The reality of riddles
Student life is a funny thing. Until you enroll, it’s like an insider joke that goes over your head. “You just had to be there to get it”.
I fell into university during a transitional period in my life. While I had vague ideas about what I could expect in post secondary education, no one had told me about the hilarious anguish that I would suffer as a student.
Hiding the reality of student life through seemingly supportive remarks appears to be an unwritten rule amongst academics. The comments that you hear are like friendly but loaded riddles.
One learns these trigger words only as their experience allows them. You might be familiar with comments such as, “it’s a once in a lifetime experience”, “you grow and learn so much in university”, and “you will make some of the best memories”.
What we actually mean is, while balancing between sleep deprivation and a ridiculous homework load, the reality of a “student budget” will:
- Increase your flexibility – AKA: lower your food and toilet paper standards (quantity does in fact trump quality),
- increase your resourcefulness, (two words: duct tape) and
- teach you that mental health, which is a relative term, is gauged by the number of emotional breakdowns versus amount of caffeine intake.
To quote a friend, student life is “not so much funny as: the only way to get through it is to have a ridiculous sense of humor. It’s like a hysterical laugh that turns into frustrated sobbing”.
To my peers, I share your entertaining pain. To prospective students, university is a blast because “it’s a once in a lifetime experience”, “you grow and learn so much”, and finally, “you will make some of the best memories”. 😉
Welcome to my blog and Happy New Year!
