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June 27, 2009
Sense of Community
With all the people who have recently graduated and/or moved on (or who plan to be gone by the end of summer), there definitely isn't as strong a sense of community in the meteorology department as there once was. Or, rather, I should say that I don't feel as a part of that community anymore, because so many of my friends have moved on, and for the most part I don't know the younger grad students. I have a great community with PSCG and E-Free, but it'd still be nice to feel more a part of my department again, since I spend so much of my time in the department. Last Friday night to celebrate Mario passing his PhD defense (so now he's Dr Mario!), Walter hosted a game night at his place. The only people to show up were me, Petters and Mario. We had a lot of fun playing a game of Power Grid, but nobody from classes behind us came, though. That's been a common theme for the last several months whenever we've tried to do stuff and invite people (except for Kent, he was in the class behind us and would come to stuff, but he just moved to Oklahoma earlier this month). It's been a puzzle for us to try to figure out how to get the other grad students to come hang out and do things (or at least to make sure they know they're welcome).
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Perhaps that's started to turn though. This week on Tuesday night a bunch of us went to Jerry's house for a going-away party for Nat, who recently passed his PhD defense and landed a postdoc at the University of Hawai'i (not a bad place to spend a few years after your degree!). That was a lot of fun, and we haven't had a big hang-out party in a long, long time. A few of us even stayed until after midnight talking to Jerry and his wife Debra. I think that's probably the first time I've ever been at a party at a professor's house past midnight. :-) But hopefully that party will lead to others happening down the road.
Or maybe 25¢ wings can foster community. I found out that 797 Lounge (formerly the incompetent Sports Cafe) has a new special every weekday for lunch - 25¢ wings and 99¢ sliders. So on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning I made the rounds on 4th floor, and got a few people to come out for lunch there (me, Walter, Mario, Brett, David D, Raphael), and a few others who said they'd couldn't make it this time, but definitely wanted to in the future. When I said that I hoped this would become a pretty regular thing, a group of us going out for 25¢ wings for lunch, Ethan said he also liked the idea and that "it'd be fun to have something to look forward to every week." It's especially appealing when the weather's nice and we can sit outside for a bit. Back in my first couple years here, Daniel & I (and often Frame, Walter, Mario, Jacob or others as well) would come down to Sports Cafe every Tuesday for lunch to get 25¢ wings. It'd be nice if the tradition could be revived, and through the process get to know some of the other grad students in my department a bit better. It all takes time and effort, but you at least can't accuse me of not trying. :-)
Now it's time to go clean up the apartment a bit, in preparation for Anders to move in on Tuesday afternoon. And, you know, tidy up Tim's old bedroom and bathroom, since I've had friends stay there. Maybe I'll also go into campus and do some work this afternoon. I wouldn't normally do work on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, but when a conference and comprehensive exams are coming up, some extra time is required, at least if I want to minimize last-minute stress. But hey, at least things seem to be coming along fairly nicely so far!
Posted by Jared at June 27, 2009 12:13 PM