I'm a bit dazed. I was supposed to get into Burlington at 9:46 last night, but first my plane was delayed for a little over an hour on the tarmac in Philly, and then after we got here, there were massive luggage delays. I did eventually get my bag (several of the faculty did not get theirs, entailing teaching today in the same clothes they travelled in, poor munchkins), but then there was an hour-long drive to Montpelier. I actually got into the dorm room at 2 a.m., and think I fell asleep around 3 a.m. I did sleep solidly until 8 or so, and five solid hours of sleep is actually the best sleep I've had in nearly a week, so I'm feeling mostly human, but definitely dazed. Also still with cold, but better today than yesterday. All the other faculty have been very warm and welcoming, which is much appreciated. I'm a professor! How strange.
My cell phone is out of charge, and I think I left the charger in Philly; I'm going to try to find time today to go pick up another in Montpelier somewhere, if time permits. But thankfully, the computer room is well equipped with ethernet, and I was able to just plug in my laptop with no trouble, so that's a relief. I was feeling quite cut off from civilization at 2 a.m. last night when my phone died.
It's beautiful here in the wilds of Vermont. (It's the state capitol, so it's actually not all that wild.) I've sat in on my first ever faculty meeting, which would have been more exciting if I weren't so sleepy. Lunch soon, meeting students, and various other orientation activities through the day. I give a reading this evening, and then tomorrow start workshopping.
I did survive yesterday's eleven interviews in a row reasonably okay; I think I even managed to be articulate in some of them. We'll see what they think of me in a few weeks; sometime in mid-January, I should start hearing back if any of them want campus interviews.
I'm not sure what I'm doing about the Sri Lanka trip. I haven't had a chance to talk to Karina yet to see if she still wants to go; Kevin thinks I should reschedule it for some months later, both because of academic job interview conflict and because it's likely to be far less safe to travel there at the moment, with government confusion and instability. I'm not sure I agree with him on that, but I don't think I have to decide anything this week. Should talk to both Karina and my father first in any case.
That's all the news so far, I think. Lunch. Food will help.