I'm pretty sure this terrible phone picture was taken on Aaron's very first day of residency. Look at that cute physician tag on his ID and his sweet, optimistic face! It's been a long 2.5 years since, full of demoralizing weeks and terrible hours (my thoughts on medical training: it's legal hazing), and we can't wait for it to be over. And now we know where we'll be going when it finally ends:
NORTH CAROLINA!
He's going to be a Duke Blue Devil!
We are psyched at the prospect of affordable housing, lots of job opportunities for yours truly, and the possibility of having a dog. See you in June, NC!
I'm making plans, a year in advance, to grow a garden on the rooftop patio of our future Philly house. I asked Aaron what I could plant that he would actually eat (he has an aversion to almost all vegetables) and he said edamame! Like the Japanese soybean edamame! Whoa! I guess he was won over by the free appetizers we got while waiting for an hour to be seated (when we had made reservations) at the Japanese shabu shabu restaurant in Anaheim with all the chemists.
So come next May I'm going to plant tomatoes, basil, parsley, strawberries, and edamame. And we shall be so trendy with our Japanese soybean crop. (did you know you can freeze edamame? rad. we shall be trendy all year long!)
Anyone else want to be a gardener? What are you planting?
Tonight there are so many thoughts rattling around in my head that I can't decide what to say.
Today I read poetry and watched "Lost" and read the Book of Mormon out loud in French and visited friends and a sister and felt sad to be leaving this little valley in five months.
French still feels delicious on my tongue, I still like e. e. cummings, and I am still nervous about making new friends. And not having Becky around to cut my bangs or offer me clothes. Because Aaron's going to be very busy in med school. And if I don't get into grad school and have to just get a job instead, I may be very not busy. And I do not want to resort to baking cookies all day. Or start taking piano lessons. Or start watching "Lost" from season one again. Or scrapbook (although, actually, I would like to compile all my photos and ticket stubs and brochures from Europe sometime).
Thoughts or tips? I am just so terrible at making small talk with anyone. In fact, sometimes I just don't like talking to people at all. And I am generally terrible with change (even switching from glasses to contacts was traumatizing). I know that it will be a grand adventure and that Aaron won't let me become the ward/neighborhood hermit, but I can still be sad on Sunday nights.
Aaron and I are starting to think that the whole American Heritage (me) and Econ 110 (him) are soooo hard!!! thing is just a myth perpetuated by bitter freshmen. Maybe it's just because it's the second week of the semester. Or the fact that it felt like EFY when my professor asked a couple students to come up to the front of the class (of 300+ freshmen) and tell us all their dreams and goals ("solve the energy crisis! go on a mission! get married! have a family!"). Or the fact that the reading required for last week's lecture was a grand total of six pages. SIX PAGES. Shall we compare that to my biochem reading for last Friday? We shall. Five chapters of skimming and one chapter of in-depth reading. That brings us to a total of 116 pages.
I'm sure things will get more difficult. But sometimes I just think after surviving all of my chemistry classes that nothing else will seem hard.
Here's an update on mine and Aaron's plans for the next year:
He's already been accepted into Washington University in St. Louis, and we're waiting to hear back from U Penn in Philadelphia. We're pretty much set on going to one of those two schools. I've applied to the chemistry PhD program at Wash U and Penn, as well as the master's in teaching program at Wash U.
It's weird actually, because by the time June rolls around I will have accomplished every major life goal I've ever had,* and I sort of don't know what to do with myself after that. Get a PhD (if that's what I end up deciding I actually want to do). Have kids. And make sure they're good kids. That's about all I've got. Maybe I'll take up wake kiting or something (right, Jody?)
Thoughts? On American Heritage, adding to your bucket list, or life in general?
*These include: winning at Blackpool living in France getting married graduating from college
I didn't get much further than putting in my name and address.
But I think beginning an application at all is enough scariness for one day.
*Anyone else totally obsessed with this song? You know the one, "I've got the magic in me. Every time I touch that track it turns into gold..." Because I thought it was so obnoxious for about two weeks. And now I love it and play it every time I pull up grooveshark. It's just such a confidence booster or something.
I'm torn. I am so, so glad to be home. I'm so happy to be back with Aaron. And I am so happy to start throwing myself into rehearsals and working in the lab and planning my school schedule and figuring out my life and everything else.
But I miss France. I miss hearing French everywhere and reading signs in French. I miss saying "Bonjour!" and "Au revoir!" when I enter and exit stores, elevators, buses. I miss eating jambon/emmental/beurre baguette sandwiches. I miss walking around the centre ville. I miss the metro. I miss the Mediterranean Sea. I miss weekend train trips. I miss the taste of French on my tongue and pastries in my mouth.
To everything there is a season I guess. My season in France is over. Must keep pedaling the bicycle forward or I shall lose my balance, a la Einstein:
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving."
Keep moving keep moving keep moving.
Can't help it; mostly I just want to sleep.
I sort of don't have time to write anything because I'm supposed to be finishing up a 15ish page paper that's due tomorrow (I'm on page 4). But, I just couldn't stop myself from sharing this card that I bought as inspiration from the used bookstore next to Zachary's in Berkeley:
Okay. I'm sure as heck going to try.* 391 paper, you are about to get burned!
*When I showed this to my friend Sam he said, "Seems like a dangerous thing to tell a chemist." hahahaha, good thing I'm not a pyromaniac.
The order is fairly flexible on this, just as long as they both happen.
Oh, and seeing "Wicked" from the center second row...most definitely awesome. Almost as awesome as touring the above school, buying two Jhumpa Lahiri books for less than $10 a piece at the used bookstore next to Zachery's Pizza, and seeing the amazing lab of a Nobel laureate at UCSF.
I swear I never want to go home.
Next up: Genentech, shopping, cream puffs. We know how to have fun.
This morning was the tour meeting for the ballroom team where we talked about our upcoming tours to Southern California (2nd week of October), and the British Isles next May. The guy from performing arts management also mentioned what the plan is for next year's summer tour...
Asia. meaning: Thailand Vietnam & possibly Cambodia and Singapore.
It is enough to make me want to stick around another year.
I'll have to take that into consideration when planning my life...
Gah, I hate coming back from trips. I hate unpacking, I hate having to wake up on time again, I hate returning to the same old. I hate the let down of knowing it's over, you're not going to go watch that amazing Russian couple dance tonight, you won't see Katusha's perfect reverse wave. Just as you get all excited and hyped up on ballroom, you have to come home and start thinking in numbers and figures instead of feelings and movements. Everytime we go to a huge comp like this someone always says, "They're great dancers and all, but this is their entire life. I don't envy them at all." And you know what, sometimes I disagree. I wonder what it would be like to live ballroom just for a little while. When I'm not thinking about anything, I'm thinking about ballroom. I'm planning my next dress or how I'm going to do my hair for the next comp or what I'm going to do to improve that back break in rumba. I love it. I love it. I love it.
It kind of scares me to think I'll have to give it up someday. I don't know how I can.
P.S. Way to go McCain on the VP pick. We'll see how much the liberals are for a woman in the executive branch when she's a conservative. :P
