Announcement: the academicbride is moving!

To my loyal readers, and visitors directed here by a Google search for "T-rex jokes," an announcement:

The academicbride is changing locations. I became embarrassed about this blog title/URL approximately one week after I picked it. Unsure of how long I would keep up blogging, I didn't bother to make a change. Now that I'm no longer a bride, I'll be blogging at a new site:

owleyedathena.blogspot.com

Please bookmark the new site, and visit me often! See you there!

a rose by any other name

Today I went to the Social Security office and applied to change my name. I am dropping my middle name entirely, adopting my maiden name as a middle name, and taking Dave's surname as my own. This was a much harder decision than I had anticipated. Every woman in my extended family has taken her husband's last name, regardless of professional accomplishments or age at marriage. I had never really thought it was a big deal.

But as Dave and I prepared to marry, it did become a big deal! It's not that I'm so advanced in my career (ha), or that I feel dominated by male hegemony (my maiden name being my father's, after all). It's just that, my name has been my name for so long. And I (duh) identified by it. And I liked it. And I had nicknames associated with it. And I met people from other cultures that don't apply this practice – like all of China. Isn't it kind of weird to change your name in the middle of your life? My parents gave me the combination of my first, middle, and last names on purpose; isn't it strange to override that later?

Yet there were reasons to change now, too. We hope someday to have children, and it would be far more convenient for our family to share one name. I haven't published anything and I'm about to start a new job, so at the moment I have the opportunity for a fresh start. And it is, I admit, compelling to share a single name with my husband – it shows we're really a team now!

So, reluctantly, I filled out my forms and started the process. It shouldn't be a hard transition – my new last name rhymes with my old name, and I'm not losing my old name entirely. I guess it's time to practice that new signature...

movin' on up!

On Saturday, I turned in the keys to my apartment and finished moving my things into Dave's place. Excuse me, OUR place! I'm usually very sentimental about these sorts of things – I like to take a video tour of the old place, celebrate the "last meal" or "last night," etc. But this time, I had no excess emotional energy for nostalgia. I completely forgot to take pictures of what it looked like before I started to move, so here are some old pictures:

Because this is the first place where I lived by myself, without roommates (or my parents), I consider it my first "grown-up apartment." I was so happy to move into my own place after spending a year in Athens in a dorm. I'll miss my cozy little studio downtown, but I'm very excited about one thing in particular at Dave's place: DOORS. Maybe now my bedding won't always smell like stirfry! Here's how the place looked by Friday night:

Goodbye, exposed brick wall! I never knew why you were so special, but I'm glad you earned me compliments. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some boxes to unpack...

new beginnings on the horizon

Last week, I traveled to NYC to begin getting oriented in my new job. It was a real eye-opener! I think I was very naïve when I accepted the position, and now I have a much better sense for what the real demands of the job will be. In short, I felt extremely stressed and totally overwhelmed. How can I possibly manage the administrative workload alongside the obligations to develop new courses for my own teaching portfolio and publish, publish, publish?

I don't have any answers, and I think how I learn the answer to that question will very much govern my experience over the next three to four years. A few important things I already know: I will need to learn how to handle a stressful job without bringing it home, without allowing it to make me unhappy or worried all the time. I will need to learn how to set shorter term, more manageable goals – baby steps, if you will. I will need to learn how to use the resources at my disposal to be a more effective leader and to trust others to help me with the work. And I will need to learn to be brave.

As overwhelmed and torn as I felt last week, it was not all doom and gloom. Campus was looking beautiful in the spring sunshine:

This building is my department's home. Sure, it looks stately from the outside, but on the inside, it sort of looks like a cross between a high school and an asylum. Ah well.

I stayed with my lovely friend Benet and got a little taste of Brooklyn life – running in Prospect Park, watching hipsters on the L, trying in vain to find a U.S. Mailbox. More to come, I'm sure – I'm mulling a new blog, one for my post-bridal life!