How bittersweet to be writing this. In essence, the fact that I seem to be attracted to the road less traveled; meaning, for those who don't know, I am off to spend a semester abroad in Germany studying at a technical school called Hochschule Konstanz (Technik, Wirtschaft und Gestaltung = Technology, Business, and Design) in Konstanz, the state of Baden-Wurttemburg. I will be taking classes until the first week in July, after which I hope to travel for a week or two before returning to summer in New England.
Bitter[sweet], because every college student my age has a little bit of FOMO (fear of missing out) on anything that happens back at home. A trivial worry, in the grand scheme of things. But the feeling that we live in this bubble for four or five years, in which every event seems to be magnified in importance, severity, insanity, is hard to pop until we graduate and are thrown into life beyond. Studying abroad helps I think, but ultimately I guess I'm trying to validate my feelings of wanting to be in two places at once.
[Bitter]sweet because, after a twenty-month hiatus I get to go abroad again (I know, poor me... I'm so spoiled). I'm a person of habit and I love routine, but another part of me loves everything new, all the time; changes, every day. Another part of my brain is telling me that I like to travel in order to avoid happenings at home, to avoid commitment maybe. Take that as you please; maybe later I will elaborate but right now I don't know how to.
For those reading my blog posts, feel free to tell me I'm writing too ambiguously. I was watching some Ted Talks last night, one of which was about how introverts tend to prefer "contextually complex, contingent, weasel-word sentences" (if you couldn't tell the speaker is an introvert) as opposed to the extrovert's black and white, concrete way of communicating. I had to look up the word contingent... but I realized that is how I like to write, because... doesn't it make me sound smarter? Maybe in reality I just don't know what I want to say! To be clear though, I don't categorize myself as a complete introvert... I prefer ambivert;).
This I know for sure, that I will miss all the WPI seniors who have impacted my time at school thus far, and good luck in "life beyond"! (@Gabi Hoops, @Juliana Cabello, @Carly Neeld, @Knox, @Katie Nugent, @Carly Dykstra, @Kendra O'Malley, @Steff Halfrey, @Katie Dunphy... and more unmentioned)
Thanks for listening! Plane is boarding soon :)
