Wednesday, February 17, 2010

post-holiday edition

One of the great challenges of commuting to graduate school is living on campus for long stretches of time. I suppose the working professional should be laughing at me right now. However, I have been the working professional and I generally was able to feed myself enough to get through each day. I suppose the greater financial resources of those who work for a living do come in handy when hunger attacks.

Besides the whole food issue, though, there is the problem of personal space. While I have an office and not a cubicle, I do share that office with several people. One of them shares a desk with me, which is an experience I have never had professionally. Even interns get their own desks. I suppose the necessity of providing large amounts of classroom space precludes universities from guaranteeing that graduate students get their own desks. I do have my own set of drawers and cabinets in the shared desk, which allows me to keep dry shoes handy for days when snow and rain get on my nerves.

Each day, there are several things to prepare before leaving for campus. Food, clothing layers, books, and electronic equipment must all be sufficient to last as long as needed. In an ideal world, I would also stock up on witty stories and thought-provoking questions to share with fellow graduate students. However, as one of my comrades is a fan of a baseball team I do not admire, I generally find myself dancing so carefully around the issue that I am unable to focus on anything other than the color of the ceiling tiles. As a result, I tend to have conversations that last three minutes or less, and it doesn't take much preparation to excel at those.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

like your own private torment. And probably no one even knows. They just think you are aloof. Lol, sounds like you are having the old college experience.