On the subject of metronomes, don't get too discouraged if it just drives you nuts at first. I had to really get the fingering and bowing down before I could even deal with a metronome -- about a year, for me.

BUT I bought a metronome with tone generator -- not just the "A" for tuning, but the whole 5 steps, and that really helped me get my intonation down. It's easy to play in tune with yourself; much harder to be in tune with everyone else, too, and 30 minutes with the instructor once a week wasn't really enough to give me a good sense of where I needed to be.

The cheapest metronome I found with the tone generator was the Wittner MT-600. About $70, I think. And the metronome part practically does backflips for you.