New Passions
Last Sunday, I completed my Oxford Seminars course, and I'm now certified to teach English as a second language!!!!!
The title of this entry is New Passions. It's been building for a few years: a desire to study abroad, a rekindling of my love for the French language, a broadened new interest in foreign languages and cultures, a thought that maybe I'd like to move to France after graduation, the opportunity to study abroad and travel last summer, and now an unquenchable thirst for adventure, travel, experiencing new cultures, becoming fluent in French, and now a new passion in teaching English.
Obviously I'm not in a hired position yet where I'm teaching English, so I don't know for sure, but just from the mock lessons that we did, I think I will love love love it.
Last Saturday night, our Oxford Seminars class went out after class as a kind of end-of-class party. It was the most fun I've had in a LONG time!
First, we went to a Chinese restaurant in Dallas called Caravelle. It's BYOB, and they have lazy Susans in the middle of the tables so you can share all of the food. This restaurant was NUTS. It was so packed with crazy Chinese people and others who were just crazy drunk. BYOB-- can you really beat that? We got there at 6:00 and stayed til they closed at about 10:30. Things were starting to get a little crazy, and it was amusing to see our instructor who was super drunk making a fool of himself by jumping around on the chairs and things like that.
Then we went to a hookah bar for a bit, then to a karaoke bar. Starting at the hookah bar, things got a little awkward with a guy in the class named Josh who was hitting on me. By the end of the night, I concluded that I absolutely do not know how to deal with unwanted male attention, because I don't know how to turn them down without killing their ego, yet I don't want to lead them on. This makes me a very confusing girl to guys I'm sure, as I probably send them mixed signals. Also makes me a cocktease sometimes, but it's all so unintentional and I don't know how to make it stop. And I was told by yet ANOTHER guy that I'm an intimidating girl for a guy to talk to. I've been told this by many guys in the past, and being intimidating is a hard thing for most girls to understand, but now I'm starting to accept the fact that I am apparently intimidating to most guys. And embracing it. And kind of being proud of it because it kind of means that whoever is going to win my heart is going to have to have some balls and really fight for my love. And yes my standards are high. I like them there. Because I know that there's a guy who will meet them, and he is worth waiting for.
Well that turned into a little side rant... but the point was that I've had a blast with the people in my class over the past few weekends, especially that Saturday night.
But back to what I was originally saying about my new passion...
These are some of the most interesting people I've ever been with in one place. I felt insignificant in the small amount of travels I've had compared to some of them, but then again, I think I was the youngest person in the class so it's ok. Some of the most interesting people, the most interesting stories, ranging in age, job field, and interests, ranging from working at orphanages in Ukraine, to studying in Italy and France, to the Peace Corps in Africa, to teaching English at summer camps in China, to my "taste of Europe" trip, yet all of us had similar passions. We are all passionate about moving abroad for various reasons. And it was thrilling to be with them.
The culmination of my new passion is all in a snapshot memory in my mind right now. Sitting at a BYOB Chinese restaurant, sharing wine, beer, a mini keg, tofu, frog legs, and lots of other interesting food (oh yeah, btw I tried frog legs. Texture of chicken, taste of fish. Tried them, they weren't terrible, but I don't care to try them again!)... anyway, and swapping stories of orphanages in Ukraine and the Peace Corps in Africa and traveling through 21 cities in Europe in 24 days.... this was one of the most euphoric moments I've had in a long time.
Remember the first few weeks of freshman year? When we were all like "Oh my gosh we're in the best major ever and everyone is so awesome and we're so cool for sharing the best passion in the world, and my classes rock and I have 50 new best friends!" This is how I felt. And it was refreshing because my passion for acting is almost dead. Maybe one day it will come back, or I will get into directing or teaching or something, but for right now I've got blinders on, and all I can see is the prospect of moving abroad and teaching English. And it's riveting.
On a side note, it also makes me wonder if I'm A.D.D. with my passions, and I can't live in one place or be involved in one field for more than a few years. Could be a problem later in life when I have a family and they need stability. But I think I do need a healthy dose of change every so often. But that's another story for another day! For now, I'm just loving having some free time to do things that I want, to relax, and to start applying for more jobs abroad! Wheeee!
