I started studying with the OU in March of 2009. Now, just two and a bit years later and with my current courses drawing to a close I thought I would reflect back on the person I was back then and the person I am now.
The DouglasAdams quote, spoken in The Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy by Marvin the paranoid android, is rather apt. Paranoid is pretty much how I felt. Always A-typical of my peer group, not really interested in the latest soap plot or last nights match, preferring to spend my time watching the Discovery channel or listening to Radio 4. Always the one concerned about climate change and the issues of the day without really doing anything about it dispite a brief flirtation with anti-vivisectionists in the mid 80's. Always atheistic and failing to see why anyone these days needs to believe in a god I never made my views known feeling that, maybe, it was me that was wrong. Maybe it wasn't how people were supposed to feel.
Then I enrolled with the OU. Here I found like minded people who, whilst not always agreeing with me, allowed discussion of subjects that I felt strongly about. This lead me to realise that there is a whole sub-culture out there who feel as I do and share my interests. This made me want to explore more and make new friends. I have now joined a political party (Though at least one friend is sure its the wrong one) and actively will post petitions and stories that I feel strongly about. It has lead me to new Radio programmes where people who think like me air their views (www.littleatoms.com is highly recommended) and just last week I was at the uncaged monkeys gig, a show based around science and reason and found organisations like Skeptics in the pub that I probably would never have known about if I had never got involved with the OU.
In the brief time I have been at the OU I have changed emensely. I just regret not doing it 20 years ago.