Oh, man. With 47 pages of finals papers, Thanksgiving, a house guest, Christmas, sending Laska home, packing the apartment and moving into a new one (in backpacks, via several trips on the metro), it feels like I haven’t had one free minute since midterms to update this blog. It feels that way, but I took way too many naps to justify that statement. In any case, the abridged version of my past few months is that my usually family-oriented Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations were a-typical, but still full of warmth and friendly faces. It was really nice spending two weeks with friends from home; Vijay and I missed Laska from the moment we put her in the van to the airport and are going to have a really tough 6 months without her; my new apartment is basically the converted closet of an old aristocrat’s “family building,” but with a bit of work, I think I can make it feel homey; and I came out of the Fall semester with a higher GPA than I ever made in undergrad. Score.
The Thanksgiving crew
Swarovski Christmas tree at les Galleries Lafayette
My Christmas girl
After saying good-bye, once again, to the oil and gas industry and moving to Paris for grad school, 2012 held its own in my growing collection of unforgettable years. Even so, I know 2013 is going to be big. Actually, I have to keep reminding myself it’s not too big. In a few days I’ll begin my climb up Kilimanjaro. Four days after I come down from the mountain I’ll start my final semester of grad school. After graduation, I’ll get a few comfortable weeks in my parents’ American house with an enormous American kitchen, hopefully followed by the opportunity to travel somewhere completely different to conduct field research for my thesis. (Oh yeah, I also have to choose a thesis in the next few months.) But none of that is what makes 2013 feel overwhelming at times. Rather, it’s that the latter portion of the year is still so unresolved. I should turn in my thesis in August and have a nice, relevant job lined up for September. That alone is hard enough. Add into the chaos a fourth year med student whose residency placement is still a wildcard, and my post-grad school future starts getting very fuzzy. But, if we’re being honest, all futures are fuzzy, right? Crystal clear futures are only daydreams.
But I digress. 
All of this just means that after August I’m going to have to wing it for a while. But, that’s basically how I’ve lived my life so far, anyway. I applied only to the one college I wanted to attend, planning to “wing it” if I wasn’t accepted (which I was). The only major I was interested in was French so I went that route, figuring I could wing it afterwards and maybe even get some good travel out of such a degree. I did. After college, I planned a trip around the world that involved almost no specific sight seeing plans or itineraries. Just before I left I met a guy named Vijay and we “wung?” that trip together. It’s worked out so far.
I have practice in life improvisation and am eager to know where the climber boy, the puppy, the baby liger and I will go from Paris.
Bonne Anée tout le monde!
January 5th, 2013 at 5:55 pm
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing your life with us. You are exactly where you should be and it is really awesome how the universe rises up to meet us where our heart’s desire resides! Love you, neice Erin!!!