Stress code: yellow

I guess the first day of school is fast approaching because I’m getting more and more e-mails from school and lists are piling up on my desk.

The other day I received my first message from one of my professors. Yes, it was in English, but I didn’t understand half the things he was talking about. What is “Bb”, what is “e-Reserves”, what book, and my questions continued. I read the message after a crazy day at work, I was hungry, and already anticipating packing, doing some more stats, and reading more pages from the book I was assigned for orientation. I didn’t need more work! Not yet! I’m sure I’ll have enough work once school starts.

I felt so overwhelmed. I stood up, fed my growling stomach, and then went back to my computer. Let there be light! And there was! I realized Bb referred to the Blackboard feature that I never used (until then), and the e-Reserves referred to a link where I could find the readings for the first day of class.

Well, food was not the key to deciphering the message, but taking a break definitely helped. I realized then how easy it is to feel overwhelmed now in the middle of all these changes (new school, new apartment, new neighborhood, new colleagues, new everything). Things should quiet down though for the next couple of weeks. It’s my last week at work, then I have a week off, and then it’s orientation week. I’m really excited to meet everybody, so I’m counting down the days!