Moving, TA Training, Orientation.... information overload!

So, I will be starting the MFA in Visual Communication Design at the University of Washington next wednesday. This past weekend, I packed most of my posessions in my Jetta and drove it 17 hours north to start a new life. I went from summer to fall in under a day, from warmth to rain and chill, from architecture to graphic design, from the working world back to school, and from the known into the unknown. More images of my neighborhood, my school, and my studio work, will come in time, but for now I thought I'd post some observations gleaned from the information overload that has been the past four days:

*Never ship anything you really care about, unless it is nigh indestructable.
*"Do not beat up your students"!!! (yes, this is an actual quote from my TA Training conference. I don't know how the seminar took this turn, but once it had it was hard to get back on track)
*Even grad students have a hard time with some very simple things, like course registration.
*The bus system here really IS better.
*A Volkswagen Jetta can fit approximately one room worth of posessions, plus up to three bicycles on the back when outfitted with the appropriate rack.
*I'm not the only one too poor to afford the MacBook Pro they really want...
*I need sweaters. LOTS of sweaters.
*Even when it's cold here, it's really, really beautiful.