Pre-Week: Install Party at TIY

This was my first official day at The Iron Yard.

I knew where I needed to go, an apartment building (with a lot of character) nestled in the middle of downtown Atlanta. I’ve gone a couple of times in the last few months to familiarize myself with my new environment, yet I felt lost. I was unsure of my decision for the first time in months. I wondered if this was the right choice for my daughter and I.

The building itself is very nice, if not a bit dated, and is currently being updated and restored. As I walk in, I wonder what my time here will hold. Will I fail? Will I succeed? These are the thoughts that follow me inside. I make it to my group early, and I begin to introduce myself to my cohort. We will be on a 12 week adventure together, and I decide meeting them early can’t hurt. Soon after we finish, our instructor walks in. As friendly as can be, he asks us to do a self-introduction, and so we go around the room again, helping me remember everyone’s names.

During the Install Party, which doubled as our orientation, we make sure to install any necessary software we are missing. At this point it’s not much, since we’ve already been sent information on most of the software we need. Finally, we begin our first class. Back-end programming in Java; this is the topic we will study for the next three months.

The class went well for me. I feel more confident about the next three months now. I hope others feel the same as I walk towards our lunch. Looks like taco Friday! I wasn’t sure what to expect honestly, but I liked it. Holding a plate with one extra-loaded taco, I find a seat at a table full of strangers, and a couple of guys from my cohort. The first thing I hear after I sit: “So before anything else happens, let me just say… TEAM INSTINCT!”. I burst out laughing, realizing he’s talking about Pokemon Go! Even more amazingly, three other people at the table all mention that they are on the same team. One of them jokingly mention this being the “largest gathering of Team Instinct ever!”. This immediately broke the ice for the table, and we all begin to converse with each other.

So far, my day had gone pretty well. I felt a lot more comfortable with my decision of coming here, and actually enjoyed myself. Knowing this was only the first day, and I was only getting a taste did nothing to bring me down. The people (both staff and student) all seemed amazingly nice,the environment was great, and I could actually discuss topics I enjoyed with the people around me. I still felt some trepidations about my daughter, who is currently living in another state, but I knew at the end of this journey, it would be worth it.

After we finish eating, the Campus Director comes up to the front, and begins explaining what our experience will be. This was your typical orientation, with us finding out all the information we can about our time here. During this time, we are recommended to blog about our experience, to help us express ourselves and help us destress. There are even some current students in their ninth week here to let us know what we will go through. Finally, after many laughs, questions, worries, conversations and powerpoint slides, we begin to head back home to prepare for the coming trial.

I make a few new friends as I head out, and head home to finish all of the assignments I need and prepare for the upcoming week. I just finished moving, and now need to unpack and review what materials I have. I want to try writing once or twice a week, but haven’t decided how often I will yet.

I suppose we’ll see.