Some people collect records, coins or dolls, but I collect places--be it a new street I've never driven down or a new country I've never had stamped in my passport before (that would be most of them). I get so excited to go to new places and see new things and I feel so grateful to have been allowed to go on this adventure with such a great group of people.
Yesterday I was thinking about how long I've been waiting to go to this Salzburg Seminar. It's been almost a year and a half. I first read about it on the TCC website when I was living with my sister in Muscat, Oman in December of 2006. I remember going into her room and saying, "Hey! I think I know where I'm going next....Austria!" She laughed at me, but here I am, 18 months later, packing my suitcase for Salzburg.....
....okay, I admit, I'm not literally packing my suitcase. In all honesty, I probably won't do that until an hour before I go to sleep. I'm one of those last minute packers. I hate laundry and folding things and figuring out what to wear. It's requires way too much brainpower.
And speaking of brainpower, I had to use a lot of it to make it through this oft' harrowing semester. Dr. Wood and Mrs. Hunsberger made absolutely sure to prepare us in every way, shape and form for whatever might be required of us during the next week. I just finished my speech journal and it finished out at 43 pages--practically a small book. (a lot o' fun to grade, I'm sure!) So yes, I feel at least mildly confident in my own abilities as well as the abilities of our group as a whole to do well at whatever surprises we encounter.
I don't actually have a lot of concrete expectations for what my experiences in Salzburg will be like. Whenever I imagine how things will be in the future, it never, ever matches up to reality, so I've adopted a strict policy of surprise. Whatever I encounter will be totally unexpected and new! It's worked well for me so far. I'm completely open to whatever happens. My only real expectation is that I will come away from this trip with some new relationships, new knowledge and new abilities for understanding the world I live in and how to improve it.
My only worry is that I will want to cram as many interesting experiences into one week as possible and we will only be able to do so much. I don't want to miss anything! I suppose I can always use that as an excuse to come back if I feel I've left anything out.
I guess I should also add under the worries category that I am a teensy-weensy-bit nervous to present my accumulated knowledge about listening styles to Carol (I'm definitely bringing my textbook). But, you know, other than me "teaching" an experienced professor about a subject that she is already incredibly familiar with, it shouldn't be a difficult project to research during the seminar. I'll just get to watch people. ; )
Yesterday I was thinking about how long I've been waiting to go to this Salzburg Seminar. It's been almost a year and a half. I first read about it on the TCC website when I was living with my sister in Muscat, Oman in December of 2006. I remember going into her room and saying, "Hey! I think I know where I'm going next....Austria!" She laughed at me, but here I am, 18 months later, packing my suitcase for Salzburg.....
....okay, I admit, I'm not literally packing my suitcase. In all honesty, I probably won't do that until an hour before I go to sleep. I'm one of those last minute packers. I hate laundry and folding things and figuring out what to wear. It's requires way too much brainpower.
And speaking of brainpower, I had to use a lot of it to make it through this oft' harrowing semester. Dr. Wood and Mrs. Hunsberger made absolutely sure to prepare us in every way, shape and form for whatever might be required of us during the next week. I just finished my speech journal and it finished out at 43 pages--practically a small book. (a lot o' fun to grade, I'm sure!) So yes, I feel at least mildly confident in my own abilities as well as the abilities of our group as a whole to do well at whatever surprises we encounter.
I don't actually have a lot of concrete expectations for what my experiences in Salzburg will be like. Whenever I imagine how things will be in the future, it never, ever matches up to reality, so I've adopted a strict policy of surprise. Whatever I encounter will be totally unexpected and new! It's worked well for me so far. I'm completely open to whatever happens. My only real expectation is that I will come away from this trip with some new relationships, new knowledge and new abilities for understanding the world I live in and how to improve it.
My only worry is that I will want to cram as many interesting experiences into one week as possible and we will only be able to do so much. I don't want to miss anything! I suppose I can always use that as an excuse to come back if I feel I've left anything out.
I guess I should also add under the worries category that I am a teensy-weensy-bit nervous to present my accumulated knowledge about listening styles to Carol (I'm definitely bringing my textbook). But, you know, other than me "teaching" an experienced professor about a subject that she is already incredibly familiar with, it shouldn't be a difficult project to research during the seminar. I'll just get to watch people. ; )
Austria, here we come!
