Meeting the 2nd Years

I just got back from our social event for the night. We got to meet the illustrious "second year" students, the ones who went through all the pain and suffering we're going through now, only they did it last year. And that makes them "wiser." And tonight it made me feel like a freshman all over again! It's interesting that "freshman" in this sense of the word is more about "incoming class who doesn't yet know the ropes and/or who hasn't yet paid their dues" than it is about being older or younger than anyone else. Even though we're older than some people in that second year class, tonight we all felt like newbies.

And how did our meetings go? They just brought the entire weight of what I've undertaken down on top of me. Not the pick-me-up I'd imagined. It turns out that many groups meet more often, and for longer periods of time, than my group does. It also turns out that the work seems to get harder, not easier, as the year progresses (on the admissions materials, they told us the opposite, liars). Great. I think we all walked back to our hotel rooms a little let down.

From where I sit right now, it seems inconceivable that I'll ever be able to finish the work ahead of me. Yet at the same time, I could see tonight that the second years were already regretting how quickly their time is passing, so it's more than a little perplexing. I'm a big one for being grossly sentimental, so I can see myself standing next year where that group stood tonight, musing to myself about how fast the time all went. At that time, I also hope I can pass along a message to next year's class that was a little more uplifting than the one we received tonight.

OK, time to read. I still have that mythical and seemingly impossible 100 pages of stats to complete, and class begins again in just under eight hours.