Post-Orientation Update!

WOW! So much has been going on since our last post, so this going to be a bit of a summary of the past week, including the orientation events and other things we've been up to!

First off, we survived Hurricane Earl last Saturday-we lost our power from 10am on Saturday, until 2pm on Sunday, and then we were still without hot water until Monday afternoon, but we survived, and only lost a block of cheese in the process! On Monday we relaxed in preparation for the upcoming week, and then on Tuesday things kicked off! Evan's Tuesday consisted mostly of meet and greet type activities, where he discovered that in the first year of his program, there are 3 males (himself included), and about 40 females! It's kind of a running joke now. Jackie's Tuesday consisted of a meet and greet, and a few other activities, plus free lunch. Wednesday, Evan was introduced to his professors, while Jackie attended a panel on leadership, which was followed by a networking mixer with the other grad school faculties within the School of Information Management, or the SIM. The cheese was great, and the wine was even better! Jackie got to network with lots of people from different faculties, and ended up meeting a lot of fellow Mounties, which was so neat!

On Thursday, classes began! Evan had a good day of review in his classes, and Jackie had class and attended another wine and cheese event, this time hosted by the Killam Library (librarians love to drink!). Our classes are 3 hours each, once a week, which is going to be an adjustment! On Friday, we both had class (where Jackie almost hyperventilated in "Management Without Borders", because it is going to be INSANE), and Jackie signed up to be a member of the Association of Canadian Archivists, and the Canadian Library Association, and to play on the intramural soccer team (should be interesting...). Friday night was a lot of fun, because we went on a late night cruise on the tall ship Silva. Here are some photos from the night (it was FREEZING!)

Bridge at night!

Jackie wasn't looking...

Fun had by all! There was also a bar on board, which was very expensive, and a live band who played some hits. Definitely recommend doing it if you're in the area, but bring many sweaters, and lots of cash for the bar! Saturday night we each had separate events, but then joined up after. Evan went to the HUCD pub crawl, where he was the only male representing...in his bright pink shirt... Here is a picture of the crowd at one of the pubs, so you can get a feel for the pinkness and femininity surrounding Evan:

Yep...totally out-numbered!

Evan left halfway through, and came to join Jackie at the MLIS house party at the second year "Library House", as it is lovingly called. We stayed and had a great time, and were entertained by many great, (but way too inappropriate to post) stories by some of Jackie's classmates. It doesn't matter what people say, librarians can PAR-TAY!

Today wrapped up Jackie's orientation, with a picnic in Point Pleasant Park. There are about 50 first years in the MLIS program, and today there were 7 at the picnic, plus Evan. It was still a lot of fun though! Here is a photo of Jackie with Amy, a second year student:

Mmm...maple sparkling wine

We wrapped up the day with a nice walk through the swanky part of the South End, and imagined our dream home, once all this school business is finished with. Groceries, dinner and Law & Order UK followed, and it was a lovely way to wrap up a spectacular weekend.

Overall, we think we will like this grad school thing. Although it is going to be a bit of work, we both have tight-knit faculties, and Jackie especially loves that the job rate for Dalhousie MLISers is pretty spectacular.We are also making friends, hoorah!

Until next time, cheers from Halifax! (We say cheers because, odds are, Jackie is having wine and cheese somewhere...)