Technically, I am still a student at RIT, but while I’m here in Maryland, I am a full-time hourly-paid employee for the University of Maryland. I haven’t spent as much time here as I have at RIT, so campus can still feel alien to me even at the locations I frequent like the gym and the student union. That’s because I don’t go to school here. Working at UMD hasn’t fostered the same kind of personal growth that I would normally get if I were attending school here as a full-time undergrad.

However, I have managed to still fit in and adjust easily. Despite my feelings of being disconnected from the student body here, I haven’t completely shaken off my status as a student. I currently live off-campus with two other guys who are students at the University of Maryland. I have a friend (that I met at RIT) here in graduate school, and I’ve hung out with him and a bunch of his friends. It’s nice to just be in that carefree atmosphere and have a good time. My co-workers are also young too, and fitting in with them has been easy ever since I arrived here.

I haven’t let go of my student stature, but I haven’t fully become a member of the working class yet. I guess I’m in a transitional state right now, but haven’t fully detached or attached to either side. I’m not sure what my life would have been like had I taken another job at some corporation. I don’t think I would experience the same environment or interact with the kind of people I currently do. The way I imagine it, I think my life might have been a lot less interesting.