - over 500 new graduate students in engineering with over 50% international (mostly China, Taiwan, Korea, and India, though I met a nice girl from Germany); Katsu's orientation has a whole 10 new graduate students this year. I am on a fellowship at the moment, so all I have to do this year is go to classes (well, and pass quals, get really good grades, and get an advisor). Katsu is a research assistant, has already been working about 50 hours a week at the lab, and feels like a full-fledged graduate student already.

But putting academics aside, we LOVE Ann Arbor. We still have little pangs of homesickness for Boston (what a great city, finances & parking aside), but Ann Arbor is almost like a mini-Boston in terms of culture with the added in nature that Boston was seriously lacking. We still feel like we live in a forest (we've seen deer twice this week!) and there are tons of outdoor activities - there are over 150 parks in Ann Arbor (!!!!) and biking is a huge thing here (and everyone wears helmets too).

We love the bus system here too. It's free for U of M students (YEAH!!!!) so we take it ALL the time - to school, from school, to the stores, to downtown, to the library, even to church (though people are always trying to give us a ride home - "you poor bus riders", but what can we say - we just LOVE the bus). Especially with gas prices .... Mon $2.63 Tues $2.99 Wed $3.19. Can we just way - AHHHHH .... no MORE CAR!!!!!

We love downtown, especially the farmers market - yummy food & we bought ourselves a rosemary plant that is delicious! Hopefully we don't kill it. We love the library (YEAH!) and go all the time! THe DVD selection is fabulous!

Well, enough from me for now.