Ensconed in Graduate School

Summer is not the best time of year to write about the stress of graduate school, but I wanted to share an email exchange I had recently with my friend Josh.  He finished his masters a few years ago, but the memory lives on.

Each of the following comes from a separate email.  Josh (in red) begins by talking about women:

“I don’t know where they go after 25 - maybe some are inside watching television, some are married, who knows.  I think the smartest and (to me) most attractive are ensconed in grad programs and too busy to go out.”

“You wrote “ensconed” when I think you meant “ensconced”–I’m not being anal, it just conjured up images of women surrounded by/wearing/baked into(?) giant scones.  Sounds like something Larry Flynt would try to publish pictures of.”

“I actually did mean to say “ensconed” in the sense of being trapped inside some kind of pastry and subjected to high temperatures.  That was how I felt during grad school, at least.”

“I think I’m going to have to write about being “ensconed” in grad school on my blog sometime.”

“If you write about “ensconed”, make sure to mention the part about being devoured.  That was also my experience with grad school.”