Saturday! Sleeping in, nothing to hurry off to, some time to play the guitar on the porch and a potluck to look forward to :). Cambridge has been really beautiful these past few days. There's been sun and a feeling of the beginnings of fall crispness; the leaves are just barely starting to turn.

Can't believe I've been here over a week! Has been a big transition, for sure, and with the whole process of Orientation, meeting people, figuring out my living situation and choosing classes, it's been quite a doozy! It didn't help when my box from KY arrived only a third full (missing all but 2 of the books previously posted, including my song-writing journal and some other really precious journals!). That finally was a great excuse to cry, call Jamie, and get some sound advice: "Just give yourself a little grace." Shew! Might be my mantra for a little while. I'll try to be passing on that grace to other people, too. (The box also contained my office supplies, including the cord that connects my camera to the computer. No new blog pictures til I get that all sorted...)

My classes, which I'm pretty pumped about, are: Teaching and Learning: The Having of Wonderful Ideas, taught by Eleanor Duckworth, who was a student and translator of Piaget (the most famous child development specialist ever, I think) and who was boogying down with the rest of us at our barbecue yesterday night; Growing Up in a Media World, taught by a guy who's produced TV and documentaries (Sesame Street, NOVA, etc.) and who I've never seen not smiling; Research on Learning in Museums, which will be incredibly useful for future work in museums, has a great teacher and also focuses on learning styles in general and learning from art in general!; and my required class, The Arts in Education: Learning In and Through the Arts. I'm also auditing an amazing-looking course through the Law School, that's called The Art of Social Change: Child Welfare, Education and Juvenile Justice. There are tons of guest speakers on that one, as well as a top-notch professor. I think the whole line-up is a good balance of useful and inspiring. Whoo-hoo!

(Sometime, remind me to blog a description of my walk to Harvard Square. It's one of my favorite parts of each day. There are such interesting people! And the scenery-- heck, even the stinkin sidewalks, which are just huge chunks of slate or something that I think Ben Franklin must've walked on- is really really lovely!)

P.S. Here's a picture that I love from my week in KY. Mom and I are attempting a duet- maybe Summertime?