Now let’s talk about the academic life of a student once the semester has started. Classes, lectures, assignments, projects, submissions, midterms, exams etc are the only words which you will hear once the semester is on. No time for anything else….sometimes you don’t have enough time to study also. It seems that the deadline is too early or near for you to complete your assignment or prepare for the exams. Slowly and gradually begins the real life of a desi student in US. Everyone gets engaged in the coursework so much that sometimes you don’t get to meet & talk with your roommates for 4-5 days (No kidding....ask my roommies). Night outs in the lab, banging your head with the pc to get your code working, trying hard enough to understand what’s going on but sometimes in vain, helping each other (or may be not), going to the TA (teaching asst) for getting some assistance (most of the time its of no use), flooding the message boards with all sorts of queries (I personally find it useful…not always though :D), struggling very hard till the end to get the output…these are some commonly observed phenomenon among desis just before few days when the project is due. Sometimes students even spend 24 hrs in the labs (ask me…I can write an essay on ‘24hrs@AFC’) forgetting about their hunger, thirst or rest. Thank God they have vending machines at all places which turn out to be really helpful during exam time. Library is occupied with students as it is the only place where one can study quietly and peacefully and can also sleep on the couches placed there. I liked to study in D.H.Hill library as we have ‘Hill of Beans’ (a coffee shop inside the libr) which is open till late and thus you can study till late:).
Studying, doing an On-campus job, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, managing your expenses and other stuff….all together makes it a tough life. At times you might feel homesick, incapable of handling everything alone and want to go back to your family but still you won’t give up and continue striving for the best. After one semester this becomes a routine and you get used to it. Fall break, spring break, celebration of Indian festivals, movies, picnic and other such on-campus activities give some break from your hectic and busy schedule, which is very important in life, but the struggle continues.
After one whole semester of hard work and efforts students are eagerly waiting for 2 important things….In first semester you wait for Grades and Vacation. You will learn here that perfection is the only key to success….one mistake and your GPA is gone. Although GPA doesn’t matter much but still you have to maintain it in order to fetch you an internship or a full time job.
During Second semester one will wait for Career Fair & Internship. In my view, job fairs help to a certain extent where one does get interview call/s from companies which may eventually lead to an offer. People try hard to get an internship as it aids in finding a full time job….but ‘Luck’ is one more factor which should not be neglected completely in this case. And finally in the last semester the two most awaited events are Graduation & a Full time Job. Graduation or the commencement ceremony makes you feel on top of the world…as if you have done something extraordinary (which I think I did:D coz pursuing MS and that too in US was not an easy task for me). One will really feel proud of him/her self after graduating. It is all together a great feeling after years of hard work and struggle.
