First day

I met my new students for the first time today. I already know a few of them in the upper division class, and one or two in the lower-level classes, but mostly they're all new and I'll spend the next couple of weeks trying desperately to learn 75 or so new names. And failing, inevitably, with a few. Partly it's the similarity--I have a basketball team's worth of Rebeccas, a brace of Amandas, etc. Partly it's me--I have trouble recalling the name of someone I've just been introduced to when there's only one, so dozens put a strain on the brain.

But I'll work at it, and I'll get them all by the end. Usually by midterms.