School starts tomorrow!

So, school starts for me tomorrow morning. I am only going to be in classes for about 12 hours a week and only 3-4 days a week. That's not really too bad in terms of sitting in a classroom but I have already seen the reading list and curriculum for just one of my classes and it looks really busy! Lucky for me English is my first language and I read pretty quickly, I can't imagine what it must be like to be one of the foreign students expected to read all of the materials and do all of their papers in English. I am a little nervous about the program considering that from everything I have heard it is very hard work and the word used most often to describe it is intense. I just talked to a girl this morning who is finishing up her thesis in the same degree I will be taking. She did her fieldwork in Uganda and everything seemed to go fairly smoothly for her, or at least it all worked out in the end. When she left for Uganda she did not even have an NGO set up to work with. Apparently most people didn't. They just chose where they were going to do their work, went, and looked for someone that would let them study when they got there. For someone like me that likes to have everything planned and organized that sounds like a nightmare. I am sure if nothing else I am going to learn how to be more flexible throughout this program, even if it is in large part through force! ;)

So for now I am trying to think about where I want to do my fieldwork and what kind of topic I would like to research. For now, all I know is that I want to do something with children, but I really don't care where as long as it's not freezing (which means no Kyrgyzstan I think).

On another note, I am sleeping a little better and getting used to the sounds of the trains going by constantly. My hot water did go out last night but I figured out that all I need to do to fix it is unplug it and plug it in again, simple. At least something is! My room is still pretty empty and in need of a few of the basic necessities but I think I will get them over time. There is so much to get and only so much I can carry on my bike! Definitely not something you think of when you have a car you can throw everything in.

If anyone has any suggestions on where I should go to do my fieldwork I am taking them and would enjoy hearing your thoughts. I will update more later after I have had a few of my classes.