Nearly packed

I've been at work, but not hard at work - I've actually been relaxing most of the time. But nevertheless, I am pretty much done packing. I'm on target for package weight, and things are looking pretty good. It's hard to believe that in just a few days I will be leaving for Botswana. I think the weirdest part is the realization that I'll be gone for such a large chunk of time. It will be about a month and a half longer than the time I spent in Bodie, and I highly doubt that anyone is going to come and visit me this time around. :) But other than a bought of nervous disbelief, I'm rather excited to be leaving soon and I really can't wait. The weather here has been helpful: it warmed up and even got all rainy today. Perhaps it's not as warm as it will be when I get there, but it's rather warm for winter, I'd say.

Happy Christmas!

I just updated my travel blog, Learning (in) Tswana, and I couldn't help but write a bit for this one too. Can't help it, because I have to be so monotopical and formal for that one. Well, as formal as I can be, anyway. :) I have seven days from now before I'll be flying off to Botswana. My prayers include a swift journey with no delays, and I am hoping dearly that I will not get stuck in London with snow... Things are coming together pretty well for the trip. At church we asked some recent travelers to Africa what they did for malaria pills and they said they had extras that they would gladly give me. And they're the good kind, with few side-effects, and that you only have to take one day before and one week after. Perfect for any weekend trips I may take out of the safe-zone of the city. They've enough that I could take two such trips, and a purchase of a pack of my own will gain me a few more.

I got a Lonely Planet Botswana-Namibia guidebook for Christmas: very excited about that, it's got a whole big section on Gaborone, where I'll be, and what to do there; and I was excited to see a map of the city and realize that the UB campus really is just a couple kilometers away from the downtown. I purchased myself a Christmas present from Barnes and Noble, The Joyful Christian - a collection of 127 C.S. Lewis readings, one for each day I am in Botswana. I wanted an encouraging book and I asked God to make it obvious which I should pick up for myself, I figure having the exact number of readings to ponder each day of my journey was pretty significant. After all, 127 is a rather strange number to pick for an anthology.

Perhaps the most joyous part of my time home so far has been seeing family and friends - particularly my nephew Garrett, who is most enjoyable, and whom I am betting will choose "hello" as his first word, because he's almost got it already. But I have also enjoyed seeing friends, like my dear Erin Cooke, and cousins that I haven't seen in quite some time - or which I just saw at Thanksgiving. Either way it happys me very much. :)

Now, I've got just one more week before I go. My packing list has been approved by my parents, and I will officially start packing tomorrow, along with the laundry that has been piling up next to my bed. Of course, I also have to finish unpacking from school (it's mostly done, it just needs to be properly stored), and it wouldn't hurt to go through my clothes drawers and weed out anything that I can get rid of, considering that my t-shirt drawer is barely staying shut at the moment. I am so excited to be going, and at the same time I can't believe that this is really about to happen. If I think about it too hard, my heart starts to race! It's all so thrilling! Anyway, I'd best be getting to bed - I've a big week ahead of me, and I don't want to be too sleepy to get everything taken care of that needs be!

Fantastic news!

This morning as I was lying in bed we got a phone call. When I came downstairs for breakfast my mom greeted me with fantastic news: my dad got called back to work! He'll start back on the 3rd of January, which means he'll have to hurry back home to bed after dropping me off at the O'Hare airport on the 2nd, but I don't think I'll mind too much. It's not like I don't know what to do with myself in Chicago... The only catch is that health insurance won't start again until I'm en route to Botswana, so it won't be much help in getting malaria pills for any out-of-city travel that I do while I'm there. But I figure that's a small price to pay in the long-run. What a blessing that my dad can go back to work, and what a blessing that he got to spend this summer visiting my sister, his sister, myself in Bodie, getting work done around the house, around Grandma's house, and at church, being able to donate so much of his time and skills for others, and being able to spend all this Christmas with his new grandson Garrett - all without taking any time off or using any vacation time.

God is good. All the time.

Finished and Through

I'm waiting for my episode of Dharma and Greg to load, so I figured I'd type a bit. The last 24 hours have had such mixed emotions: the success of my final run as Frostine the snow-woman; my panicked attempt at studying for the Cell Bio exam; saying goodbye to Marlee for a really long time; making homemade whipped cream and drinking hot cocoa with Bekah while watching Jesus Christ Superstar on youtube; taking my Bio exam and getting it done with; lunch with Professor Ayot at Tre Kronor; and now packing up all my things to move out tomorrow, with goodbyes to random friends at intermediate moments throughout. It's weird because usually when people leave at this time of year, they'll see each other in a month. I won't see anyone for at least six, and possibly nine. Crazy.

Almost there!

