Sunday, September 13, 2009

Racing against time

Coming just a month into graduate school, the title sounds a week bit exaggerated. But this is what I have started doing, and I am getting increasingly convinced with each passing day that this is how things would be during my stay in Madison.

Weekly homeworks: I never really gave them a damn in undergrad. But it is one big race here. The whole of Sunday goes away in solving equations, fitting curves and trying to get a grip of what the prof says in class. And this is just homework. The lectures are related but need their own time. And the classes are just picking up their pace.

TA: labs and discussion. Labs on Monday and Wednesday require that I demonstrate the basics of the experiments for the day, while on Fridays I try to take the students to the next set of experiments. I spent close to four hours preparing for a 50 minute discussion, which turned out to be pretty ok, I guess. What beats me is how I will be managing once classes catch steam.

The town had a triathlon today. Some were out running, biking and swimming; and the majority was out cheering, clapping amd playing music on the streets. Everytime I see so many people running or jogging, I am reminded of a book I started reading recently where the author wonders how this place would look from a chopper. People seem to be running round the clock from place A to place B. Why couldn't the people in place A just stay there and let the others be wherever they were? Guess the author would need some convincing on that.

The last seven days have disappeared in a haze. Looking forward to another week of learning.

3 comments:

sujaan said...

race with time, not against it :)
it's good to be busy, it's fun... but try takin some time out doing nothin as well

Nandhini said...

''A busy man finds time for everything'' - Dr. E, one of his things that I remember, cause its true.

Ranga said...

@ Sujaan

I actually do that for sometime every morning.

@ Nandhini

That's true. But I am sure he was quoting Dr. Wilson on that occasion.