This week was my first week teaching at the new university. Surprisingly I slept incredibly well the nights before. I guess when you've been teaching the subject for so long you get over your nerves. Still, the first days of school are always an anxious time for teachers. We create our syllabus, build or update our curriculum, etc. With being a new teacher, you must also figure out departmental politics and bureaucracy. Nevertheless, my first week as a prof at the university was successful. I have a good group of students and it should make for a great contrasting experience with my time at ASU.
The best part about being on the faculty staff is that you actually get respected. People don't really respect TA's. TA's don't even respect TA's. But when you become faculty, all of a sudden everybody respects you. And when you ask for things to get done, they actually get done. I feel bad asking for things because my mindset is still that of a TA's. You ask for things but you really don't expect to get them. But when you're a faculty member, you ask for things, and they magically show up in your office!
I will say this, being on faculty staff with other Ph.D's, while working on yours is truly motivating. It's easy to be complacent when you're a graduate student hanging around other graduate students. But when your direct peers are Dr's, it brings out the competitive juices in you and makes you want to become the best Ph.D. you can be. This move was good for me, as I have been writing like crazy now and am extremely excited about conducting my research this year. Plus, it's nice to finally get a paycheck that's bigger than the McDonald's hamburger flipper's check. Finally...respect...kind of.
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