My Graduate Student Life So Far

My Graduate Student Life So Far

Time flies and it has been forty days since registration. I arrived at school two days earlier on the purpose of better adapting to the environment. Though I was not new here, a year’s separation still made this university somewhat unfamiliar to me. Wandering around the school, I was at a loss. Thinking that if there were other possibilities like finding a job directly after graduation or going to other universities for postgraduate education, what would the life be like?

Something certain is that I come back to go on study with a clear aim. I’m determined to be a high school English teacher in Zhejiang province. And I intend to obtain the teacher certificate in the first term and prepare myself for teaching both theoretically and practically this year.

In consideration of the last year of being a student, I planned to spend most of the time in studying and acquire two more amateur skills like yoga and photography. But things did not go as I expected. I chose to be a monitor to charge something irrelevant of my original goals. Accordingly, almost half of the time of this year will be sacrificed to perform duties.

However, there is no regret because I am sure that every decision has its meaning. And I will enhance abilities of dealing with things and different people. Most importantly, the time management among study, work and life will be improved. But still, when all sorts of things pile up, I am under great pressure and wonder that my teacher Shirley must be busier than me and how she could be so effective in balancing work and life.

In September, the homework and reading was easy to handle and I was able to do morning exercise in the playground at six which was a really wonderful time with relaxed body and mind. Fortunately, I lost 2 kilograms. But from the national holiday till now, no more time is left for jogging. Apart from filling daily duties, only little time is for homework and the teacher certification examination. That’s a huge challenge and I am working on to improve my efficiency. And sadly, I put on more 2 pounds.

Recently, the annual gathering of English literature scholars was held in our college and I was responsible for the volunteer allocation and other chores. Last Friday I worked with Professor Wei till midnight in the office. I left for the dormitory at 12 and I was so sorry to hear that she worked till 4 o’clock in the next morning alone. What magical power does all my teachers have? How can they change lifestyle from busy living to smart living? I long to be that person of energy, enthusiasm and efficiency.

There is an important lesson I learn from this volunteer experience. If you are the person in charge, the most crucial thing is work allocation. Different tasks need to be assigned to different people according to their advantages and abilities. Instead of being tramped in the concrete details, you’d better be at macro level. Otherwise, you will be in a total mess.

In the next three weeks, I will focus on the preparation for teacher certificate examination and try my best to complete the academic requirements. There are two more life-long goals which are reading more books and losing more weight. And I am ready for the harsh winter.