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Last night I dreamt about taking my oral exams in graduate school. I had just begun my studies at some place abroad, and my advisor was, of course, a cute little Asian woman, whom I could barely understand. I managed to gather from her that I had to take the oral exams straightaway, and would 2 am this morning work for me, because I could just wait around until then downstairs if I wanted to?
A little shocked that I had to take the oral exams only 12 days into my graduate career, I agreed nervously and went downstairs to wait until my 2 am appointment. Somehow my family arrived and we began to watch movies. At 4 am I looked at the time, freaked out, and ran upstairs. Mom ran some reconnaissance with my cute little Asian advisor and obtained a revised appointment sheet, detailing the fact that everyone else had taken longer than expected, and my appointment had been moved to 5:15 am. I breathed a sigh of relief and moved up to sit in line and watch the other exams.
Now, this is the crazy part. There was a line of chairs, where students were sitting in wait to take their exams. I was in the third one. At the head of the line, there was a wooden box on a stand, and inside it was a miniature model of the interior of a temple. My advisor was standing next to it. When the next student came up, suddenly both of them were inside of the temple, and the student had to, with no preparation or notes, respond correctly and formally to the Empress (my advisor) and carry out certain ritual functions. The whole thing was based on logic and "feel."
The guy in front of me had to bow to the three elements--Fire (or Light), Water (or Dark), and Earth (the Mother). Somehow this involved iron hooks and tests. For example, for the Fire test, he had to run across a floor made of lightning to sink a pair of iron hooks into the wall. When he did that, a panel in the wall opened up. He then vaulted through it, stepped through some fire or something, and came back down to rest on the Official Bench of Fire in the panel, which showed my advisor that he had successfully bowed to the Fire portion of the elements. Similar tests then occurred for Water and Earth. The guy was awarded a Master's Degree. Then I woke up.
I think this dream could safely be said to reflect the amount of fear and awe I have concerning graduate school.
A little shocked that I had to take the oral exams only 12 days into my graduate career, I agreed nervously and went downstairs to wait until my 2 am appointment. Somehow my family arrived and we began to watch movies. At 4 am I looked at the time, freaked out, and ran upstairs. Mom ran some reconnaissance with my cute little Asian advisor and obtained a revised appointment sheet, detailing the fact that everyone else had taken longer than expected, and my appointment had been moved to 5:15 am. I breathed a sigh of relief and moved up to sit in line and watch the other exams.
Now, this is the crazy part. There was a line of chairs, where students were sitting in wait to take their exams. I was in the third one. At the head of the line, there was a wooden box on a stand, and inside it was a miniature model of the interior of a temple. My advisor was standing next to it. When the next student came up, suddenly both of them were inside of the temple, and the student had to, with no preparation or notes, respond correctly and formally to the Empress (my advisor) and carry out certain ritual functions. The whole thing was based on logic and "feel."
The guy in front of me had to bow to the three elements--Fire (or Light), Water (or Dark), and Earth (the Mother). Somehow this involved iron hooks and tests. For example, for the Fire test, he had to run across a floor made of lightning to sink a pair of iron hooks into the wall. When he did that, a panel in the wall opened up. He then vaulted through it, stepped through some fire or something, and came back down to rest on the Official Bench of Fire in the panel, which showed my advisor that he had successfully bowed to the Fire portion of the elements. Similar tests then occurred for Water and Earth. The guy was awarded a Master's Degree. Then I woke up.
I think this dream could safely be said to reflect the amount of fear and awe I have concerning graduate school.
