First real day at the rez

So, technically, yesterday was day 1. But really, it all started today, with the orientation of our 27-strong class. We are the largest group of entering students in the program thus far. Yet, by lunch, I began to feel like I had made some true, lifelong friends, and there wasn't anyone I didn't like and I wanted to know every one of them better.

It was a jam-packed day, touring the campus and facilities and meeting the faculty. But the highlight was the speech by our new Vermont College president, Thomas Christopher Greene. He is both a novelist and the founder of our new, new institution, which just became an independent arts college - with the goal of becoming the premier arts college in the country. His speech was hilarious; I laughed so hard tears were streaming down my cheeks.

And the faculty? There, present, friendly, helpful, supportive - famous names, most of them, and I was trying hard at lunch not to think about the fact that I was sitting across the table from Marion Dane Bauer and Ellen Howard, and about how many books they'd authored between them, and how brilliant they are, and how nice they are, and how I'd like to work with each of them...

So tomorrow begins the real work, the lectures, the workshops, and that's where the learning curve steepens really fast.