In a lot of ways it’s been better.

The measure theory class I’m taking has been surprisingly manageable.  The ergodic theory class I’m taking has involved more real analysis than I would like, but I’m not letting myself get stressed out about it.  My research is going great.  I’ve been chipping away and making progress, and also REALLY enjoying it.

The undergraduate statistics & probability class I’m teaching is going exceptionally well; better than I imagined in my wildest dreams before it started.  I’ve even come around to liking my pre-calculus students.  You may remember the last time I taught pre-calculus two years ago, and how I had some problem students that semester.  At the beginning, this semester was looking to have the same problems, only more widespread.  But, I put my foot down about 3 or 4 weeks into the semester, and now the students seem to respect me and they’re behaving like grown ups for the most part.

My social life has also been particularly active this semester.  I thought I might banish myself to a homely, lonely lifestyle to deal with all my responsibilities this semester, but I’ve been outgoing and generally happy.

Basically, this semester conforms to what I thought grad school would be like before I actually started.  Then I had a two+ year adjustment period.  And now I’m hitting my stride.  I’m really happy and thriving.  Unfortunately, I’m also far enough along in the program that the seed has been planted to get me to start thinking about what I’m going to do when I graduate.  No real news there; I’m still undecided about a career path.  I feel a LOT better about the options that will be available to me (read: I’m now open to pursuing a career in academia), but I’m still not sure what I really want long term.  Time will tell, I suppose.