First day of class eve

Well today is the day before classes begin. It was a very eventful day. I met with my advisory committee, my committee which advises me on which classes to take, how long I'll be here, etc. I'm taking 2 undergrad classes and 1 grad core class, and I'm happy about that. I will be doing Analysis, Computational Algebra, and Intro to Topology. I think it will be a good semester to begin at Cornell, to get used to core courses, to fill in the blanks of my undergrad education, and take a class that's really interesting to me. I'm also going to try sitting in on a graduate Algebraic Number Theory class, but I might wait to take it later.
Afterwards, I ran into a few of the other grad students and met a new one from Illinois. Spent the rest of the afternoon with them wandering around campus, turning in forms, lunching in the Ivy Room (I felt very officially at an Ivy League school, except that it was terrible food, but a beautiful room with the seals of all the Ivy League schools around the room), looking in the bookstore, and getting coffee/ice cream/smoothies. Then, the fabulous desk festival. This is a time when all (well most) of the grad students get together to volunteer for various tasks through the year and excitingly choose our desk. As a first year, I got to wait while all the others (year 6 through 2) picked their desk. When my moment came, I put a lot of thought into it, and choose desk 9 in room 120B. I am in a quad of cubicles with 3 of the 2nd year girls and just over a cubicle wall from 2 of my fellow 1st year girls. I am close to The Table, blackboards, and doors. I feel it was a good choice :). It was silly, yes.
I'm very happy that I got all the TA craziness settled by the end of the afternoon, and I feel much better. Scheduling classes to TA around classes to take is rather complicated.
I also got to go to dinner with several of the new and current math grad students which was delicious and fun. Later, I got to have my first Purity excursion. Purity Ice Cream is Ithaca's finest ice cream, I'm told. I got cinnamon, I was delighted. It was pretty good, a bit grainy, but the right sweetness, plus half the price of Marble Slab and only a 7 minute drive from my apartment. Very nice workers too. Friendly and efficient.
I have officially planned my first recitation section, which is good since I will be giving 3 of them tomorrow. It'll be a biggie. I definitely need to learn LaTeX, a math document editor, so that typing up worksheets is easier. Yeah, Cornell math department is a big fan of worksheets. It reminds me of elementary and middle school (the last time I remember doing worksheets). Basically it just comes down to practice problems on a page. I'm a little nervous, but after TAing I only have one of my undergrad classes, then one more on Friday and it's the weekend, one to relax and rejuvenate before next week.