Life Change #2

Not sure how to set this one up exactly, so I'll just get on with it. I had my first master's class today. This might come as a surprise to many of you. Why haven't I mentioned it before? Well, that would be because it's pretty much news to me. I managed to inquire about a Master's program, apply, get accepted, and go to my first class all in less than a week. Let's see if I can explain...

I assumed I could fall back on school only after I had gotten settled and confirmed whether or not I could work. There's only one master's program taught in English here in Lugano, so I planned to apply in November for the January session. WRONG. Apparently the program starts in September, period. If you miss the start, you have to catch it the following September. That wouldn't work for me because we're only here for two years. So it's basically now or never. I chose now, mostly because if work came through I could always try doing both and also because the "getting settled" period meant too much alone time, and was driving me a little crazy. My only option was to contact the dean in charge of my master's program and beg (which at this particular juncture, i.e. desperateville, I am not above doing). It worked and he granted me late entry! I had a couple of days to get the paperwork together and to meet with the professors whose classes I was jumping in on.

I'm really happy about the program... it's supposed to be one of the best here in Switzerland, the campus is beautiful, and it's all taught in English (pretty convenient). At the same time, I'm wondering what in the world I've managed to get myself into. Why I think I can plop myself into these situations is beyond me. Did I think this particular graduate program would be easy? I did actually... business school at CBU was a little math (stats, accounting) mixed with some common sense (ethics, marketing). So, while I didn't breeze through every class, I wouldn't say it was difficult and the schedule left me with lots of free time. Here, not so much. Mind you, I'm coming in about 5 weeks late, so I'm sure that has something to do with it, but about 80% of this class went right over my head. It was mid level economics... there were lots of equations, models, graphs and theories, all of which was new to me. So, I came back to the apartment feeling like I had bitten off more than I could chew. Thankfully, this didn't last long. It's going to be hard. So what. Thanks to Stuart Smalley, apparently I'm good enough, smart enough, and doggonit, people like me.

On to the "people like me" subject... I managed to make friends in the first 10 minutes! There were four girls meeting about a project when I walked into class. I asked if I was in the right room (actually, I knew it was the right room because I scoped it out on Friday and then again on Monday - life may be upside down at the moment but my neuroses is constant). They of course said yes and started asking questions. Aside from having an actual master's degree in two years, my main goal was to meet people my age and make friends. So, as far as that's concerned, it looks like I'm right on track!

Wish me luck. I think I'm going to need it. In the meantime, if anyone needs to know more about price discrimination, elasticity of demand, and monopolists, I've got about 5 pages of notes you can borrow.