....and another day goes by

So keeping up is getting tougher by the day. GSE really keeps you busy! Between homework, readings and thinking about my papers, I rarely get time for just sitting back with a good book and relaxing. One thing I've realised the importance of after getting to GSE, is a daily planner. With the number of homework groups, reading groups, discussion groups and social groups one forms over here, keeping track of events can be quite challenging! But its fun on the whole. Can get a little overwhelming at times but as long as you love what you're doing, you should be fine.

Another important thing that you could keep in mind while at GSE, is planning for the future. Most programs here are just a year long and a year at GSE pace will definitely go by quickly. Penn and GSE are great platforms and things like networking and job hunting becomes so much easier with the plethora of options available to you here. The great thing about Penn is the resources at your disposal and the one-campus policy. Its amazing how you get to interact so many people from different schools and different fields without having to go anywhere!

Classes at GSE are a great experience. You learn as much from your professors, as you do with your peers. The IEDP cohort usually takes it discussions out of class too. While walking in and out of class, randomly bumping into each other - wherever we may meet, we share a word (or two) about our class discussions and our takeaways from our different classes. Its amazing to hear different people share their stories. One of our classes required us to share our life stories with the rest of our cohort by way of autobiographies. Reading about each others' experiences was just fascinating. We realised how little we knew and how big the world actually was. For me, personally, it was a rather humbling experience.

Well this is pretty much all I have for now! See you next time the urge to write strikes me! :)

Getting Started!

Hello!

My name is Akashi and I am a first year MSEd International Educational Development student at PennGSE. I am from India and this is my first time studying in the United States. This also happens to be my second Masters degree. I live off-campus (in West Philly to be precise) and am loving being a part of this diverse and dynamic community that we call PennGSE. 

Like I said earlier, this is my second Masters degree. However, that does not, by any measure, mean that I am better prepared for graduate work at Penn than the rest of my peers! GSE is hard work! But I think I'm doing a decent job of keeping up so far. Having had taken a full course load this semester (five courses!), I spend a whole lot of my time reading and working on assignments. To makes matters worse, I'm still sort of on India time and end up staying up most nights! (Actually that's a lie! I stay up to skype with my fiance and my family back home.) Also, since I'm coming back to school after spending three years in the work force, getting used to the school routine will take some time. But I'm not complaining! I love my classes and all my professors are absolutely brilliant! I can already tell its going to be an exciting year and I'm looking forward to it. 

So far, I have had little trouble adjusting to the American classroom. Sure they are different from classrooms back home, but perhaps my previous stint at grad school made this transition easier for me. The primary difference between the American classroom and the standard Indian classroom is that while the former encourages a more participatory learning atmosphere, the later rarely sees students contributing to the lecture. But my previous degree was in Journalism and my cohort was an exceptionally opinionated and bright group of people (quite like my cohort this time round - I guess I'm just lucky!) so we had class discussions galore. So this is just like a continuation of that for me. However, I can understand how most Indian students from more traditional subject backgrounds might have trouble adjusting to this atmosphere. All I can say to them is, the less self-conscious you are, the better. After all, you're here to learn - from your professors and your peers - and what better way to do that than to talk to them - in and out of class. 

Besides this, Penn and Philadelphia are great for international students. Penn has a huge international student community and multiple socializing and academic opportunities for all that I fully intend to take advantage of! And if you follow this blog, you will definitely hear of them too! :)

Till next time.

Akashi :)

P.S. My cohort had a picnic at Rittenhouse Square last Thursday. Fun times! :)
http://iedp-penngse.tumblr.com/post/31743670863/iedp-picnic