Wouldn't it be nice to be about 7 years old again? I envy that of my sister who is revelling in that very age right now. And it's not what you think - it's not my whole "oh-my-god-I-am-getting-older" tantrum. It's that I realize how exciting the world seems through her eyes, while I may sit at the exact same spot and just be in a slump.

As a kid, double-decker buses fascinated me. I mean c'mon, it's a two-storey bus! I've yet to actually ride in one, and I'd imagine that the day I do I'll be as giddy as I would be if I did it when I was younger. But it's funny to see how something now that seems so commonplace, makes my sister shriek with excitement.

You know that whole thing where when you're in a car looking at the moon, it seems to follow you which ever way you go? That was her biggest discovery a couple years back. Like a scientific breakthrough that only she had come to discover.

I think as an adult you lose you sense of subtlety and awe. Something only catches your eye now if it costs a lot of money. The worth of the world around us comes with a price tag attached. It's an inescapable truth. And sadly, we know as a matter of fact, that it will only get worse.

There used to be a time when university was an actual place of knowledge and learning. Some people were actually paid to become scholar. Most didn't pay anything at all. It seems know that all a university is, is a large conveyor belt that we pay ridiculous amount of money to be placed on, so we can go from one point to another to receive a degree when we reach the end stage. Despite putting out the image that university caters to individuals, it is actually a steel-crafted mold that we are all pressed through. Some will come out with perfectly cut and rounded corners, and those who do not will be weeded out through Quality Control.

This is nothing against the professors at universities. Some are just there to fulfill a requirement in their contracts, while others genuinely want to teach. It's very rare today to find that one professor who changes you're thinking path provokes ideas that you would have never come up with on your own. They challenge what you've already come to accept and bring about controversy within your own thoughts and hold the simple talent of engaging a mind. It's at that moment that you are in the midst of true learning.

Memorizing a list of experiments and studies will indeed help you pass your final, but it really hasn't done much else for you. Why do I need a professor to lecture me on a study that I am staring at in my textbook as he/she speaks?

I am excited to go back to school in the fall. But at the same time I'm looking at some of my friends and family who are soon to be graduating from college/university and have no idea why they've endured 3-4 years of countless courses which seemingly have no purpose, all in the end to receive a piece of paper with their school seal and name. I've earned a degree from the university I went to, but not much else.

I hope that I'm not discouraging people to go to university, because education is important in all respects. But, maybe we need to try a little harder to get more out of it. Unfortunately I seem to have realized this after I left. But, at the same time, I'm thankful that I have another 3 years coming up during which I can make more an effort to achieve more than just a degree.