I think I'm a real student now.

It's 11:03pm. I'm sitting in the TA office on campus. I just finished writing a three page paper that assesses a debate about causes and effects as discuessed in two journal articles. Or something like that.
I came into the office a little after 8pm to start working on this paper.... THREE hours for a three page paper. This is by far the longest time I've ever spent on a three page paper. The reason this paper was so difficult and time-consuming to write was that we were required to be extremely concise regarding a very deep, extensive topic - the professor is trying to teach us to not ramble on (bullshit, if you will) about stuff that doesn't matter when we're doing academic writing. (Funny... I'm pretty sure there is a lot of bullshit in a lot of academic writing... hopefully, I'll be different!)

Here's the ironic thing. Right now I feel SO energized. I'm going to do a final run-through tomorrow and then print off my four copies (this paper is actually a draft, which we will critique in groups and then revise to make the final draft... we're also doing this with lit reviews).
*Anyway*...
When I was an undergrad, I think I might have been up past midnight doing homework/studying... twice? three times? (I was up past midnight frequently for many other reasons completely unrelated to schoolwork.) I wonder what this grad student experience will be like... I had a lot of fun thinking about this paper and writing it... it was like soc theory... I had to actually think about it before I did it.
Yay learning!

I was thinking about Gustavus/my undergrad career in another sense today too. Earlier this evening in class, we were discussing the option we have to attend various sociological conferences that are held around our great United Stats. The national conference is in NYC next year. (Waahoo.)
Unfortunately, many of us graduate students are unable to attend because of financial limitations, and there's really no way for the school to fund us. Our professor admitted sadly that many public schools, even "big ten" schools, don't have the means to fund these types of trips.

And I thought... Damn... DAMN, I was so fortunate to go to Gustavus. We were undergrads... and we easily raised (and were given by the student senate) more than enough money to send people to these conferences! Fuck! (My former-Gustie friends, if you're readings this... we were SO lucky!)
As frequently as I heard complaints about the financial state of Gustavus, it's pretty obvious that the funds abounded.
Money may not directly buy success, but it sure as hell can buy the means that generally facilitate success... then again, I guess this hinges on how you define "success." I'm not going to get into that right now.

Oh, Gustavus. While you can be a snotty bubble of upper-class, blonde liberals, I still love you very much. Thanks for teaching me how to write. Thanks for giving me so many study abroad options, and conference attendance options, and honors society membership options, and cafeteria food options.
Basically, thanks for teaching me about the plethora of options I will have in my life, and also for teaching me so much about the world so that I can have a fighting chance when it comes time for me to decide which options and opportunities I will follow.