So … you’ve started higher education.

Sigh.

There are a few things that get me a little down about starting round two of college: buying books, online discussion boards and having to find the academic momentum that once came so, so very easily. Okay, it didn’t come very easily. But it sure feels harder now.

Sometimes, though, we have to find a silver lining - even if we have to put it there ourselves with a glittery paint pen. So here is some silver lining material that we can totally share:

1.  The core requirements are mostly finished. That’s right, let it sink in. I’ll even say it again, because it totally bears repeating: BS 101 level math and composition are finished. Now, instead of researching simply for the sake of proving that we can, we get to put all of that knowledge into papers that we actually give a crap about! 

2.  The level of intelligence in general academic discussion increases. Sure, there will always         be that guy who mouth breathes all over his blank notepad or the 19-year-old girl who is more concerned with the state of her gel mani than the lecture. But that’s okay. Why is it okay, you ask? It’s okay because the majority of the other students will be doing exactly what we are doing. We are taking in as much functional knowledge as we can get our hands on!

3.   The teachers care now. They are, in all likelihood, teaching something they enjoy. They are also glad to be imparting specific knowledge to people who also care about that very same type of knowledge! It’s awesome to learn from someone who is passionate about what they are teaching. I promise. Will there still be a professor or two who have entered the tenure coma zone? Of course. However, the number of instructors who care about teaching in their field far outweighs the Ben Steins of the institution.

So we’re in it - Hunter S. Thompson style, ‘Gonna need golf shoes to get through this muck’ in it.

But hey, at least it’s interesting muck.