I'm sitting in the main living room at Pi Phi, lounging on the couches, and two girls and I are all on our computers "studying." The next few moments will be spent in this spirit.
One just googled "When does Hayley's comet come next?" ...that's the sort of work we're getting done currently.
But we have good reason to celebrate, at least for a few minutes: yesterday was the last day of class! My last day of my penultimate semester of college! One semester to go! I am thrilled and almost frightened (mostly exhilarated). I haven't a clue as to what I'm doing next year, not a one. My current options:
a. teach English
i. in South America: a beautiful, rural life and I get to speak my beloved Spanish
ii. in South Korea: make the big bucks but be far away from anything; and I don't find that area of the world particularly intriguing but I do like exploring, so it could be cool..
b. teach Spanish in the US
i. at a classical school...blah
ii. somewhere where Spanish is spoken, preferably. but this is Amuurica
c. marry a rich man!
i. where are the flaws in that plan?...beside the small fact we could be incredibly poorly suited for each other.
d. get a job I don't hate somewhere for a couple years. This is the normal option. I suppose my life must, at some point, appear to be normal. I'll have to adjust.
e. none of the above. (Help, please.)
And eventually I have to take linguistics courses with SIL and of course the myriad options are overwhelming: North Dakota, Dallas, southern California, Canada etc.? For goodness' sake. There's a lot to think about! But it will all be okay. It all will always be okay.
As the other seniors and I ponder (and/or freak out about) our futures, we are simultaneously juggling papers, exam studying and a few brief moments of social lives like the rest of campus. I wonder, do other schools look like this at exam time? Tear-stained or pale faces around every corner. Three hours of sleep in an entire week. Multiple twenty-page papers. Half-hour presentations on less sleep.
..some of this misery is self-induced. Procrastination is deathly and contagious. But there's still reason to have compassion on our suffering friends.
I congratulate myself on not being prone to procrastination. And by that I mean, I thank God. Yes, I did save a 6-page Spanish paper until two days before, but I had been thinking about my topic and researching a bit...so it belongs only partially to the realm of procrastination.
My roommate told me this morning, "You are one in a million." Not that I'm so special, like the unique snowflakes they told us we were in third grade, I'm just not be stressed by school work. "I am at least one in 1,400" I replied. Other students and friends practically scoff at me for not freaking out about papers and exams and grades and what our professors will think of us and GPAs and..and..things like that. I just have school in a different perspective. It is important and I want to do it well--we ought to work hard--but worry doesn't help me. If I'm stressed, I don't study or do anything productive. It doesn't aid me at all, like some people say it does them. To each his own.
When all the studying and not stressing is done, precisely one week from now Lord willing, I will be driving north. I am so looking forward to spending long, cozy evenings with dear friends, curling up by the fire place at my dad's, reading a good book or maybe knitting, visiting with my mom and her parents and eating delicious baked creations from my grandma.
I will have little time, and less money, to get gifts. I hope to get real crafty and whip up some great ones. It's the thought that counts, right? Except in this case, the thoughts should have been all thought up beforehand, and gifts purchased before I was down to the wire. (Procrastination?)
Having written that on my extremely necessary to-do list, it's now back to school work. And you, after having read this and procrastinated, get back to the books! You're almost there. In one week you will definitely have survived hell week and exam week. It's just college.
God bless us, everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment