Times are a-changin'
In my last post, I spoke excitedly about moving back on campus into a house with my friends, working with the Indigenous Students' Organization (ISOT), and the interesting courses I signed up for. Now that the future has arrived, my plans have changed a lot. I didn’t end up moving in with my friends--in fact, I’m still studying remotely. I’m also not enrolled in Metaphysics, which is a shame as it’s a pretty foundational class for philosophy, and one of ISOT’s advisors (also my boss) is leaving Tufts at the end of February. So you could say that things have gotten worse, and in a sense you’d be right.
Alternatively, I could also describe those same events in a more positive light. My friends and I are looking at some huge, affordable, cozy apartments for the next academic year, and I’m glad I get to spend more time at home because I probably won’t have the opportunity to come here often once I graduate. My classes -- Complex Analysis, Uncertainty Quantification for Large-Scale Computer Modeling, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, Miles David & his Musical
Proteges, Empiricism, and Newton’s Principia -- are all interesting and teach me some useful skills, be it in statistics and the modeling of complex phenomena or reading and analyzing arguments. ISOT is working on events with student organizations, and is making good progress with the university on determining what actions would best support the Tufts Indigenous community.
It’s important to see things as they are, the good and the bad. While this semester wasn’t what I expected it would be, it’s also surprised me in some fantastic ways. My math classes are all graduate-level and make me consider going to graduate school to study math. My future plans look bright, so long as I prepare myself for interviews and make sure my
housing group is well-organized as we keep looking for places to live. My time at Tufts is nearing a close, and even though I won’t graduate until 2022, I have to think about what I want from the time I have left and what I want after I leave. College is a special time -- you probably won’t be in an environment quite like it for the rest of your life, so it’s best to leave with no regrets. As the year moves along, I’ll update all of you as to how the job and housing search is going, ISOT’s progress on Indigenous well-being, and whatever interesting things pop up.