On Tuesday I went to see my project leader again to discuss my project. It isn’t easy, of course, and it has taken me longer to understand the principle concepts than I had hoped. I still don’t think I completely understand, but it seems I know enough to proceed. That is good, but I’m greedy and want more!
One thing I noticed is that visiting my project leader for our weekly meeting felt a lot like having driving lessons. The anticipation is a nerve-wracking experience, but I’m fine once I’m there and we’re into the swing of things. I also make stupid mistakes and quickly learn from them! Most of all, getting it over and done with is a curious relief for the rest of the week. The only thing different is that with driving lessons I didn’t get as much homework!
But I guess that is what this stage of academia brings: more independent work. I’ve found it quite a big step from being taught by a person to being taught from a book. You can’t tell a book you don’t understand and hope it describes the problem in a different way. You can consult other books, but what tends to happen is that other books deal with it in an entirely different way or don’t deal with it at all. But then the lecturers are always quite approachable when you do have a problem, so I shouldn’t complain…