wil-whatilearned

[wil-whatilearned]

Hi, my name is Wil. Well, this is not my real name, but let's pretend it is. It stands for "What I learned", because i want to share here weekly (hopefully) what I will learn in my my university STEM journey.

In September I will finally graduate in physics (a year late) , and then i'll start my master degree in particle physics. Now, I just have to finish writing my bachelor thesis.

An exciting path is ahead of me. I'm filled with hope but also fears.

I fear failure. In my bachelor's degree, I failed. There's no other word for it. I'll get a mediocre final mark, with a mediocre thesis (well, sometimes I think my thesis is great, honestly), after a mediocre university career. I started this journey without knowing much about what I was doing, but I studied. A lot. I studied every day, but definitely without knowing where I was going. Totally unorganized, skipping classes, and always running to catch up. Somehow, I managed to survive: my grades are not bad, not good, just average. Somehow, finally, I'm graduating, and honestly, I'm proud of this. I mean, I'll graduate in physics! That's not something that everyone can accomplish.

Now a new adventure is beginning, and everything will be different. I know where I went wrong, and I know what to do about it. This time I feel I'm ready.

Or maybe that's only what I'm trying to believe. Maybe nothing will change. In the end, everything might be like before, even harder than before (maybe next time we'll talk about this). Why should I succeed this time?

That's scary. It is, because now I know what it means to fail, and I don't want it to happen again. Definitely scared as hell.

Now let's see the bright side. I'll learn new exciting things every day. I love what I study, always have. And now I will come across new, hard, advanced physics. Next time I should definitely tell you what classes I've decided to attend.

So, I decided to start blogging. There are several reasons, but definitely the real one is because I need it. I chose to do it on Tumblr because maybe there's more chance that someday, someone will read my posts.

Now let's see why I decided to start blogging.

Immersion They say that if you immerse yourself in what you're doing, if it becomes a little bit of an obsession for you, it will help. I want to grow my passion for physics, and I think that talking about it can help me.

Practicing English The reasons are obvious. I read in English, study in English, watch English videos, but I never practice it. Maybe writing periodically in English is a good idea (and ChatGPT will supervise me, so if I write something wrong, you know who's at fault).

Networking… maybe? I don't know if someone will ever read my words, but in case they do, it would be cool to talk to someone about STEM interests. I'm a shy person, so my socialization in university was very poor, and there's not many people I can talk to about what I learn.

Journaling I need it so badly. This year has passed by without me knowing… How are we in August already? What happened? I really feel detached from time somehow. I need to track periodically what I'm doing and why. Maybe this can help me.

We are at the end of this long post. I don't know if someone will ever come to this point, but I already feel relieved. Putting your thoughts on paper really is liberating, isn't it? Two long years are ahead of me. The bet is my future. What will happen? Let's see.

I, really, can't wait.

(if you have read all of this, feel free to share to share your thoughts and experiences, if you want)