The title of this entry is New Passions. It's been building for a few years: a desire to study abroad, a rekindling of my love for the French language, a broadened new interest in foreign languages and cultures, a thought that maybe I'd like to move to France after graduation, the opportunity to study abroad and travel last summer, and now an unquenchable thirst for adventure, travel, experiencing new cultures, becoming fluent in French, and now a new passion in teaching English.
Obviously I'm not in a hired position yet where I'm teaching English, so I don't know for sure, but just from the mock lessons that we did, I think I will love love love it.
Last Saturday night, our Oxford Seminars class went out after class as a kind of end-of-class party. It was the most fun I've had in a LONG time!
First, we went to a Chinese restaurant in Dallas called Caravelle. It's BYOB, and they have lazy Susans in the middle of the tables so you can share all of the food. This restaurant was NUTS. It was so packed with crazy Chinese people and others who were just crazy drunk. BYOB-- can you really beat that? We got there at 6:00 and stayed til they closed at about 10:30. Things were starting to get a little crazy, and it was amusing to see our instructor who was super drunk making a fool of himself by jumping around on the chairs and things like that.
Then we went to a hookah bar for a bit, then to a karaoke bar. Starting at the hookah bar, things got a little awkward with a guy in the class named Josh who was hitting on me. By the end of the night, I concluded that I absolutely do not know how to deal with unwanted male attention, because I don't know how to turn them down without killing their ego, yet I don't want to lead them on. This makes me a very confusing girl to guys I'm sure, as I probably send them mixed signals. Also makes me a cocktease sometimes, but it's all so unintentional and I don't know how to make it stop. And I was told by yet ANOTHER guy that I'm an intimidating girl for a guy to talk to. I've been told this by many guys in the past, and being intimidating is a hard thing for most girls to understand, but now I'm starting to accept the fact that I am apparently intimidating to most guys. And embracing it. And kind of being proud of it because it kind of means that whoever is going to win my heart is going to have to have some balls and really fight for my love. And yes my standards are high. I like them there. Because I know that there's a guy who will meet them, and he is worth waiting for.
Well that turned into a little side rant... but the point was that I've had a blast with the people in my class over the past few weekends, especially that Saturday night.
But back to what I was originally saying about my new passion...
These are some of the most interesting people I've ever been with in one place. I felt insignificant in the small amount of travels I've had compared to some of them, but then again, I think I was the youngest person in the class so it's ok. Some of the most interesting people, the most interesting stories, ranging in age, job field, and interests, ranging from working at orphanages in Ukraine, to studying in Italy and France, to the Peace Corps in Africa, to teaching English at summer camps in China, to my "taste of Europe" trip, yet all of us had similar passions. We are all passionate about moving abroad for various reasons. And it was thrilling to be with them.
The culmination of my new passion is all in a snapshot memory in my mind right now. Sitting at a BYOB Chinese restaurant, sharing wine, beer, a mini keg, tofu, frog legs, and lots of other interesting food (oh yeah, btw I tried frog legs. Texture of chicken, taste of fish. Tried them, they weren't terrible, but I don't care to try them again!)... anyway, and swapping stories of orphanages in Ukraine and the Peace Corps in Africa and traveling through 21 cities in Europe in 24 days.... this was one of the most euphoric moments I've had in a long time.
Remember the first few weeks of freshman year? When we were all like "Oh my gosh we're in the best major ever and everyone is so awesome and we're so cool for sharing the best passion in the world, and my classes rock and I have 50 new best friends!" This is how I felt. And it was refreshing because my passion for acting is almost dead. Maybe one day it will come back, or I will get into directing or teaching or something, but for right now I've got blinders on, and all I can see is the prospect of moving abroad and teaching English. And it's riveting.
On a side note, it also makes me wonder if I'm A.D.D. with my passions, and I can't live in one place or be involved in one field for more than a few years. Could be a problem later in life when I have a family and they need stability. But I think I do need a healthy dose of change every so often. But that's another story for another day! For now, I'm just loving having some free time to do things that I want, to relax, and to start applying for more jobs abroad! Wheeee!