I like the aesthetics of this future, though pretty frankly, I can’t imagine my office space without hundreds of Post-it notes everywhere. A better response is here.
My next post will be better.
I’ve been stuck on an icebreaker question asked at one of the orientation events earlier this week: “what are your goals here?”.
I feel that I should be going into this with a better plan than I am right now. I don’t think it’s possible to make this trip a waste, but I after walking around the Siebel Center for the first time, I really feel like I should be focusing completely on academics while I’m here, filling up my schedule with 500-levels and learning everything I can from these experts.
That’s not to say that I don’t want to travel around, meet new people or take cross faculty courses — I really do — but I’m just having trouble figuring out what ‘make the most of this year’ really means.
I guess it’s only with a time limit on my stay that I really start thinking about how I should optimize my life. Sadly, I know I’m not even going to get close this time, let alone in the long run.
My next post will be better.
As for this side of the calendar, I have absolutely no fucking clue.
I mean, I’ve got plans in my head for this summer, or at least the next few weeks. Usually they rarely come to fruition, but with no commitments this year, I might actually manage something. We’ll see.
It’ll be weird meeting everyone else as graduates when I still picture us aged 16. I’ve been the most out of touch, but something today made me realise that I’ll be comparing myself to them forever. It’s scary that the rest of their lives are starting now.
But beyond August, I really don’t know what to expect. I’m seeing UIUC as some save-all out where I’ll meet someone that really inspires me or discover a part of CS that I’d consider going into. That’s great, but I know more people that have hated studying over the pond than over here. Me? I love novelty.
It’s shameful that I’m putting so many decisions off until my welcome pack arrives - I think current students have already been able to pick their classes. Goddamn, I hope I can still get into some CS 498s. Maybe I should be doing something wacky instead of taking it so seriously – that’s the advantage of a US education, right?
My future beyond 2011 is even cloudier.
My next post will be better.
Scary. Also awesome. Also true.
But mainly scary. I think I’m going to be a part of this future… making it happen somewhere along the way.
My next post will be better.
