'Keep studying Love'

Today was an interesting day. I had to rush into uni to make it to my lecture on time. So, there I was, getting on the bus, my bag weighing me down with my textbooks while I had two more books balanced in my arms. As I fumbled for my bus pass to get past the bus driver and his glare I noticed an old man, (well, I say old, he was more middle-aged), make his way to the middle of the bus, sit down and strike up a conversation with a fellow student about university and her degree. On the student bus, he was the only aged face amongst the fresh faced, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed first year students. But this was not really an issue, and made my way to the back of the bus to find a seat and make my way into uni, yet again. Even so, I was transfixed on the conversation between the old man and the unsuspecting girl who he had sat next to and had begun to interrogate about her life at university, 'What are you studying?... Where are you from?... Why did you choose to come to Liverpool University?...' And she answered, with a weak smile on her face, all his questions, before he went off on a tangent about his own life. I smiled. It reminded me of one of them films. You know, where the kids in the film have that certain person on their street that always seems to be reminiscing about their life and all the 'crazy' things they did as a teen. He was talking about his life, and about how he wished he had gone to university.

It wasn't until I was getting off the bus that we made eye contact. Then his eyes moved down to the books in my hand. A smile broke on his face as he gave me a pat on the back and instructed me to 'keep studying, love.' Well, that was all he could tell me as the other students on the bus were pushing to get off. I just smiled, nodded and walked off.

I couldn't stop thinking about what he had said, 'keep studying, love' how he had only, just minutes before, been telling a girl how he wished he had made it to university.

It made me think.
It made me think about university. About education. I should, and I do, consider myself lucky to even be here, you know, after all they say education is the most important tool in life.

And it's true, what this is, where I am right now, is important. I mean, I'm paying £3,000 a year to walk out with a degree. This is some serious stuff. Yet some people aren't able to get this opportunity in their lives. My parents taught me from a young age to take school seriously, it's liberating, and it's certainly not handed out to everybody as it is here and I respect that view.


Peace.