Thursday, January 30, 2014

Watch Jobs

My charger got fried today. One part blackened, one part melted, and all parts dunzo. I'm thanking my lucky stars that I have the biggest surprise gift of Christmas '12 propped up on my knees to write this post. Mom, Dad...thank you for cluing Santa in on that one.

This also means no pictures until I can wrangle up a working charger. Rumor has it the closest Apple store is in Germany. So I'll be charger hopping for the foreseeable future.

I feel pretty dull writing up a whole post without any pictures. Uninspired, some might say.

Today, Craig (HoneyRock boss) asked about my biggest challenge since being in Lithuania. After a fairly lengthy blank stare, I came up with basically nothing. I mean, the toughest moment was seeing my parents sitting in our sunroom last Saturday as we FaceTimed. The kicker is (sorry!) while I really do miss them, it was literally the blue paint on the walls, wicker chairs, and the old wooden cabinet that got me wishing I was there for just a few minutes. These small peculiar familiarities got my noggin dreaming about home.

But still, the feeling passed relatively quickly and hasn't really hit since. My roommates are great. Food is fine. Classes aren't easy, but aren't difficult. The weather is cold, which hinders some of the long walks to the shore I had imagined making a part of my weekly routine, but it isn't as Arctic as the Midwest.

So maybe the bigger challenges are still ahead.

I very much see this semester as a quieter one, you know? While talking with Craig I also realized that I had cut myself from three and a half years of building commitments to events and activities and people at Taylor. Things just build up over the years and without even realizing it and time becomes not your own.

Being a senior - that's a post for itself, maybe even one of those catchy weekly posts like "Senior Thoughts Saturday" or "Simply Senior Sundays", you know the posts that bloggers do every week? Anyways, back to my point. Being a senior on a study abroad trip is weird. You get lots of weird faces and awkwardly phrased questions while people attempt to politely ask, "Why the hell would you leave a place like Taylor in the middle of your SENIOR YEAR to spend it with a bunch of people you don't know in a country you never paid much attention?"

Except I think this is so right to be happening right now. I've been grappling for words to answer that question and the best thing I can come up with is this: the past few years, confirmed by the past few months, has gotten me to a place where I needed a semester like this to take a breather and reflect and, in turn, look ahead.

Steve Jobs gave an awesome commencement speech at Stanford a few years ago which has had a significant impact on how I try to look ahead.

But really, watch Jobs.



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Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. // The Message