Fitting In

Each week I sit in an intimate lecture theater at Kelvin Grove. One or two dozen people scattered though the room in clumps of three or four. And then there's me. This is the worst part of my week simply because I don't fit in. I sit here for hours while the class analyses modern texts and I feel like I am drowning in a flood of literature and language from another world.
The way these people talk doesn't appeal to me at all. I don't speak in metaphors of "artistic vacuums" or begin my sentences with "I find that". I don't live with my head in a novel or with a notebook full of poetry and prose. I live for the real world, for people and for politics. As unpleasant as this experience has been it's given me an assuring sense of place within my own degree and has caused me to wonder if it is possible that others feel this way in my journalism classes.
While not always the most exciting classes (hello sub-editing), I do enjoy my classes, we talk about current affairs and hear from field professionals. It's fun, or at least I find it fun.
People often ask if I'm enjoying my course and with the constant stream of assessment and work it's easy to get overwhelmed and forget that I do enjoy it, but my elective has brought me to the belief that I do enjoy it because I have never felt like I don't belong. While I am not the most outspoken person in class, I always understand the line of conversation and feel as though I would be able to actively participate were I called upon or had I the confidence. Comparatively, in my literature class I spend the hours making myself as invisible as possible and feeling so lost I loose interest.
While stewing in my isolation of this class my outlook on more than this subject will often change. I find my mind wondering to its darker corners and much of my optimism will temporarily wilt. I feel detached from not only my class, but from society and from everything around me. Because I don't fit in I feel unworthy and inadequate.
This is the importance of a sense of belonging. When we feel like we belong our mind highlights the positivity in he world around us and everything is wine and roses. No suffering is as bad if you feel supported and included.
So I guess the cheesy and cliche moral of this story is to find people that you belong with and surround yourself with them. Do your utmost to make others feel included and recognise that the problem often isn't you but where you are.