I am so close to being done! Yesterday I wrote my Pre-Study Abroad Seminar paper, last night I finished my 1960s term paper. All I have to do today is write my essay for the Mexican History exam and prepare my answers for the 1960s exam, both of which will take place in actuality tomorrow. After those it'll be just one more, cumulative, Cell Biology exam and I'll be done! Mind you, that's the biology exam that my professor informed me I could get 19 questions wrong out of the 100 that will be on there and still have an A. Woohoo!! The end is in sight!!! I can't wait for this week to be over. There's so much non-school things I have to do and want to do before I go to Botswana. This finals week is really just an obstacle right now. I want to do be busy doing other things... like Christmas shopping and packing!

By the way, for those who are interested: I'll be posting on a travel blog (I'll still post here more regularly, don't worry) while I'm in Botswana. You can find that here.

The Wall

I think I've hit it. After a semester of hard work and determination, I think I've finally come to that point where I just don't want to do my work anymore. Funny, I'm just a week away from completing everything, and now it hits. Sure, it was setting in over the last couple weeks; creeping up slowly until I found myself sitting on a couch, surrounded by books, and doing... absolutely nothing of consequence.

But I suppose it was bound to happen eventually, and, as every year, I'll get through it. I'm so excited to be done this year. I feel like this year, especially, I have accomplished so much academically, and to see the fruits of my labor will just be this grand, phenomenal thing.

I've got a lot to do before the end of the semester, and yet I don't think it's all that bad. My senior thesis needs to be all ironed out and turned in on Monday; I have to write an essay for that darn pre-study abroad class for Wednesday; my 1960s term paper needs to be completed for Thursday, along with an essay for Mexican History; and that's about it, aside from exams. This semester is going to finish so fast. And in three weeks from Sunday I'll be flying out from O'Hare...

Time is going so fast.

Then one morning you just wake up...

... and realize that it's finally here. After all the fall, all the death and decay, there's something beautiful and new. And you know that when this clarity clears away, some brand new bit of life will come springing up from the ashes of what was.

It's finally winter, and I realized that I hadn't posted in awhile, so I thought I ought to. It has gotten cold, but I did not even realize it. I was walking around in 13 degree weather with just a down vest and a sweater to keep my arms warm, finding it curious that my face was somewhat bitten by the air.... I was under the impression that it was still in the 50's - or at most the 40's - and I still feel that way, despite my temperature gauge informing me that it's currently 20 outside. I suppose I don't really care how cold it is - at this point I'm just happy to be out there every chance that I can get.

This Sunday I cooked some traditional Dutch food and told the story of Sinterklaas to my roommates, who left their shoes by the front heater for him and found them full of candy the next morning. :) On Monday night I presented my senior thesis. Granted it's still 4 pages too long, I at least have it completed, which is nice. I also picked up the motherlode of books that came in for me at the library and commenced the writing of my term paper for 1960s and American Culture. I figure if I write two pages a day this week, I'll be able to edit it and print it out on Saturday and be done with it, just like that. That way I'm not too overwhelmed. Things are finally coming to a close this semester in my classes, and I am so looking forward to finals week and being able to relax and not have work to do.

Next semester, next summer, and next year loom large in my mind. I am excited for Botswana - I started a packing list during presentations in my capstone class! I've started to drift into daydreams about flying there and what I'll do and what I'll see, who the people will be like that I meet, praying that God will give me a good roommate and friends who enjoy the sorts of recreational activities that I enjoy so that I'll have someone to go on adventures with, praying that I'll pick up the language right away. Lots of little occurrences happen to me now - little realizations - like when I realized that it might not be easy for me to find a church service in English, depending on how common the language is down there, and I might really have to stretch myself in that regard.

I am excited for next summer and the hopes that I have for it. I sent out my application to Bodie last week, and I'm hoping that there will be a spot open for me there, that the car-sharing idea Cecile and I came up with will work out, that I'll be able to explore new wilderness - but also to save money for my last year of college. And I hope that a second summer working there will be just as good as the first, even with all the changes that will have taken place by the time I settle in once more.

I am excited for next year, recognizing that it is my last year of college. I can't help but think about all the possibilities there will be. Questions bounce around my mind, however. Big questions. Questions of where I'll live: if I'd rather get an apartment of my own than live with several other people, rather finish in December or stick out the extra semester so that I can soak up extra opportunities. Is it worth the cost? I think it is, but I suppose I cannot be completely certain. Could I get an internship my last semester? something big? the Native American Cultural Museum? The Field Museum?

Forgive me for getting excited, but I can't help but think beyond that either. What will I do when I graduate? Go back to Bodie for another summer, possibly. But then what? Get another SCA internship? Go to NMU for an environmental sciences degree? Start applying for positions? Do I try and find a state park in Michigan, or explore state park systems elsewhere? Or do I aim for the National Park Service straightaway? What about the parks in Canada? And when am I going to go on that National Parks road trip I've been planning? How does that fit in with all of this? Of course, those are the kinds of thoughts that I need to let hang out to dry for now. I can take them in later and see what they washed out like. Because really I don't need to start thinking about all that until a year from now, when I'll be sitting in my home, enjoying the rest and recuperation of finals week and the lead into it once more.