ejpril88

I totally get it. I found a wonderful yoga studio in Chicago and already feel bad for having to leave in fall. This sounds really good!

@random_grad have you tried yoga? It might sound trivial, but it does wonders for both physical and mental health.

This!

@Cheshire_Cat what made you quit and decide to go back to school?

This is SO accurate and so depressing at the same time.

I've been in US only for one year and I didn't get a chance to meet interesting people. Besides my husband who is the same nationality as I am, I only talk to people in my office and don't share interests with them. Mostly because they are talking about food, sports and going to bars all the time. I tried to talk about something else but they weren't interested.

Please move to my future department, I need this I hear you. I don't have any dietary restrictions but I am trying to eat healthy and most of the time find it very hard. I work at a law office and every now and then they offer free cookies, pizza and pastries. @Neek I understand now. Thanks for clearing that up!

Me too I can't wait to start grad school and have meaningful conversations.

I'm doing great, it turned out I should have listened to a doctor who told me what to do more than two years ago, but it didn't sound reasonable to me at that time. My issues didn't have any (visible to others) physical symptoms, so no one knew I'm having trouble. I looked like a completely healthy person and only my closest friends knew what I was dealing with. The only "weird" thing about me was that I was trying to avoid sugar, so every time I skipped the desert, I had to explain - no, I'm not trying to loose weight and yes, I know that "just a small piece won't kill me". I am curious about Neek's experience because I can't imagine someone would be that rude to ignore people just because of their illness.

Yes!!! I will start my PhD this Fall and I'm really scared because many people here keep pointing out that grad students should work "minimum 60 hours". I would like to have a life besides school and I hope other people from my cohort will want the same thing. Your post is very honest and I like your advice to MaytheSchwartzBeWithYou. I'm curious about this part: "I feel very lonely a lot of the time and feel like there is no space for acknowledging my status as being a chronically ill grad student" Could you give an example of a situation when you felt isolated?

Hehe I won't, I'm not really into sports, although I could earn some extra points by saying that I'm Serbian, just like Vlade Divac (manager of Kings).

I can't speak for CS programs since I will start Communication PhD at UC Davis this Fall, but I can tell you my opinion about the university. I was admitted to both Purdue and UC Davis and had the same doubts as you, although Davis was my dream school from the very beginning. Purdue was a "better" school but I really liked the location of Davis and my potential advisor, so I decided to visit both schools. As soon as my bus arrived to West Lafayette IN, I knew that I won't be going there. Thankfully, I didn't like the faculty either, so I was 99% percent sure I will accept the offer from UC Davis. Two weeks after that I visited Davis as well and was blown away by beauty of the campus, professors and overall atmosphere. I can't wait to move there! As for my concerns, it turned out Davis is ranked higher than Purdue as in institution, it's just that I couldn't find my program at any ranking lists due to the fact it's very young and the last ranking for Coummunication grad schools was done 6-7 years ago. My advice is - visit both schools if you haven't.

@MaytheSchwartzBeWithYou I am sorry that you're going through this. As someone who was having health issues without a diagnosis for two years (luckily, it ended well), I know how hard it is, especially if you're anything like me and can't stay away from Google. What I noticed when I moved to US from Europe a year ago is that people here react much better to physical and mental illness and won't think you're weird. If you think your health issues could affect your performance in school, you can always talk to your advisor and tell them how you feel. I'm sure they can help.

Yes, I know what you mean I really hope my new California friends are going to be different.

The company I work for has more than 60 employees and there are only two conversation subjects - sports and food. All. The. Time. When I come to work in the morning, at least two people ask me "what did you bring for lunch today?". Then during lunch, they love to go into details about food, like "what kind of meat is that", "did you make your lasagna yourself or you bought it" etc. Before we go home for the day, the usual question is "what are you having for dinner tonight?". Let's say I respond "pizza". The next question will be "what toppings?" I say "Uhm... I don't know, ham, cheese, mushrooms probably". Then the question is "What kind of cheese?" This was a huge surprise for me, since I moved to US a year ago. I mean why does anyone care what kind of cheese will I use for my pizza The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that people don't want to talk politics and other touchy subjects and prefer small talk so they can stay on the safe side. I sure hope it will be different in grad school!