Along the lines of what this article is saying, life for students has changed considerably since I started uni in 1995. I lived at a college and on our 1st day we had to endure a harmless, yet juvenile, initiation; we got covered in mud and thrown in a bathtub full of food scraps. As undergrads, we never had spare money (most of us didn't have a job), we wore daggy and cheap clothes and our cars were older than we were and cost less than $1000. Mind you, we could get a cup of beer during happy hour at the Unibar for 5 cents! All college social and sporting events revolved around alcohol and if you got a grade of 51%, that was 1% wasted effort!
Now, all initiation rituals have been banned at colleges (not a bad thing), academic success is encouraged (again, not bad), and most undergrads I teach have part time jobs, tiny laptops, drive expensive cars, wear designer clothes and I see them sipping imported beers in the "cool" pubs on weekends.
Some change is good, some is not so good.

Did I miss something...what happened to thecoastman? I thought we were heading for a forum wedding.

Hmmm. I think jojo might be a little bit boy-crazy

I find that whenever I ask myself the question "Should I be drinking right now?" the answer is always "NO". You never ask that question when the answer is "YES".

You commuted for 2 hours? Each way? That is painful...that is 4 hours of travelling each day. That equates to one sixth of Monday to Friday spent travelling. Wow - it have been a great job. Hope you never forgot something and had to go home to get it!

Scamp, if you are concerned about not understanding questions, you could try doing what a friend of mine did. When she tutored she panicked when she couldn't understand questions (although she would have been able to answer any question on the topic), so she made slips of paper for people to write questions on at the end of each tute, and they went over the questions as a group the following class. Good for students who are afraid to ask questions for fear of looking like thickies too.

verdy - if I could do that for you, I would do it in a heartbeat!

sue- I wasn't doing my Michael Jackson moonwalk, we were moving a table and I had the going backwards end!

Tee hee, H. I have a similar situation with my boyfriend. He calls mine wobble bottom and the other day when I was walking backwards, he started going "beep beep beep" like a reversing truck!

It is such a lonely experience. hillyg says it perfectly...you are the only person who really cares about your work. Not your parents, not your supervisors, not your partner, nobody but you. The sooner you realise this, the easier it is. Good luck!

Verdy, I am not sure what you mean, but if you are referring to an eating disorder, then my heart goes out to you. I have never experienced one, but I imagine it is tough. Hope you are coping.

In answering this question, I found the remote control (missing for 2 weeks) for the stereo which is located at the other end of the house!

LOL at H. Expanding bottom is a huge problem for me too...by the time I finish writing up, mine will have its own postcode. Get bored, eat chocolate. Have bad day in the lab, eat muffins. Have bad meeting, eat cake. Experiment fails, eat lollies. Writers block, eat gelati. Any of the above, drink alcohol.

I am very lucky when it comes to my main supervisor. He is in the lab most days and is fine with us just walking into his office and asking for a chat, or we just talk over morning tea - usually for quick questions we have about methods or problems. He is very busy, but he always makes time. Long meetings are about monthly and we get a couple of days notice to prepare results and lab books etc.

In my first year I hated meetings. Lots of failed experiments meant I never had any results and it was awful to talk about my work. One day, he came looking for me for a meeting, and I hid under my desk from him! He was very good and just laughed as he pulled me out. Looking back, I now realise how patient he was.

What is chav?

Sorry, H, didn't mean to mislead you...my piglet has four legs, black fur and a waggy tail!

No way, that biological clock thing is a myth. I am 30 and still have no urge whatsoever. Babies still look like fat, raw, pork sausages to me.