monoceros blogsYesterday, I attended the orientation session for new English graduate students. 8.30 in the morning is a little early for my good mood to emerge so I kept very still and quiet and drank orange juice as I waited for the presentations to begin. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to look at a Japanese girl who introduced herself as Kumiko, an English and Women's Studies student. I was pleased to meet another international student in the department, someone else crazy enough to travel half way round the world to get some learning and writing done.
There are 9 of us in the MFA prose program this fall (9 in poetry), a 25% drop from previous years due to cuts in funding. The director, Peter Ho Davies, was spot-on when he brought up two questions that new students always ask themselves: "Am I good enough to be here?" and "Am I the best one here?". (The first question is more of my thing, certainly not the second. I've never been the best at anything really.) He then provided some much-needed encouragement when he said that being here was proof that we have talent or latent talent, we are 18 out of some 500 applicants. We are here to learn and our learning doesn't stop at the end of two years. The two years give us time to read, write and get better at what we do. We're surrounded by others just as eager to learn and they will be a wealth of support, a mini writing community, if you will.
Ann Arbor itself has a rich intellectual community (the town has the second-highest concentration of folks with doctorates in the US, the highest being Cambridge, Massachusetts), and we've been encouraged to get involved or take advantage of the arts scene, the lectures and forums, talks and readings, music performances and vibrant plays.
By the end of the three hours, I was a little more inspired and keen to get caught up in the rush of living, learning and writing. And for a native of a tropical country, the four seasons will be nothing short of everyday wonders as the skies, light, leaves and air change. There will be bleak days, certainly, but they will give meaning to the good days when they roll by.
Posted by Monoceros at August 29, 2003 5:38 PMI'm sure it's going to be a wonderful semester for you Vanny! You're good at what you do, and I have absolute faith in your writing abilities! It's great that Ann Arbor is filled with so many intellectuals, the arts scenes etc....you definitely have to take advantage of it!
And yes, the changing of the seasons is something fills me with wonder everyday when i'm in Sydney!
Posted by: joan at August 30, 2003 5:43 PMhey Vanny...i am so happy that you can live your old dream! wish i had just as much talent as you ....can't wait to read some of your works!!!