Welcome to my world

Michaelmas Term: Week 9

At the end of 9 weeks of study for the MRes/PhD, here at London School of Economics, I have been tempted to start my blog so that I can give vent to my thoughts, emotions, and ideas. So over the past few weeks, what have been my impressions of life as a graduate student? First of all, welcome to my world.
The past few days have just passed in trance. You can imagine that I am swimming hard so as not to drown in this sea of knowledge. Clinging on to this steep and slippery cliff of proofs and axioms. Like a snail trying to cross the Sahara. Trying to survive in this world where everyday brings new brain teasers and thought experiments. Where conceptualizing in four dimensions is assumed a priori. Where you dream about getting engulfed in positive semi definite matrices and solving unbiased estimators as functions of sufficient and complete statistics to yield UMVUE's (Uniformly Minimum Variance Unbiased Estimators), by the Lehmann-Scheffe Theorem. Where you are expected to solve seven equations and seven variables and then run the problem on a computer to check your answer. Where Monday brings the submission of three assignments and Tuesday the receiving of the next three. Where weekends are special because you can get extra work done that gets taken away by the time spent in lectures and classes. Where you normally skip breakfasts and have late dinners. Where your mind stops working suddenly and you go blank. Where climbing stairs you think of step functions. Where all you want is an unbiased estimator. Where conversations start with Hamiltonians and end with Kakutani and Brouwer Fixed Point theorems. Where the Macro lectures are like sugar coated walnuts - sweet on the outside but bitter inside. Where people sitting next to you on the tube wonder what language the book is written in. Where you wake up and look up the Wald Test before brushing your teeth. Where life goes on from the research room to class room to LSE library to Netherhall library. Where you set two alarms for getting up in the morning hoping the subconscious will overpower the unconscious. Where the world becomes the exogenous variable. Where thoughts come and go in a flash. Where you only wonder and ask why. Where your mind expands everyday. Where a mind once expanded never returns to its original dimensions. Where an idea can really change your life. Where abstract theory can be touched. Where you think in the Edgeworth box and act on Bellman equations. Where only the river of creativity flows and makes its way past sharp bends and rocky obstructions. Where it rains everyday and you do not notice. Where the grass is not green and the sky not blue. Where you think about the causes of causes of causes of things assuming everyone else knows that you know that everyone else knows that you know that the grass is not green and the sky not blue. Maybe I am going mad. Maybe I am going. Maybe I am.