November 2008 Archives

Is graduate school fun?

 

This question really depends on how you perceive your graduate life. I see some students(not in IST) who do not really like their research and have a very tough life. But in IST I see many senior students who really enjoy their life here.

 

Based on my perception, these guys have some common characteristics.

First, they love their research. They have a clear picture about the research they are doing and the future development of the research.

Second, they work very hard in office, they never waste their time in school and after they go back home, they can do whatever they want outside study.

Third, they have a lot of hobbies. Like soccer, fishing, travelling and so forth. They use their hobbies as their reward of hard working. One of my friend who is in his third year of PHD here loves fishing very much. Last week he had a very research proposal to finish which is really hard. He told me that he promised to himself, if he could finish the proposal on time, he will drive to a place in Maryland which is a very good place for fishing. And finally he accomplished the task.

 

So, what is graduate school funny for me?

I think one thing is the feeling of satisfaction. Everytime when I finish a presentation, a project, a paper, I feel really satisfied by myself and I love this feeling.

What's more? I like IST because I can know many people from different areas including business, psychology, computer graphics and so forth. I learned a lot from them and I am always interested in different areas as I have mentioned in my ealier blogs.

And, parites with friends are also fun. People from differnt countries or areas cook various food and talk about everything. That kind of feeling is amazing.

Finally, one great thing here is to talk with my advisor in our research. It is significantly exciting!!

Although I have been in State College for only three months, I have already joined two clubs.

The first one is Chinese Friendship Association Soccer Club. This club is organized by a student in IST, Leon. This club is very successful, we play on every Saturday afternoon at a high school in State College. In addition to soccer, this club also has a close relationship between members. I dont have a car now and everytime people will pick me up at my apartment and sent me back after the game. I get to familiar with many senior students in PSU who are very helpful in many aspects. Oh, BTW, although this club is organized by CFA, actually there are not only Chinese students in the club. If you are interested in soccer and wanna exercise regularly, this club is a very good choice.

The second one is a Chinese Qigong Club.  Actually, this club is organized by an American and most members are American. I was always very interested in the mystery of ancient Chinese Qigong. However, when I was in China I never found a chance to learn it. Fortunately, during the graudate school orientation, I met Joe, who is the organizor of this club and decided to join the club. I was really suprised during the first meeting because there are many American here in State College who are so intersted in Chinese ancient Qigong. What's more, they study really hard in Qigong and they do not just practice it, instead, they do a lot of research on it. They gather a lot of information including academic papers, video record, books about Qigong and try to think about why Qigong could improve human health. Since Qigong is from ancient China, many materials are in Chinese, but they study Chinese as well. Most of them could speak a little Chinese and with the help of electronical dictionary, they even try to understand those stuff. Which really make me feel that they are really serious about learning Qigong. Up to now, I have not entered the door of Qigong yet since it usually takes several months to years until one person could feel the Qi inside their body. But I wiill keep practicing.

Ok, these are two clubs that I am already in. However, there are still one club that I want to join which is the toast master club here in State College. Actually, there are three such clubs in SC but they are doing almost same thing. Toast master club is aimed to help members improve their ability of giving speech during various situations and finally become a toast master. Usually they meet one hour a week and the schedule of the meeting is really really tight. All the members in the meeting should give a speech for 3~5 minutes without preparation. After that, peers will give advice about everyone's speech. In such a stressful situation, gradually people will improve their ability to deliver speech and forget nervous. I think right now, my listening has improved a lot but my spoken English still need a lot of practice. Therefore, toast master club is a good choice.