Still! Today's update will be short and sweet!
Maybe.
As those of you who read this (I.E. Me) know I am at University at the moment and after 2 long years of spending government money and being resented by tax payers & working folk nationwide, I am finally reaching the end of my journey.
You see, I've been in education now for nearly 20 years and although it's been a bumpy ride, it's been a ride I've for the most part enjoyed and I will be sad to finally get off. In doing so I will take my final step out of adolescence and into adulthood, and by step i mean told politely to get off and never return.
I always intended my stint at University to be my rights of passage to adulthood, had I made the trip at 18 with the rest of my hoody wearing, fringe growing, wrist slitting brethren from college I feel the experience would have been wasted. Truth be told, I had no idea what I wanted to do until I was 19 and had already been through college and had settled on a career path, alas a life of managing T.K. Maxx was not for me.
Contrary to what many people may think, I do not fit into that student stereotype of no good, money wasting layabout. No, University has been exactly what I set it out to be. When I started my course 2 years ago I had already built up some life experience, I'd experienced love for the first time, I'd learnt first hand the perils of over indulging in alcohol , I'd spent the entirety of my adolescence working and I was steadily leaving my teenage angst's behind. In other words, I was maturing.
Of course this was both a blessing and a curse, by the time I entered University stealing traffic cones, dressing up ironically & generally acting like a tit was something I had little time for and for around 80% of the student population the bloom was not yet off the rose. Still, this is not to say I didn't join in now and then and just because I said I was maturing, this doesn't mean I had matured.
The first year brought about it's fair share of hangovers, heartbreak & unwelcome stomach fat and a summer holiday of even more unwelcome home truths. The biggest of all being that I was no longer a child and although I relished my independence, I couldn't just revert back to my old ways when the bank was empty.
Money is something we all take for granted and when most people have it, they
can't spend it fast enough. Sure you could survive on a 30 pounds a month shopping budget, but when you've got over 1000 pounds in the bank why spend £1 on a pizza when you can spend 5 and boy oh boy won't you look sophisticated drinking this whisky, when everyone else will be getting the same effect from drinking beer. Point being, I've had more then enough first hand experience and observations of money wasting to know that I cannot afford to be so careless with it in the future. Still, I think swigging out of a bottle of Famous Grouse at a house party is pretty sexy, my many nights of sleeping alone will attest to that.
And then came the second year, the year when the partying takes a backseat (For the most part) to hard work, headaches and the inevitable disintegration of household relations.
They say that you don't know somebody until you live with them and this is something every second year student will eventually attest to. The year may start off with more ass kissing then a night at the Academy Awards, but after the honeymoon period is over (About 2 weeks) those 'friends forever' will quickly become the target of venomous tirades once your milk starts being 'borrowed' and those dishes start to pile up and just remember, it's never your fault, not at all, not even a little bit.
My biggest gripe with second year came mostly from observing my fellow students. You see, Film Studies is not exactly a subject that demands to be taken seriously. After all, don't we 'just sit around and watch films all day'. Well, no. Not at all, but that is the general consencus. Despite the hard work of the majority, there will alwyas be those who give the degree and on a grander scale, students, a bad name.
When I was growing up I always looked at University as the pinnacle of education, a home for the academic elite. It seems somewhere down the line standards slipped and any Wayne & Waynetta can now earn themselves a degree. This is a hard pill to swallow for me, not because I'm so great at what I do, but because I worked hard to get here and because I actually give a shit about the subject. An even harder one to swallow is that most students who earn a degree rarely go on to a career in that field, any teacher bitter at their own career (I.E. All of them) will keenly divulge that information to you.
The future's bright for the Portsmouth 2011 Film Studies graduates
But I knew all this going in and I went all the same. When all is said and done I'll have a degree and I'll find out first hand whether or not I can make it in that dog eat dog world of...um film critique. But at the risk of sounding like University has been miserable let me say that the good has far outweighed the bad. I've had experiences here that I'll remember for my entire life. Despite some hiccups along the way University has been what I always wanted it to be a few final years of memories that I can treasure, learn from and drunkenly lament when I'm old and bitter (more so).My last big learning curve when it comes to life experience. It has been and continues to be my rights of passage to adulthood and when its over I'll finally ready to enter the world of 9 to 5 or 9 to 10:30 should I end up on the doll.
At the risk of sentimentality....na fuck it, this is sentimental, it's been a hell of a ride and the best thing is, it's not over yet, with any luck this year will turn out to be the best of all and so, should any of my friends at uni be reading this let me say to you & my long suffering liver, Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!
I do resent the tag in this, because there is clearly nothing good said.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to treat you to a rendition of my second blog which is better and far less scaving. Bit brutal towards some people in some parts. But this is now a review of my review of your review so its a lovely infinite image. Now I've forgotten what else i wrote but I think it was something along the lines of your not Hugh Hefner.
ReplyDeleteAlso for the third time I am in the worlds press.