HONGLU DU: November 2008 Archives
Academia is a business, and "graduate student" is a job title.--"So long, and thanks for the Ph.D"
From what I have seen, have heard in the past 1 year, I have to admit that it is telling the truth. This definition has rich meanings in it.
It is important for graduate students to bear this in mind because only by understanding graduate school really well, can we survive in it! A guideline in business is that business man needs to act professionally.
So, similarly, the very moment when we entered the graduate school, we have to remind ourselves from time to time that we are now doing business in academia, we need to act professionally.
We are no longer college students, most of them always have a lot of excuses for not being able to attend classes, only do the minimum when it comes to homework,always expecting professors to make mistakes in classes... On the contrary, graduate students should take the initiatives to read more, write more, talk more and argue more, in a professional way.
In business, there a saying that "never have lunch alone." So is the same with academia. As a graduate students, we need to talk to more people, network with as many people as we can.In IST, we have a good environment for social networking with each other. On the second floor of IST building, there is a cafeteria, where faculties, graduate students and undergraduate students usually have lunch there. We can easily talk to anyone there.
I think that my life could be divided into two parts. One is the professional life, in which I work on my course work, my research, attend conference to social networking with other researchers. The other side of my life is my personal life, into which I do not want to add anything related to courses, research.
In my opinion, clubs are places where I can relax, truly enjoy the life. So today I will introduce my soccer club at Penn State. Below is one photo of the soccer team taken after one game :
Most of the members in this club are graduate student at Penn State University Campus. We come from different colleges and department. Some are from IST, some from biology, some from IE, some from Computer Science.... We meet every Saturday afternoon and play a game.
This thing I gain from joining this club is that firstly, I get a chance to exercise and secondly, gain friendship. The pressure of coursework and research make me unable to find time doing exercise during weekdays. The only excuse I can find for not working in Saturday afternoon is to meet my club members in the field:)
This is a community of interest,in which we share the same interests in soccer and we play soccer even the weather is bad. In the winter when the snow is heavy, we are willing to spend one hour cleaning the field and then play for another one hour. We help each other like brothers.
I plan to join more clubs in the future. I want to join a movie club because I like movies. I am looking forward to the new 007 movie Quantum of Solace!
In my opinion, clubs are places where I can relax, truly enjoy the life. So today I will introduce my soccer club at Penn State. Below is one photo of the soccer team taken after one game :
Most of the members in this club are graduate student at Penn State University Campus. We come from different colleges and department. Some are from IST, some from biology, some from IE, some from Computer Science.... We meet every Saturday afternoon and play a game.
This thing I gain from joining this club is that firstly, I get a chance to exercise and secondly, gain friendship. The pressure of coursework and research make me unable to find time doing exercise during weekdays. The only excuse I can find for not working in Saturday afternoon is to meet my club members in the field:)
This is a community of interest,in which we share the same interests in soccer and we play soccer even the weather is bad. In the winter when the snow is heavy, we are willing to spend one hour cleaning the field and then play for another one hour. We help each other like brothers.
I plan to join more clubs in the future. I want to join a movie club because I like movies. I am looking forward to the new 007 movie Quantum of Solace!
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