The new kid at shool

So I must say that making the decision to go back to school in your thirties is not an easy one.

There is much more life re-arranging now than in my twenties. I tried to do the part time waitress full time student gig like I did during my undergrad but ended up feeling like a drug addict. I would get off at such god awful hours (3-4 a.m.) drive home in that eerie pre-dawn with that strange feeling of having been awake all night, sleep until 11, squeeze a work out and some homework in before either going to class or work again. Now none of this had been an issue before. Actually, it worked out quite well. I waited tables all through college while getting my undergrad, breezed through school with a mighty fine GPA and still had plenty of time for friends, boyfriends, being awesome, etc., But things are veeeery different now.

And by different I mean exhausting.

Working and going to school is an interesting mix at any age and requires lots of juggling. However, now most of my friends are already leading their grown up lives (having gotten a degree that was useful and working up in a career that was fulfilling)and find it strange when I can't go wine tasting for a weekend because I "have a big test on Monday". Most people my age are way past any of this and I envy their put together, well thought out, direct path-in-life lives.

Another super fun aspect of returning to school is the new role of "the older student" I find myself playing. I take notes on a lap top. I told four girls behind me to shut up last semester. I wear ear plugs in the library. I sit in the front row. I am upset with myself whenever I don't get an "A". I have morphed into the annoying student I rolled my eyes at all through my undergrad. I just adore people's reactions when they discover my age, also. "WOW" my lab partner last spring said in Microbiology, "I never would have thought you were so OLD!" I was half flattered of course, to not look 32, but half irritated. I told her thanks, but really I was thinking "You know, when you're 32, you may not think it's so old!!" Or take for example the lab partner love birds in my chemistry class who REFUSED to stop holding hands even for one moment durding lab. They lit their Bunsen burners, titrated acids, measured volatile chemicals, all with 2 hands between two people. I wanted to shout at them "Not to worry you two. Pretty sure no one in the class wants to date either one of you!! Now please let go of each others hands before you blow something up for cryingout loud!!" Yeesh, I am turning into the super serious, overly focused career college student.

Due to the nature of the degrees I'm obtaining, I am taking undergrad classes simultaneously with grad classes. So on the one hand, I am the older, let's get this over with you little twerps student, but in my grad classes, I'm the "Holy crap please don't ask me what I'm doing my manuscript on or what projects I'm conducting research for because I'm embarrassed to say I have no idea". Take my geriatric nutrition class, my first grad class ever. I am lucky enough to be in all my classes with 3 of the raddest girls on campus. We affectionately refer to the women in our geriatric class as "the hens" because whenever you ask a question, they all begin clucking at once and find that they (not the professor) more than likely have the best answer. This may be true, but you will never be able to find out due to the fact everyone talks at once and over each other and is trying so hard to look smarter than the other person that the question or comment you made will never really be resolved.We usually just end up googling it on some one's I-phone and so I suppose I should be sending my tuition check to Wikipedia instead.

All these grievances aside, I so love being back in school. I'm learning so much and it is a good lesson in humility for me. Also, I feel so hip hanging around these youngsters and picking up on their lingo. I can't believe I just used the word hip. In a blog. Good Lord I really am old.