Learning To Fly - Post 3
Quote of the Day: "We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop?"
- Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy
I'm not taking classes anymore.
Somehow I still can't believe it! School has been such a huge part of my life for the past 18 years and now I'm done (Well, at least until I get really ambitious and decide to get a PhD...but don't worry, that won't happen for at least another 5-7 years). I thought that working on a college campus, I would be even more aware of not taking classes...after all, everyone around me is: my residents, my RAs, the graduate students who work with us in the department...but surprisingly, I feel like it still hasn't hit me that I'm not a college student anymore.
Maybe it's because I've been so busy and I haven't really had time to think about it yet. Maybe it's because I value "professional development" and have been trying to read professional literature, glance over the Chronicle of HigherEd on a regular basis and even try to turn a grad school paper into an article for publication. Maybe it's because the job is still so new and I'm still learning a lot of things. No matter what the reason, I still feel very much a part of the school life and I have to remind myself that I'm not a student anymore.
The one thing that has changed is that classes suddenly sound a lot more exciting to me. As I'm advising my residents (I am a Hall Director and Academic Advisor for a first-year building) and am going through the course list with them, I find all these classes that sound so fascinating. I remember groaning about the general education requirements at my liberal arts undergraduate institution...now I find all those classes exciting and would welcome the opportunity to learn about those topics.
While not taking classes isn't as "strange" as I thought it would be, some of the other aspects of being a grown-up definitely are.
I have a retirement portfolio. Can you believe that? I know what a Roth IRA is! (Or at least I think I do...okay, maybe I should take that back...but I have one, whatever it is.) I've starting to think about investing.
Just a few weeks ago, I didn't even know what any of this was. Then, the Human Resources session happened during training and you could see the panic and confusion on all of our faces. I'm just glad I didn't have to go through this by myself. Who knew all the things you have to do and decide!!! That's one thing they forgot to mention in grad school.
So now I have the same retirement plan and savings account as at least half of the ResLife staff. I still don't really know what it means and what I'm doing, but I'm pretty sure that I've signed everything I had to and making all these important decisions and at least I don't have to stress about it anymore. And I have the rest of my life to find out what I actually picked and what that means.
- Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy
I'm not taking classes anymore.
Somehow I still can't believe it! School has been such a huge part of my life for the past 18 years and now I'm done (Well, at least until I get really ambitious and decide to get a PhD...but don't worry, that won't happen for at least another 5-7 years). I thought that working on a college campus, I would be even more aware of not taking classes...after all, everyone around me is: my residents, my RAs, the graduate students who work with us in the department...but surprisingly, I feel like it still hasn't hit me that I'm not a college student anymore.
Maybe it's because I've been so busy and I haven't really had time to think about it yet. Maybe it's because I value "professional development" and have been trying to read professional literature, glance over the Chronicle of HigherEd on a regular basis and even try to turn a grad school paper into an article for publication. Maybe it's because the job is still so new and I'm still learning a lot of things. No matter what the reason, I still feel very much a part of the school life and I have to remind myself that I'm not a student anymore.
The one thing that has changed is that classes suddenly sound a lot more exciting to me. As I'm advising my residents (I am a Hall Director and Academic Advisor for a first-year building) and am going through the course list with them, I find all these classes that sound so fascinating. I remember groaning about the general education requirements at my liberal arts undergraduate institution...now I find all those classes exciting and would welcome the opportunity to learn about those topics.
While not taking classes isn't as "strange" as I thought it would be, some of the other aspects of being a grown-up definitely are.
I have a retirement portfolio. Can you believe that? I know what a Roth IRA is! (Or at least I think I do...okay, maybe I should take that back...but I have one, whatever it is.) I've starting to think about investing.
Just a few weeks ago, I didn't even know what any of this was. Then, the Human Resources session happened during training and you could see the panic and confusion on all of our faces. I'm just glad I didn't have to go through this by myself. Who knew all the things you have to do and decide!!! That's one thing they forgot to mention in grad school.
So now I have the same retirement plan and savings account as at least half of the ResLife staff. I still don't really know what it means and what I'm doing, but I'm pretty sure that I've signed everything I had to and making all these important decisions and at least I don't have to stress about it anymore. And I have the rest of my life to find out what I actually picked and what that means.
posted by StudentAffairs.com at
7:05 AM
1 Comments:
That's one of my favorite lines from Grey's Anatomy! Me and my friends say that all the time. Suddenly you wake up and realize you're putting in 40+ hours a week, planning for retirement, and wondering if you should be taking vitamins....I sure do miss college, things were simpler then!
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Anonymous, at 7:06 PM
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