Nerd-girl, how did you get so smart? I study!

About 4 weeks ago a doctor made this comment to me:

"Graduate school will be the most inspiring and educational time of your life."

I asked him why he thought this was so and he went on to explain that:

"You will never be surrounded by so many like-minded people who are just as interested and dedicated as you to learning, asking questions and overall curiosity."

I'm finding this to be very true. I'm surrounded by people that, for the most part, are very good reflections of myself. Sometimes my classmates say things and I'm like, "Wow, they are SO in my head right now." They do some of the same weird and quirky things that I do, although none of them are quite as weird and quirky as me.

The things that we laugh about are a bit nerdy, and no one else would find them funny or understand them. We ask a lot of the same questions about the things we're learning and about things we're not learning in our classes. We're in curious mode right now. We're all so interested in just EVERYTHING. We all want to research and learn and ask questions. I don't find this kind of curiosity amidst the general public.

To be honest, I'm often teased because I enjoy learning so much; I research EVERYTHING. My friend made a song about me called 'Nerd-girl.' It has a chorus and lyrics and everything:

Nerd-girl, Nerd-girl
How did you get so smart?
Because I study!

(Isn't that too funny?! He sings it to me all the time. I just crack up laughing)

The Internet is my best friend. I love looking up answers to my questions on the Internet. When I was financially strapped about a year ago, I disconnected my cable and did not watch television for over a year. I survived on only the Internet. To this day, I'm not much of a TV-watcher. If I get bored at home on a snowy or rainy day I hop on the Internet or read a book. It's very relaxing.

Last Saturday my sister asked me a question about Folic Acid and I didn't know the answer. About 10 minutes later she came back to where I was and, naturally, I was on the computer looking it up:

Sister: Are you looking up the question I just asked you?
Me: Yup.
Sister: (sarcastically) How did I know you were going to do that? I just knew would you have to look up the answer...

Anyway, the doctor was right about this being the best time of my life. I have very little money, no job (well, I have a part-time job) and no car, but I have loads of time to LEARN and I enjoy learning so much. I'm in a low pressure environment with positive, forward-thinking, inquisitive people. I'm so grateful for this time to really focus on what I'm learning. Last year, I worked full-time and went to school full-time to fulfill my prerequisites for this program and that was very tiring. Now that I have the time to just focus on school it's so enjoyable! And I can appreciate it all the more.

I enjoy all of my classes so much because I'm learning something incredibly interesting EVERY DAY. How many people can say that?!