by DavidClarke

Created on: February 03, 2009   Last Updated: February 17, 2009

I'm not going to lie to you - life as a mature student isn't easy; it's not a bad one either. I decided to return to university to study literature and media after ten years of traveling the world and working in dead-end jobs. That's ten years of life experience over my fellow classmates, and it was painfully obvious in the beginning - most of them had yet to experience puberty. Do not fret though - as they matured, I did also. New friends were made, some friendly enemies also. That's the great thing about university: you finally encounter the like-minded people you can share your arcane observations on minor languages and they understand you. They may not always agree, but at least there's dialogue. Isn't this one of the reasons one matriculates in the first place?

This goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: I spent a lot of time in the library. So be prepared to put the hours into the books if you decide to go to university. You may be lucky enough to know the Dewey Decimal System better than the librarians by the time you finish your course.

University, nevertheless, isn't all doom, gloom, and hours hunched over a desk memorising information, firing up the synapses in your brain. Students tend to party as a hard as they work. And rightly they should - equilibrium is important in life. Some brain cells may be damaged on the dance floor in return for all your hard work. Some form of social interaction is important to release tension. That's why you'll find your students' union or entertainments officers working their optimistic derrieres off to provide you with some form of relief from the convoluted language of theorists that will eventually become second nature to you by the end of your time at university.

Although the average four year degree may seem a lifetime, a lot of students dread their last semester and ultimate graduation because it means the end of an era, a rite of passage into the world with a new set of ideas and hope for the future. This can be a scary time for students, even the mature ones. Big decisions will have to be made. For the adult student, this feels like revisiting the transition from teenager into adulthood, but this time I can go anywhere, because have degree will travel. O, what a life is university life. I don't want it to end. Graduate school here I come.

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