What now?

Sometimes I think I'm cursed because I 'm constantly trying to understand how things work. I would like to see the world; to meets its people and scale its mountains. Someday I hope to take 2-5 years and backpack through as many countries as I can, all the time trying to learn and understand the different cultures, at least as much as time allows. People have often accused me of having no roots because I have a habbit of moving frequently. The idea of "settling down" seems to be a socially constructed requirement of life here in America. I see nothing wrong with trying to experience as much of the world as possible.

Time

The clock keeps ticking. The semester flew by but i don't know why i'm surprised. It always seems to. Just when I start adjusting to my schedule it's already time to start studying for finals. Papers and posters and presentations. The story of my academic life.

The papers aren't so bad and in many cases I enjoy writing them. Actually, I enjoy doing the research but sometimes the physical composing aspect tends to get frustrating. I was reading over some journal entries that I had written when I moved to North Carolina back in 2005. It was somewhat disheartening. Shallow and cliche. Of the two composition books I had filled up in the past 3 years, I wrote very few passages worth keeping. To me, this is a good thing because it means that I've grown as a student and a human being. I try to view the world with an open mind and have become more willing to actually try and understand people, rather then making false judgements.

One of the best pieces of advice I was given, long before I came to UNCW was that people should never stop learning at any age. I don't know who said it and I've heard it repeated a few times since I've been here, but I don't think I got full gist until recently. I hope to continue taking classes in anything and everything (at least per semester) for as long as I possible can.