Its been such a whirlwind I haven't been able to think straight everything happened so fast I can't believe its almost over. As I suspected at the beginning working 5 days a week with a rotating schedule, having graduation parties to attend, family events, and what ended up being a whole lot less time to sleep than I ever had to deal with (and I was a college student on the crew team) - my travels through CT were put on hold. although I did visit more places than I blogged about whoops. I had much less free time than I anticipated.
I did see so many things during my brief travels and definitely learned a lot about myself and Connecticut. The main point that was really emphasized by not only the people I spoke to but also the culture of many towns was the importance of tradition and family. When I boil down everything I heard from people around our great state family and tradition was the overwhelming sentiment. Someday I think it would be a great project to pick up again as it was so interesting, a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be! There are so many hidden gems in Connecticut than people give it credit for(myself included) and it can be extremely easy to discount as boring if you don't know where to look.
What: working in retail, visiting friends and living with my family this summer taught me was to have courage in my convictions and to be more confident in my decisions. I made some friends, had some laughs and learned some new tricks. Month's ago I used to joke that I wasn't going to leave college without a fight, I was actually at peace after I got settled back at home. My School is just a bunch of buildings, but the college experience I loved and will miss is college; that is doing Teach-For-America in Newark, that is going to India for a year to study women in Rugby, that is going to Ireland to be a screen writer, that is working in the Manhattan, and the other million and one people doing amazing things. That is what I will miss, and as I learned this summer- that college wont end just because we aren't living together in that physical place any more.
Fast forward two months of working long hours, seeing people every other weekend, and a sudden realization of my love of Iron and Wine and you arrive at the end of July.
I did see so many things during my brief travels and definitely learned a lot about myself and Connecticut. The main point that was really emphasized by not only the people I spoke to but also the culture of many towns was the importance of tradition and family. When I boil down everything I heard from people around our great state family and tradition was the overwhelming sentiment. Someday I think it would be a great project to pick up again as it was so interesting, a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be! There are so many hidden gems in Connecticut than people give it credit for(myself included) and it can be extremely easy to discount as boring if you don't know where to look.
What: working in retail, visiting friends and living with my family this summer taught me was to have courage in my convictions and to be more confident in my decisions. I made some friends, had some laughs and learned some new tricks. Month's ago I used to joke that I wasn't going to leave college without a fight, I was actually at peace after I got settled back at home. My School is just a bunch of buildings, but the college experience I loved and will miss is college; that is doing Teach-For-America in Newark, that is going to India for a year to study women in Rugby, that is going to Ireland to be a screen writer, that is working in the Manhattan, and the other million and one people doing amazing things. That is what I will miss, and as I learned this summer- that college wont end just because we aren't living together in that physical place any more.
Fast forward two months of working long hours, seeing people every other weekend, and a sudden realization of my love of Iron and Wine and you arrive at the end of July.
Thursday July 28th - I get a call offering me the job to be the RD in Florence
Tuesday August 2nd - I move into campus housing
Sunday August 21st - I will fly out to Florence
So in the span of four days I packed up my entire room, got my finances in order and went back to school for
training. I lugged all my suitcases up one flight of stairs which was enough for me reconsider every single item I packed, there is no way I need all of those clothes! Especially if I am going to not only have to lug them on a 5 hour train ride, through the airport, connecting flight, and up six flights of stairs. No way Jose. I tell anyone who asks about traveling is to pack light, you need a lot less than you think you do! Only, I didn't take my own advise. Everyone re-wears clothes when they travel and you can always buy clothes there. However my logic in the extraordinary amount of things I packed (two of the largest suitcases I could find in JCPenny, a rolling carry on, side bag and purse all packed to the brim) is that.... and how do I put this delicately..... I am not of average size. I have on occasion (in jest of course) been compared to an Ent (a mystical tree in the book series Lord of the Rings) for my contemplative nature and tall stature. They don't exactly carry Ent-sized clothing in European stores as the average size woman I overshot by 8 inches before my freshman year of college. My choices are very limited when I comes to replacing the simple things like shoes, and pants which most people don't think of as difficult items to buy - I may just have to develop a stronger friendship with the mail-room than I ever anticipated. As for now though I feel like I have everything packed and ready for blast off at the end of August.
Foods I am packing:
Diet Snapple Peach Ice Tea
Peanut Butter
VitaCraves
Music I am listening to:
Mika - Kick Ass
Radar Brothers - Horses Warriors
Labrinth - Let The Sun Shine
No comments:
Post a Comment