Monday, October 08, 2007

Life as a grad student

Life has strange ways of playing tricks with you. At times it puts you through really hard times, and yet you feel happy about it. I don't think I would have worked as hard ever in my life before, not even for the JEE. I guess that was a piece of cake compared to the effort I am putting in now. Some of that is definitely due to the fact that I have been away from student life for a long time, but most of it just because grad students in the US are expected to work a lot, especially here at Wharton. And I am doing mostly economics and statistics courses this semester dosent help things a lot, they being almost new topics for me. Add to that the fact that I am considerably underpaid compared to my last job [ boohoo :'( ], I am away from my friends and family and do not have the material luxuries that I was used to in my earlier life.
Even after having said all this, I somehow like this life. I like working till 2AM only to get back to my office around 9 in the morning. I think thats because I really love my department and the people around, it just has this energetic vibes. Like one of my friends said, "We have the coolest profs ever in our department. They are much cooler than the students". I don't think that speaks too much about the doctoral students here but I think she is absolutely right :-) Most of them bike to school, have a couple of startups/companies to their name and are real fun people to hang out with. And YEAH they are very well respected academically.
The only thing that worries me is I need to get into a routine soon and take out some time for myself, for my photography, travel and having fun. Or I just might die of boredom. But now I must head back to my books :-)
PS: I think I'll update my blog more frequently

9 comments:

B said...

oh im so happy to read ur blog. and ya keep it up on a regular basis.. what u said abt student life in US is nice, though opposite to my life.. but maybe coz Im an undergrad and dont study much (they expect me to, but I jus dont).. but yea prolly wharton has this lifestyle.

cooool! reading this post, even I feel like studying! :)

B said...

and its not even october 8 in USA yet! ur blogger a/c is still on india time :D

Keshi said...

In all our lives we keep learning...right to the end.

Keshi.

Unknown said...

@ Swapnali: Yeah the undergrads have all the fun ;) And you shouldn't feel guilty about not studying that much, though you should get decent grades in your courses :) How is da shopping coming along?

Yeah I know its still on IST. See that proves my point :p

@ Keshi: Yep thats so true. But we can learn from life without being penniless right ;) ?

Winged Fantasy said...

Hiiiiiiiiii...... :D
So good to see you after so long! :-)
arre arre... see you, bole toh... an update on your blog. :-)
hmmmm... your life sounds very interesting to me. You know its been ages I have done something with so much dedication... the only thing I am dedicated to these days is laziness and lethargy. :P

hmmm... good. I could read a contented person in these lines. :-) All the best! Be Happy! anbd Post more often now! :-)

Cheers!

B said...

swapnali is doing fine shopping in SOHO in NYC :D

Ankita said...

Is that your pic???

Unknown said...

Meenakshi: Content??? Don't know about that. But I could do with some sleep. I shall come back to the comment on your blog ;) Nazaria dosent change that easily...

Swapnali: Way to go girl :)

Ankita: You should know better hon ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi Vibhanshu,
Glad to know you are enjoying your work !
Keep blogging !
-Supriyo