I'm trying to keep my eyes open after not getting more than a few consecutive minutes of sleep throughout the night. At this point I've already travelled for twelve hours, with another seventeen to go before I arrive in San Francisco and pre-departure training. I find it quite hard to grasp that I'm actually on the way. And when I do think about it, I find myself surprisingly nervous.
It's not the first time I'm travelling alone, moving abroad, learning a new language or finding myself in an entirely new context. Oddly enough, it's the idea of not going to school this year that makes me feel more insecure than I can remember having felt in a long while. The idea of temporarily stepping of what I jokingly refer to as the hamster wheel of life, of always trying to achieve something greater, doing something prestigious and striving after some sort of satisfaction based on measurable merits, it's frightening. On the other hand, I'm convinced that this is what I need to do. The possibilities and opportunities to learn and explore this year seem endless, and when I think about it clearly my, fear and doubts are overshadowed by gratitude for the adventure that is ahead of me.
To be continued…
