Don't you love the feeling of déjà vu? The French language-hijackers who adopted this word over into English had some good reason for not wanting to literally just translate over "already seen". I think it's for good reason, and I'm glad that I have some three syllable word to describe the feelings I'm going through now.
My after-college life up to this point has followed a pretty regular pattern of events:
1. Live in America for short time
2. Leave America
3. Work abroad
4. Return to America
Rinse and repeat.
For me this pattern has been the world of experience. I've had a lot of success to which I have to thank a thousand people, and I'm grateful for having lived the abroad life. The abroad life has taught me different cultures and about the interesting connections between people living all over the world. It has led me to new friends, new foods, new challenges, and new opportunities forward. I would never clear the history on my traveling-life browser.
Until now. (bum Bom BUUUUMM!) <-- dramatic squirrel!
What I've always been scared about is what happens after I stop traveling. What happens after I stop working abroad? Will I never work abroad again? Will the grass be greener on the other side, or will it be red, white, and blue? Will it smell bad? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? To be honest, these are questions that lie in a problem that a lot of people have in my situation. Secretly, most of them want to go back, find a girl, start a family... You know. The, dare I say it, BORING STUFF! (If needed for effect, play the squirrel video again.) Now to be honest, I don't think it would be totally boring, but I'm scared of getting that travel itch back once I've committed to a stationary life. That itch would make me stay up until 3 a.m. looking online for jobs in Asia or Brazil. Oh god! Brazil sounds really nice right now. Rational Nick... Can't I please just skip away for another year, go teach English down in Fortaleza and learn how to samba? I hear the feijoada is...
NO!!!
Now that you've had a brief trip into my conflicted itchy-feet head, you can start to imagine how I'm feeling about staying at Illinois State University for a couple years finishing my Masters in Political Science and Applied Community Development. I know I can do it and that I'll enjoy the program, but it's going to be the first time I'll have been in the States for more than three months during the past three years. However, there will be a huge number of Peace Corps Volunteers in my program with a wealth of knowledge and shared travel-itch to help me get through. Actually, I'll be living with two in my new abode. Whenever I get discouraged by a 15-page assessment of the U.S. Government's policy in the Middle East, I'll go to them asking for courage to not electronically sign that contract to go teach in South Korea.
So that's where I'm at. I'm thinking about graduate school and how much it's going to change my life in ways I can't expect, and I'm ready for the opportunities and the challenge that await.
(Zooooooom! Back to Costa Rica!)
I just got back from doing a week of community service work in the Osa Peninsula. It. Was. Tough! I picked up some shovels and in the process picked up some new calluses on my once soft hands. We dug roots out of beaches so the turtles would be spoiled in their nest digging rituals. We cleaned out gutters along a kilometer of rainforest trail. We got followed by spider monkeys swinging from the high branches above. We worked. We ate. We slept. It was a good hard week of manual labor that you sometimes forget that people do everyday. It was an eye-opening experience for the boys (most of whom had never done physical labor before), and at the same time it reminded me of how meaningful a day's worth of hard work can feel at night. Picture a slight rain, the sound of frogs that sound like wind chimes, and a nice warm bed. The Osa Peninsula is a magical place made possible by some badasses at the Osa Conservation Organization. I will be going back someday to visit. Definitely.
This weekend I'm getting paid to get my Advanced SCUBA Certification. What else can I say? This job had its perks.
I miss you all, and I hope you're all living the pura vida.
- Nick
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