in this analogy, America is a nursery
In case you haven't been following very closely, or have forgotten specifics, I'm flying to Germany on September 9th and probably won't be back until very late next July. There is still a possibility I may leave a couple days early to bop around NYC with Ed and Tim for a few days before I go. SO! If you want to grab coffee or a hug before I leave, please please please give me a call. I'm trying to fit in goodbyes where I can but I'm pretty busy and can use help on the socializing front.
Yesterday after work I drove to Detroit for the first time in over a month for a pre-departure meeting with the German advisor and the directors of my study abroad program. They wanted to answers any final questions we might have and warn us not to fall into the horrendous behavioral patterns some people had in the past. Of course I asked for more specifics. They alluded to lighting bathrooms on fire, throwing couches several stories off of balconies, and calling the German police Nazis...while being arrested for drunken brawling. Always probe for stories.
But a lot of the meeting was just hearing about what a wonderful opportunity it was for us, how we should travel as much as we can, eavesdrop on as many German conversations as possible, make friends who live in interesting places who can take us home for the holidays. They talked about trials and tribulations, how it would set us apart from our peers and how we'd have trouble reintegrating. But they were all so giddy on our behalf, even though they send WSU students on this journey every year - I asked what the orientation program was like and got some details but was told, "we don't want to tell you guys everything they'll do with you - we want it to be a surprise!" They grinned eagerly at each other while the students and I shot skeptical looks at one another. Good thing I like surprises. Professor Cobbs told us he'd be on sabbatical this year but we should call if about anything if we needed to - and if we didn't want to spend the money, e-mail him and he'd call us. "I'm coming to visit you all in the summer," he said, "and when I take you all out to dinner I expect to not hear a word of English."
And while I know their enthusiasm wasn't focused on me so much as on the program, it was nice to have that feeling that I was doing something worthwhile and my teachers noticed. Is it weird that in order to feel like I'm getting closer to the department I have to leave the continent? I ran into one of my German professors from last year as we were heading out and she stopped me to hug me good bye. After not seeing her all summer and only having had her one semester! Maybe I should have marched over to the Art History department and announced my impending departure. They could have taken a sudden interest in me too.
Three other WSU students are doing the Junior Year program with me - Krsna, Stacey and EJ. We went to Byblos after the meeting and discussed packing, what we would and would NOT miss about Detroit, and the sort of places we'd like to be able to travel next year. (Italy and the UK are high on everyone's list.) They all seem to have possible friend potential - and if nothing else, I suppose we'll always have Munich.
I know it's premature but lately I've been thinking about my next escape. I mean, after undergrad, how am I going to get out of Michigan? I know I've always had vague aspirations to grad school and the like but what if the money is a problem or I feel an academic burn out? I'm reading this book about a couple of tv writers in their 20s who decided to race each other around the world in opposite directions - without airplanes - and it's not super insightful or more than sketchy tour-guide informative, but it is fairly amusing and I am incredibly jealous of them. It's not the first time I have felt like this, but lately there's been a resurgence of my disinterest in any life goals other than seeing the world, traveling as much as possible. Which isn't so much shallow as totally unrealistic and juvenile and I should grow up and find a purpose in life (which makes me think of Peter Pan which makes me think of The Orphanage. Creeeepy.) So my question, I suppose, is this: do you think programs like JET (where you go to Japan and assistant teach english for a year) can see right through people like me who aren't ready to close the bedroom window and want to fly out into the night again? Um, yeah, I will totally throw myself into the study of Japanese language and culture for a few years if it means postponing the development of viable career options. Although the DNC tonight made me want to be President.
Maybe the real question I should ask involves the more imminent future:
How bad would it be if I just don't come back after this next year?