It was a happier time back then.
School is easier in that you don't worry about life as much as making it to the next class on time and when assignments are due, exams start etc. It's kind of like living on autopilot according to your Daytimer. You don't have much time to tinker or use toys though.
EE in university was gross- I had to laugh they try to teach students how a transistor works with math. Spend a few lectures on Ebers-Moll equations. Nobody had an intuitive feel or breadboarded like I had years before. I got an exemption from the labs - they were gross. 3 hrs and then write the report on... Ohm's law and your 4 resistors which nobody knew the colour codes, that is not taught in lectures because you learn the "hands on" in the labs.
You don't study the 555 until 4th year. Unbelievable and then you see the professor with 1970 polyester slacks and
Shuron eyeglasses and you realize you are in a distorted space-time continuum.
But, as a student you are broke. Tuition has gone up at least 10%/year I figure.
Nowadays I see university students wearing nice fashionable clothes and I must have looked like a hobo in comparison. Looks were not so important back then.
I made the mistake of loving EE and trying to make a career out of it. Ended up working for many assholes and failed/failing companies. Boom and bust economic cycles are brutal.
Canada is a wasteland as far as EE and product development.
Now that I have plenty of toys- the components are so small, goodbye through-hole and good-bye quality, everything is disposable and made in china.