and now I have to start working.

I hope to never become a person who assumes that simply because I am in the midst of something hard and demanding I am inherently "better" or "smarter." Smart has no value; perseverance does. Being in this ridiculous program does not make me superior to anyone else and its hard to talk to people who think that it does (when the statement "We deserve to be taught by PhDs" comes out of your neighbor's mouth, you know you are in trouble). The value of being here is not that it proves how smart anyone is; the value is that this program teaches you to work hard and do more than you thought you could. While dancing between egos I like to think about this. All in all, I like the person I am becoming here. Like pushing an orange through a sieve, hopefully I will become refreshing and pulp-free.