Musings of a Senior Student

University has started again. I’m not sure if I should be excited or not – this being my last year and all. I guess I should be because once university is over, I can go back to doing what I love best: sleeping. Ah, how much I love that deep slumber where your mind is oblivious of all the worries in the world. It really is the best feeling ever. That is, until your mind is plagued with dark desolate dreams that seem insistent on staying. My “nightmares”, unlike some, do not consist of monsters and dragons (those are actually quite cool) but rather entail situations which deep down, I fear.  Upon waking, I’m more likely to remember the feelings I felt while having the dream rather than the details –such as the people that were present and my surroundings. That means it’s very difficult for me to describe the dream later on – as describing feelings, especially for me, is not an easy task.

On the other hand, graduation means I’ve got other things to worry about. Such as: whether to continue with my Masters right after or to work. Although I love learning and in the past would not have hesitated with such a decision, I’ve come to realize that attending lectures and reading textbooks really isn’t for me.  Being a goody two shoes all my life, I’ve never actually skipped a single class (alright, maybe I’m exaggerating just a bit). But during this past summer, I've come to realize I learn best when I’m experimenting, thinking, and applying – all of which, I believe, passive environments fail to provide. I learn more by “doing”, and fail to see the point of theoretical concepts unless they’re presented in a practical fashion. Even with alternative methods of learning such as projects that allow you to learn through experimentation, some universities insist on using the traditional approach of lecture based learning (or maybe that’s just my university). That is why I’m having doubts of continuing my studies when I could be out in the field, putting to practice all the theoretical knowledge that is currently in my head.