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Sep. 12th, 2011 07:50 pmThis morning, being a grad student still seemed impossible and unreal. Now it feels totally normal, like that's just who I am and what I do. I wonder if a person's self-concept is supposed to shift this easily?
Back To School
Sep. 12th, 2011 08:51 amToday's my first day of grad school. I am excited about this and also terrified.
I've more or less bluffed my way up to this point, making wild, unsubstantiated claims about my suitability for the program and generally displaying a lot of certainty and conviction that I do not, in fact, feel. However, now that I've been let in, I'm determined to prove that I really am capable of dealing with the demands of graduate education. To do that, I'm going to have to work and work hard.
Probably my best bet is to treat grad school kind of like a job. I'll try to get to school sometime between 8:30 - 9:30 every morning and stay until around 5:30, taking an hour for lunch if I can. While I'm at school, I'll be working. While I'm not at school I'll try to relax, be social, and not go crazy from stress. Perhaps I'll take Friday afternoons off to go tear bikes apart with the folks at Recycle Cycles. We shall see.
I'm also going to have to find ways to connect to the other people in the program. While I've resigned myself to the fact that grad school will sometimes be a harrowing experience, it should also sometimes be exhilarating and fun. I've got to seize this opportunity to interact with clever people who are passionate about the same sorts of things as me. Besides, I'm pretty sure that talking and commiserating with other people who are struggling with the same kinds of academic difficulties as I am will greatly benefit my mental health.
Those are my two big goals, I guess: work hard and don't be timid. If I can just do those two things then I think I should be alright.
I've more or less bluffed my way up to this point, making wild, unsubstantiated claims about my suitability for the program and generally displaying a lot of certainty and conviction that I do not, in fact, feel. However, now that I've been let in, I'm determined to prove that I really am capable of dealing with the demands of graduate education. To do that, I'm going to have to work and work hard.
Probably my best bet is to treat grad school kind of like a job. I'll try to get to school sometime between 8:30 - 9:30 every morning and stay until around 5:30, taking an hour for lunch if I can. While I'm at school, I'll be working. While I'm not at school I'll try to relax, be social, and not go crazy from stress. Perhaps I'll take Friday afternoons off to go tear bikes apart with the folks at Recycle Cycles. We shall see.
I'm also going to have to find ways to connect to the other people in the program. While I've resigned myself to the fact that grad school will sometimes be a harrowing experience, it should also sometimes be exhilarating and fun. I've got to seize this opportunity to interact with clever people who are passionate about the same sorts of things as me. Besides, I'm pretty sure that talking and commiserating with other people who are struggling with the same kinds of academic difficulties as I am will greatly benefit my mental health.
Those are my two big goals, I guess: work hard and don't be timid. If I can just do those two things then I think I should be alright.
