the grass is always greener... where there's grass

well, this blog is a long time coming. my friend, rach, who introduced me to the blogging world, was on me to write while i was living in spain earlier this year. but no, i had too much free time back then, and too many interesting things happening in my life. it's only now, when i'm swamped with grading, meetings and deadlines, and bored silly, that i've decided to pick up the pen (keyboard?).

i don't know if you'll find anything all that interesting here; life as a grad student in an underfunded language department at a major research university can be quite dull. on the other hand, there is much humor to be found in the daily torture that is grad school.

this morning i looked out the window onto the courtyard here in highland park, nj

and then i thought about the view from my window in madrid that i left behind a little over a month ago.

i couldn't help but think of that old, banal adage about the grass always being greener. and i thought, well, yeah, at least there's grass here.

i'm going to be here for at least another four months, so i might as well make the most out of it, and try to laugh some along the way. let's get started...