Epilogue

Posted by Krystyna Hunt in

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So, was it worth it?  I suppose so, although my experience at the College was very stressful.  I did learn a lot and was very productive which was probably more than I could have done just sitting at home.  But I was in a time warp I never managed to get out of.  So many things that make people remember college was not going to be my experience.  Often it has been the turning point of people’s lives – a place where they meet their spouse or best friends, or made invaluable career contacts that then shaped their lives.  None of this happened to me.

I had convinced myself that although I was going to be in an institution and system built for people much younger than me, perhaps these days it would be more mixed.  It was for some classes, but not for mine.  The social club most appropriate for me – The Mature Students Club - never did pan out.  Almost no one showed up to the meetings and eventually it fell apart.  The peer mentor program was not appropriate for me, because the only peers the College had available to mentor me were people 40 years short of understanding what I was going through.  

In some way the quality of the classes was disappointing.  The Introduction to Spanish Culture final semester elective was about on the level of watching stories about the Mayans on the History cable channel.  In fact a lot of my answers on the tests came from my remembering what I saw on TV about the Mayans and the Aztecs.  The class was amazed that I knew the capital of Costa Rica was San Juan.  Well, I have had 40 years of reading magazines and newspapers, and listening to the news and having friends who travelled there to discover that.  The course reminded me of something a travel agency would screen for potential tour customers.

Also the whole Journalism program cost me at least 30% more than I had planned.  Had I known that would happen it would have been a deal breaker.  I would not have gone through with it.

As of this date, I still don’t have a job and am $15,000 in debt.

I do feel more professional though.  I do finally feel I have a profession.  The support and confidence of my teachers was very inspiring.  I did pick up a discipline, a self-driven working rhythm and an understanding of non-fiction writing much more than I had before.  I have become more of a master of the craft and can easily hold my own conversation with any professional in the business.  The ease with which I communicated with the teachers has made that clear.  I am no longer a dilettante or a wannabe.  And it’s probably too soon to tell what the results of this are going to be.  We shall see.

Next post will be the Convocation on June 9th, as soon as I get all the photos of it together I will publish it.