t-minus three weeks
I should start taping a Post-it note to my forehead that says, “I leave on the 29th.” Really, I should. It would save people so much trouble. The answer to the next question, though, wouldn’t fit on a Post-it, and I feel like I could give a different answer every time.
“What are you most excited about?”
First of all, school. Just being in school again will be wonderful. It will have been five months by the time our first term begins! I’m excited about getting my tail kicked, and learning a lot, and reading lots of books that smell good. And I’ll be studying topics that are interesting and important, topics that brought me to school to begin with (if indeed I can get the tutorials I requested. let’s hope that’s the case). Potential subjects: Middle Eastern Politics, War Ethics, Christian Moral Reasoning, Theory of Politics, Philosophy of Education, C.S. Lewis, others that I can’t remember right now.
But if you catch me on a day when I’ve been daydreaming about traveling, I might say that I’m most excited about our two five-week breaks. Of course, funding it will be… interesting… but we’re drawing up tentative itineraries nonetheless. I’m planning on jumping into the world of CouchSurfing, and hoping to be able to stay in a monastery over Christmas (wouldn’t that be SO COOL?!). Potential locations: Israel, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Scotland.
Then there’s rowing and maybe climbing. I don’t know if I’ll really have time for both of those, but the idea is lovely, and some days I get awfully excited about it. And of course, there’s the not-being-in-America factor. I’ve been down with that plan for, oh, about nine years now. Also- living with friends, having our own flat, living in OXFORD!, packing*– I get psyched about all those things too. In terms of the bigger picture, I think that this season will serve to clarify and give direction to those aspects of my life vision and calling that have taken the backseat to schoolwork over the last couple years.
So in a nutshell, I’m most excited about… everything.
*One of my quirks. Environmental, not genetic. I’ve been the family car-packer since I was about 12, and I’ve come to enjoy the challenge. A wave of packing excitement overtook me this morning, in fact. A bit premature, I’d say, but I managed to sort through my closet productively nonetheless.
