academia

For the daily December meme, sheafrotherdon asked me what my most and least favorite things about academia are. End of semester is a great time to get this one out of the way, I think!

Least favorite first: I really hate how grad school/academia eats away at my emotional and mental health. I never felt this way during my masters program, so it's possible this is more PhD-specific? But oh man, in the immortal words of Aang, not fun. ( details you may want to skip )

I'm cynical about academia a lot, but my favorite thing- what brought me here and keeps me stubbornly fighting my way through- is the process of problem-solving and puzzling things out. I love brainstorming, sharing info, and unapologetically nerding with people who are in the same boat, whether or not we have the same areas of interest. It's often as (or more) frustrating as it is satisfying, but I find it inspiring to be around people with so much curiosity about the world and how things work.

PS: if you'd like to suggest a topic for me to babble about, I'm still taking prompts!