A lot of people hear me say that I'm studying away for a semester, and they get all excited and (inevitably) ask where. You can tell they are picturing something like Europe or Spain...somewhere outside of the Midwest, for sure. I say, "Nebraska," and usually get something along the lines of, "Oh. What's in Nebraska?" Oh, stop. Your encouragement and enthusiasm are just overwhelming me here. What they don't understand is that this really is a big step for me regardless of how minuscule it seems to them.
This is going to be a semester of a lot of growth for me in ways that I just can't really know yet, but a lot of it in my own strength and independence. I do know that I am going to grow in friendships while I'm out there, too, and that helps my nerves stay in check.
It is hard to think of how much I will be missing at CUC though -- from the people to the random experiences that will translate into inside jokes and references to the neighborhood trees changing colors to the feeling of familiarity. It's really sinking in just how little I will be seeing of my family, too...especially the little cousins and a certain beautiful baby girl who will be walking (WALKING!!!) by the time I'm home again. It's no longer a short train ride home.
It'll be worth it.
~
In going where you have to go, and doing what you have to do, and seeing what you have to see, you dull and blunt the instrument you write with. But I would rather have it bent and dulled and know I had to put it on the grindstone again and hammer it into shape and put a whetstone to it, and know that I had something to write about, than to have it bright and shining and nothing to say, or smooth and well oiled in the closet, but unused.[Ernest Hemingway]~
No comments:
Post a Comment