With mixed and confused feelings I boarded the flight from Bangalore, India. In last 8 years I flew many times from Bangalore as an IT & Business Consultant. So why am I anxious this time? British Airways is a reliable airline, they serve decent food. ..So what is it that’s troubling me?
After spending 8 years in the corporate world I am going back to the classrooms as a student. I am making a paradigm shift from the corporate sector to the development sector and going to pursue my MA in Governance and Development in IDS, University of Sussex. Will I be able to adjust, behave and mold myself as a student? With all these mixed feelings I landed in Heathrow airport and from then on it’s a different life…..
The first week started with some introductory sessions on Banking, Security, Union, Career services etc…some informative, some repetitive. Later in the week we were greeted and addressed by International office, Vice Chancellor and his team. It gave me a feeling of being important and helped me to get into the student mode a little quicker. Then came the vibrant Fresher’s fair to lighten the environment further on a nice sunny day. The week concluded with a grand party for the international students at Brighton Dome, where we got the opportunity to meet city’s mayor and many more students. By now I have started trying my amateur cooking, hands on laundry and other daily chores.
Just before writing these thoughts I have finished one of my course readings. Without notice, without effort, I am already a student…..tracking timetables, running from one lecture room to other, taking notes, meeting professors and new students and remembering loads of new names of fellow student from various nationalities.
I am enjoying being a student after 8 years. I am experiencing that university offers various means of expression. Academics, social clubs, sports clubs, theater groups, student union….there is so much to do in this one year. I am feeling as if I got wings after eight years of captivity in a corporate jail.
Let me fly…and enjoy my flight.
