Bittersweet

Today was the last day of classes. I feel sad about the semester ending but I'm not sure why. A lot of the classes were kind of bull sessions. Generally speaking, no one had done the (copious) readings so we ended up having long-winded conversations about semantics. What do YOU think corporate social responsibility means? Is it a real thing? What is a stakeholder? What is the role of morality in a financial institution? My friend Colm loves these philosophical meanderings but I don't feel like I'm learning anything.

I think I will miss class because it is an opportunity to talk to other students and the teachers. Otherwise, I go to the library, study, go home. Once I enter the dissertation phase, that'll be all I do.

There's an American student here, Ashleigh, who has made a tight-knit group of friends who do fun things on the weekend like go to Giant's Causeway and the beach. She's a Facebook friend, so I keep up with her social life. It's a bit unrealistic for me to want to hang out with 20-somethings (I've met all her friends in classes and they are universally nice and fun to be around). I guess I'm just aware of how it's weird to be a student when you really don't inhabit that world (i.e. live in a dorm and hang out with roommates). Class was the bridge between my world and their world, and now that's gone. I'll miss all these young, idealistic, funny people but I need to plough ahead into my own next phase.
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