This Is Just to Say...

I guess I never did write about Minnesota, and I guess I never did write about the rest of the summer either. It was difficult to write because I was all over the place, really, and when I was home I tended to stay away from my computer except to work on my dissertation prospectus. In short, I went from Minneapolis to Atlanta (seven days) to Kansas (three days) to South Dakota (five days) to Kansas (two days) to DC (one day) to Turkey (ten days) to DC (one day) to Atlanta (five days) to Kansas (seven days) to St. Louis (one day) to Italy (twenty-one days) to St. Louis (one day) to Kansas (eleven days) to Minnesota (three days) to Kansas (seven days) to Atlanta (nineteen days) to Kansas (fourteen days) to St. Louis (two days) to Kansas (one day) to Freiburg, where I am now for the next 66 days. I guess it will be nice to be in one place for a while.

I wish there were some easy way to sum up everything that happened. I want to tell you about the chicken breast desserts and the ancient ruins and the bison and the giraffes having sex and the spontaneous picnics and feeling like I belongand seeing my closest friends and sinking feelings of despair and celebrating my grandma's birthday and relishing brief moments before flights. I guess, in short again, it was great and at times very difficult, and for the same reasons. To be away from Atlanta for a while was nothing short of wonderful, but it was also miserable. Fortunately, though, I think it will work better the next few months.

I wasn't surprised at how familiar Freiburg still is for me, since it was only four years ago that I was here, but I am surprised at the emotions it instantly awoke. Flashes of memory, I guess, and the feeling of grasping for something. I suppose things I had since buried. Two months will definitely be sufficient. I'm in better shape this time, I think. I wish I could say the same for my spoken German.

The newest and most foreign thing for me is actually to hear myself tell people that I'm working on my dissertation. It didn't seem strange to say that I was working on my prospectus, but it is strange that I have passed that point. I knew since a very young age that I wanted to pursue a doctorate (hardly a surprise given my parents), although at times I've wanted to be a neonatal nurse, a cardiothoracic surgeon, and a baker. And now here I am. I am writing a dissertation. I feel too young. But it's exciting and I'm doing it it.