University student

Sorry, a more personal entry today.. something I've been thinking about a lot lately.

I feel like my time in Reading was my first real university experience. It was my first time living on campus, first time regularly eating with other students, first time regularly studying with other students, first time being far away from what I thought of as "home", first time going to pubs, and first time to really feel like a university student.

One of the things I miss about Reading is being a regular university student. Most of the people who knew me there didn't know anything about the more unique aspects of my life. They just knew me as Matt, the American, the guy who did the "cow presentation", the one who never drank before, the one who doesn't think George W. Bush is the cause of all problems in the world, or the one who had some (let's say, "interesting") ideas about the Bible.

I didn't feel a need to prove anything to anyone or do anything spectacular. All I had to do was pass my classes, make progress on my dissertation, and experience life in the UK. It was nice. Now it seems like there's a lot more pressure. Not because of anyone else -- I impose it on myself. But why?

Sometimes I feel like I want to (after this Ph.D. thing is over) slow down, have more of a normal life, get married, have kids, and maybe fall short of my goal of somehow solving all of the world's problems through microclimate research and graphic design.

posted by Matt @ 4:57 AM