Well, it is the first day of the new semester here at USC, and of the new academic year. Whether I like it or not, everything changes today, in terms of my work patterns. I have to squeeze the sprawl of my research (recent posts about that here, here, here, and here) back into a more confined space to make room for other things. Chief among those is my Physics 151 class, where I teach about 90 freshmen (science and engineering majors) the ins and outs (but mostly the ins) of mechanics and thermodynamics. I’ll also be dealing with a number of service and outreach projects that I’ve had on hold for a few months, and, of course, I’ll be serving on a number of committees doing various things in the department and the university at large.
Am I ready? Not entirely. I’m not fully in the right frame of mind, it has to be said. The various research projects I was working on did not get as far as I would have liked, and I could benefit from more of the full-immersion mode that Summer affords in order to follow up lots of ideas and computations. Also, there are entire projects I did not even get to.
But you do what you can, and that’s all there is. I’ve been dumped into a weird time slot this semester as well, which will take some getting used to. 
On the plus side, the teaching days are all in the first three days of the week, so perhaps one strategy is to “ring fence” the latter two days as research days, as much as I can. This won’t work, of course, since various committees and other things will spill into that time, but I can try. Generally, on that front, I’m going to have to be more hard-nosed about my time, and simply say no to more things. I’ve quite firmly said I’d do that in the recent past, and still found myself taking over as chair of a university committee last week. Obviously I’m not trying hard enough.
I’d better get ready to go into work now, and get back into the routine of doing all those regular things I do every day during the semester. It sounds like I’m being somewhat reluctant to get into it, I imagine, but I’ve only told you some of it. A really enjoyable aspect of the whole thing is that sense of renewal, and beginning afresh. There’s something rather lovely about the whole business of seeing lots of newly arrived students wandering around the campus, the bustle and worry and anticipation of the new semester, the new year, their first time (for many) at such an institution, the first day of a new chapter of their lives, the meeting of many others just like themselves (sometimes for the first time in such quantities), and yes, the curiosity about what those professors and the lectures will be like.
It’s so wonderful to be part of all that.
-cvj
It was quite wonderful to see freshman looking lost and wandering about campus with colored maps in their hands. I will be starting my fourth year as a graduate student, but I can finally see the beginning of the end and it is a great feeling. I am working on two projects and I have an idea for a third one, but I just don’t have the time. It is frustrating, but at the same time wonderful to realize that I am finally at a point where I can do lot of the work on my own. And I am not TAing any course this year. What a welcome break! 🙂
I’m starting my second week back, and so far, although I’ve been exhausted, it’s been fun meeting new faculty, new students, and seeing old friendly faces as well. Yesterday, I was reading an Australia blog where the heading was “Spring”–the start of a new semester feels more like spring in some ways than autumn.
Hey, I’m going to be the tutor for the same class you’re teaching, more or less…
And now off to write my first column of the semester. I think it’s going to be about how being a fifth year student makes you old and curmudgeonly before your time, particularly with respect to freshmen.
I’ve always loved that palpable sense of excitement at the beginning of the term. Even when I was a postdoc and one week was roughly the same as the next in terms of what I was doing, I could feel the difference in the atmosphere on campus. Now that I’m a professor, I’m in the same boat as you: didn’t get enough done over the summer, trying to figure out how to protect some time each week during the term. We don’t start for another couple of weeks yet, but already everyone is in “gear-up” mode. I’m partly excited and partly dreading it. But having been in academia so long, it all feels natural and right to me: the seasons turn, we go back to school. Good luck with your semester!