Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Am I Really Going to Class?

I have to ask myself this question frequently, because to be honest, I don't feel like I am going to class...I feel like I'm on vacation. The feeling of homework and reading doesn't feel like a vacation (it is actually quite hard getting used to this again), but seeing things like the US Capitol and the Washington Monument as I head to and from my class at the Smithsonian make me think that I am really on vacation. Even when I'm on "campus" I feel like I'm in an alternate or parallel universe, because it doesn't follow my conventional thinking of what a campus is like. I mean, street lights and crossing busy city streets? That's not school! My point in all this rambling is that I am just trying to find the ordinary, the things that make up a life, in a world where I am riding the metro, going to class at the Smithsonian, and where people do things like translate Arabic for their job, work for the FBI, work for the government, or any other such random, crazy things. I am liking it, don't get me wrong. I like school. I like where I live. People have been surprisingly nice. But I am still just trying to find that place where I feel like I am living in my life. Because I don't feel like that right now. This feeling may never wear off because the Washington Monument isn't going anywhere. And that might be okay too...I am a tourist discovering something new each day!

3 comments:

Katie M. said...

Reading this made me SO jealous! I would love to have the experience you are having! I have lived in Virginia/D.C. a few times in my life and I love it there. HENCE - our love for the Redskins!

Anonymous said...

What a life!

A said...

That's how I felt most of the time walking around Rome, like it wasn't real and was I really there? And now that it's been so long, it feels like a dream again. Enjoy it while it lasts! (or maybe you'll stay there forever, but enjoy it nonetheless:) )