Settling In

The first couple of weeks of my semester were a little nerve-wracking, but I seem to be settling in nicely now. I've turned in some homeworks, gotten good grades, mastered some material that originally frightened me, and my easy class is finally getting to some good stuff too. (It is still a little frustrating to sit in a room with students who are vocal about their difficulty in understanding the Euclidean algorithm despite being shown several examples, but I try to remind myself of all the times I am clueless and confused about things that will seem basic later on.)

I am a bit astonished by my progress as a math student over the past few years. It's not so much that I've learned a lot of math as that I've picked up a lot of skills I never had before. I now know how to read a math textbook (i.e., with pencil and paper, writing things down). I approach homework quite differently. I study. I am much better at tackling problems I'm not sure I can do than I was in the past. I am better at writing proofs. I know more Greek letters than ever before. And so on.

Life is good, I tell ya.