Back in October, I asked Rich if he wanted to adventure through Asia with me. We've been friends since the first week of college. Six months ago, we admitted to ourselves that we probably would be jobless right after graduation (we were right), and we recognized that a trip like this would be difficult to take once we have jobs and wives and lives to worry about. So we booked the flight in November, and then booked shorter flights to get to and from Taiwan and places to stay, and we read a ton of information on what we're going to see and do and eat and experience. Japan's a place we both really wanted to see, but since we're flying that way anyway I also really wanted to see Hong Kong, and we decided to stop a few places in between as well. The final list: Five cities. Hong Kong. Guangzhou. Taipei. Kyoto. Tokyo. We leave next Thursday.
Before we head out into the land of dim sum, temples, and bullet trains, though, we have to graduate. Senior year of college comes to an end Sunday. I've had a great time here at college, but I'm ready to leave. I'm just not sure what's next. I've been applying to jobs across the country, and I've applied to graduate school, but I'm not completely sure what I want yet. I hate all this uncertainty, but it's also pretty cool that I have no idea where I'll be just three months from now. It certainly helps that so few of my friends know what they're doing yet, either. I take comfort in being part of the clueless masses who will toss their caps in the air on Sunday afternoon. Since this trip's been planned since November, though, it's provided a few weeks of certainty in an otherwise very confusing time in life.
Author Junot Diaz came to talk at school this semester. Before he started the formal portion of his talk and reading, he chatted with my creative writing class about writing and school and careers. He told the graduating seniors in the class that this is the start of free-form living. Prior to graduation, there's been a script to follow, and the script's been there since we've been old enough to make any sort of decisions on our own. Wake up, go to school, do homework, have summer vacation, go to college. Then what? Then everyone starts going in all different directions, and some people go to graduate school and some find jobs and some join service programs. Monday, the day after graduation, is my first day of living without a script. It's the first time that there isn't really any pressure to choose one decision or another, and I'm finally free just about anything I want to on my own. It's the start of life unscripted.
Before we head out into the land of dim sum, temples, and bullet trains, though, we have to graduate. Senior year of college comes to an end Sunday. I've had a great time here at college, but I'm ready to leave. I'm just not sure what's next. I've been applying to jobs across the country, and I've applied to graduate school, but I'm not completely sure what I want yet. I hate all this uncertainty, but it's also pretty cool that I have no idea where I'll be just three months from now. It certainly helps that so few of my friends know what they're doing yet, either. I take comfort in being part of the clueless masses who will toss their caps in the air on Sunday afternoon. Since this trip's been planned since November, though, it's provided a few weeks of certainty in an otherwise very confusing time in life.
Author Junot Diaz came to talk at school this semester. Before he started the formal portion of his talk and reading, he chatted with my creative writing class about writing and school and careers. He told the graduating seniors in the class that this is the start of free-form living. Prior to graduation, there's been a script to follow, and the script's been there since we've been old enough to make any sort of decisions on our own. Wake up, go to school, do homework, have summer vacation, go to college. Then what? Then everyone starts going in all different directions, and some people go to graduate school and some find jobs and some join service programs. Monday, the day after graduation, is my first day of living without a script. It's the first time that there isn't really any pressure to choose one decision or another, and I'm finally free just about anything I want to on my own. It's the start of life unscripted.
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