Important Things: Comings and Goings.
From Israel
I can’t for the life of me remember the last time I made a substantive post - something I seem to remember saying before each and every substantive post I now make - but here, in a quasi-bulleted list, are my recent comings and goings as well as some plans for the future:
The Past
~.~
+ After much planning and to great acclaim, my brother married Fanny Hunter Howard, his long time fiancé, in early December. It was, I have to say, among the nicest weddings I’ve ever attended, although in truth as Best Man I may be a little biased. ^^
+ The following week I completed my last semester full of graduate-level coursework at the University of Florida - with straight A’s no less - whose final projects I had presented the week before.
+ Although this happened much later it does follow thematically: as of last week I was accepted as an independent transfer student at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), where I will begin to finish my degree in April.
- Thus, as I type this I’m still a UF student (I’m even taking one course online this semester), but even that too is fleeting.
+ The end of December (and indeed most of January) found me in Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Territories by way of Orlando and New York. Thanks to an immense amount of good fortune I was able to secure a spot with a Taglit-Birthright program of an unusual design -focusing on Peace, Pluralism, and Social Justice - and although I have been back now for almost as long as I was gone in the first place, I am still grappling with everything I saw there. I have a great many stories to tell but even more thanks to offer; were it not for the kindness of dozens of people spread across three continents my trip would have been a far emptier and lesser thing.
+ Since my return to Gainesville I’ve been volunteering at a few local non-profits - as you may know I can’t handle too much free time - and it has been wonderful. Honest. I’ve been so preoccupied with work and school over the last few years that I forgot how good it feels to give back, even if only a little bit.
The Present
~.~
That, more or less, brings us to the present. I’ve been back in Gainesville for a little less than a month now but because of ITESM I’m already planning to leave: my lease expires on March 10th and so too does my time in Gainesville. Part of me is sorry to see it go, this my first true home, but with Mexico on the horizon at times I can’t wait to leave. The future is so tempting, so promising, that I just can’t wait.
The Future?
~.~
March 8th-13th: Spring Break will find me and a few friends camping in Great Smokey Mountains National Park by way of Gatlinburg and Asheville as the first of two roadtrips.
Early April: The second roadtrip is one with an open-ended return, if at all - some friends will accompany me on my way to Monterrey by way of New Orleans and Austin (where they will fly back and I will go on to the US-Mexican border).
April 14th: My first day of classes at ITESM!
Important
After that things are pretty much an open book. My schedule stands to be fast and loose for the first few months and I want desperately to see as much of the country as possible, so I’ll go just about anywhere. Proof of concept: trips to Mexico City D.F. (May) and Chitzen Itza (July) are already in the works!
If you, dear reader, would like to meet up with me somewhere, anywhere let me know. Truth is, although I’m fortunately enough to already have a few, I’m looking for more traveling companions starting… now!