Some thoughts about school

When I first came to school I tried to do the cool thing and think, "man, I can't believe I'm back in school. It's been so long. Will I be able to handle it?" Maybe that's not the "cool" thing to think, but whatever. Then I really thought about it. I've been a full time student for something like 19 of my 23 years. This isn't a crazy back to scary school feeling, it's more like a back to normal feeling. Sort of.

New city and living alone with no friends aside, I'm enjoying school so far. I like my classes. I like reading. I like the way the content of my classes are all slightly overlapping, so I can say "right, right, I get this," or "so that's why we do things that way." Even in high school and college I loved it when subjects overlapped. All the sudden things made sense and fit together, rather than remaining isolated and theoretical. Maybe that's why I like history- it can fit everything in it.

I haven't written any papers yet, but my first one is due Tuesday. Just a short paper comparing social history methodologies in Europe and Latin America. Ha! That sounds awful. I haven't read the part about Latin America yet. I hope I understand it enough to write something comprehensible down. But other papers are slightly more practical. I get to review a museum exhibit next.

I just wrote "I get to." That's right. I'm going to try to make that my new mind set. Not "I have to," but "I get to." I've chosen to be here, and I can see more clearly how what I'm learning and doing now will relate to my future work. I guess that helps explain why lots of people seem to say they liked grad school more than college.