The end of another semester....

I closed my building today; well, as much as you "close" when you're open for winter break housing. But since I only have 10 students staying for winter break, we're pretty much closed.

Closing went well. I walked through all the rooms with the RAs, closed lots of windows and pulled countless plugs. I always feel disgusting after checking residents' rooms. I've taken more showers in the last 24 hours than I usually take in a week. Haha.

But now we're done and so another semester comes to a close. It's been a good semester overall. I'm glad I came back here. I'm enjoying my job a lot more again; hey, I've turned back into the old workaholic me - that's always a good sign, even though it's not exactly a good thing. ;) I'm going to have to work on that whole balance thing again next semester. Wait, haven't we heard that before? But seriously, not my fault this time. I came in with all these awesome ideas. I thought about joining a choir (even researched some), taking dance classes (looked at various studios' web sites and had a couple picked out that could potentially work) and of course wanted to spend some time playing piano/guitar. But as they say, things never happen the way you plan them. I was teaching a class Monday night, had several student organization meetings on Tuesdays, staff meetings Wednesdays, late office hours and another student organization meeting on Thursday. Which left Fridays - and trust me, there aren't any choirs or dance classes that meet on Fridays; and very few do on the weekends. Oh and I got that library card and books pretty much distracted me all through training but once the semester started, I just didn't get around to it anymore. I re-read a few books because then it's easier to put them when you have to; you know me and books. LoL.

I did start a new hobby this semester; or got back to one - painting. I just randomly felt like it and bought a ton of paints and went for it. We'll see what comes of it. But it's incredibly relaxing to play around with paint (and yes, when I paint, it's more playing than painting...ha...you should see my hands and arms afterwards [I do try to keep it off my clothes and the carpet, you know]).

Work-wise, it's also been a good semester. It hasn't always been easy but we made it through and I'm proud of quite a few things we accomplished this semester. It's always nice to get that first semester under your belt. There will still be a few things that surprise you Spring semester, but overall - once you've made it through Fall - you have a pretty good idea of what to do and what your job is like at your new institutions. At least that's been my experience.
My grad and I have also had some good conversations at the end of the semester in regards to plans we have for the next semester and even next year. I'm so glad I have her; she's been absolutely incredible. It helps that we often agree on where we'd like to see the department go; what we think is important in this field. It helps that we have very similar styles. And it's just nice to have another staff member there, someone you can talk to, problem-solve with or just hang out with in the office. Going from a centralized office to having an apartment and office in the same building and no other Hall Directors int hat building, I could have easily gone back into my bubble and shut out the rest of the world. Even the way things are now, I sometimes feel a little disconnected from the other Hall Directors; some of them have team-led areas, others share office spaces and others have just known each other for years and are friends. But it helps to have at least another person there; and yes, there is a difference between a hall director and a grad and in the end I'm the supervisor, but it's a pretty thin line. I mean, in a year and a half, we could very well be colleagues somewhere, right?

But yeah, like I said, I'm proud of what we've accomplished:
Overall, I think our students had a good semester. I think the RAs have gotten used to my style a little more and I've been able to make some compromises. My grad and I have come up with some new ideas for programming for next semester and I really think the staff will like it - well, at least that's what I hope. I think, if I was an RA, I would really like it and I do truly believe it'll make their jobs easier but also make their interactions with students better and more meaningful. We'll see....
Our learning communities have made some new strides: programs that happened, a student organization that became a lot more established and a lot more student-run, some ideas for new structures, a little more learning community programming by the RAs....
There's still a lot more I hope to accomplish, but it's good to be able to look back at the semester and know that we made some progress. I'm not always good at that, looking back and recognizing what I've already accomplished. I'm trying to work on that and I guess this post is one of my first steps.

On a totally random sidenote: I did not put up my Christmas tree. I'm not sure it was a "statement" or a clear decision even; I just didn't get around to it and the one time I thought of it, i remember what a hassle it is to put together a plastic tree. Real trees are SO MUCH BETTER. But yeah, can't have those in a residence hall. And I'm not even sure I'll be home on the 24th, so it'd be pretty pointless to put up a tree (Austrians celebrate Christmas on the 24th). But then I didn't know where to put the Christmas presents my family sent me (and that I, as the good daughter I am, haven't opened yet as the instruction said to wait until the 24th); they're still in the box sitting underneath my piano. But putting the tree up now? A few days before Christmas? And then having to take it down soon? Shudder; what a hassle. I guess I'm still old, lazy me. LoL.

I hope you all had great semesters and are now enjoying your winter break!!!