Balancing the Academic Life with Friends

Phew! Midterms are almost done! I just have one more in about two weeks. And when all is said and almost done, regarding exams, I remember one thing after coming back to school after two years of working for it: focus is everything! Let's face it: time is limited. We're going to need to cut some excess and focus only on what is important in life if we want to be in control of our academic lives. For me, hobby programming doesn't even make the cut and that's very important to me. Which activities will make it for me? I know that studying everything again and again until it's mastered is important. Eating right is important and so is going to the gym and visiting with friends. Oddly enough, I feel most relaxed at the gym when under physical pressure and especially after a challenging work out.

Friends are an interesting topic when it comes to academic focus. I have decided that for the rest of this month and next, notwithstanding any previous arrangements, I will spend no time with friends who I can't further my core goals in life with at the same time. That means I aim to forget about watching movies with friends, doing nothing with friends, and the like. If I'm going to spend my time with them, I want it to count. There is so little time already, and as exams have proven, good marks in university are no joke. For those who have decided to enjoy their lives without a knowledge seeking goal, my white hat's tipped to them, but I unfortunately don't have time or wish to join.

It seems to me that it's not just what one does with friends, as a knowledge seeker, it's also who the friends are and who their friends are. We have a word for this: community; and that's also very important in the academic lifestyle. When the pressure becomes unbearable, I found that nothing beats, except for possibly exercise, surrounding one's self with a whole community of friends going in the same direction. Although I'm a Christian, I don't have any church community at this point in life. I live in another city, away from most of my family. I have fewer friends than I would like. Although I appreciate them (but not all the time), not all of my room-mates are close friends. But in all of this, I have gained something of immense value over the past week: community. It all started when I joined my friend at the university for a study session. As an aside, if that person happens to read this, she will know who she is and as she continues reading, I want her to think about how immensely I appreciate and love her without passing "the line." Before the study session, we went to the Computer Science Students Association meeting together. And what kind of personalities should we find here, pray tell? I still don't know about all of them but there are a few, and a few are many when it comes down to what I am looking for, who are tactful, friendly, commutative (yes, I should work on that one), and who seem to have taken charge of their lives, especially as they relate to school. For example, one of the individuals at the meeting used to be an electrician... Until he pulled his arm a bit too far and could never string wire in the ceiling again. Woops, there goes the career he built for himself in life thus far. What did he do about it? He went back to school for a computer science degree. Now having previously been established in life, our electrician friend is visibly older than the student body at large. That's not to say he's a complete old man yet. What I'm getting at though is that even though he is older than his fellow students in general, he participates in the student community as a friend who seeks knowledge and takes responsibility for what he can, given his surroundings at the university instead of using his age as a reason to go about his degree without being connected to other students. Now that, I have a lot of respect for too! Will there be others in this new community who are as incredible as the aforementioned individuals? I don't know, but at least they are all attempting to accomplish what I am: A university degree in computer science. When my mind isn't strong enough to keep the pressure at bay in the future, I'll be able to surrounding myself with this community and this community will remind me that the life I have chosen is fun and is possible.