The wanderlust effect

So, exams are coming up really soon, but my preparations hasn't yet come up to par. My mind tells me to be anxious, i feel anxious. But i can't translate them into actions.

No this is not the classic case of procrastination, nor is it laziness, or sloppiness, or nonchalance, but rather the classic case of what i have newly theorized as "The wanderlust effect".

Had dinner with my China travel buds over a nice dinner at a Korean restaurant today when i told them about how unmotivated i was to even hit the books. And when i actually do, my attention span pretty much rivals the time when i was 12 or something.

So then what everyone said in reply was ->>> must be the travelling.

And outta all the people i know, these are the bunch of friends whom i know would understand all of my travelling woes and desires the most. You see, one is going to turkey next week, the other to san franciso and the other one, to calcutta to volunteer in a Mother Teresa shelter.

Well, they also happen to graduate with an arts degree, without any honours, and happen to love travelling to China as much as i do.

Before i start to side-track, i just wanted to pen down (virtually) my thoughts about this and why this could possibly be true to explaining my bizarre studying pattern.

As a communications student, i study about culture, about media, about globalization, and all its effects and impacts on the society, on politics, on the state, etc. While i must admit, that many of the theories and content have enlightened me to pressing world issues and shocking ailments of economies, it is actually painfully true that a few hundred university students, trying to cram out some essay in 2 hours about GLOBAL issues is not going to be of any value and use.

It may sound here that i think going to school is useless, but in contrary i think that in fact, education is extremely extremely important. Rather, my point is to say that examinations as such do not serve any purpose in creating a creative environment. On the contrary, discussion sessions are great. They lead to critical thinking, and possibly creative outputs and solutions.

But what do examinations do. (Test your knowledge on the subject. Yeah uh-huh, so what's next?)

Of course, i do not refer to all types of academic genres. Maybe just communication and media studies, or any others that can be placed in the same context as this.

I mean, how do these examinations even help students to develop research skills? Isn't going to university all about research and innovative thinking?

Well, the big picture i am trying to paint right now is that studying for exams make me feel like there is no progression and no ultimate goal to aim for. Because what i study, i don't experience, and therefore, i don't learn.

While, I cannot compare this to travelling because i naturally like travelling. I know for sure that travelling has taught me to read and relate, to read and act upon, to read and experience,

most importantly, to read and feel.