Ending the 2010-2011 Academic Year

Katie D.

June 13, 2011 - 9:14 PM

As you all know, once things start to end, they wind up quickly.

These last few days have been a blur. The next few are coming fast. This time last year, I graduated. This time next year, I will be graduating. And a week from tonight, I will be stepping onto a plane that will carry me first to Huston, then across the US border and south, onwards to a week of travel and then two months of working in Honduras. Between me and that moment is a week of preparation: of work, of packing, of completing the Research Clearances that will allow me to begin work on my Masters thesis, and the innumerable small projects that come with leaving a home and beginning an adventure.

But all of that is yet to come. In the next week, I'll blog about packing lists. I'll write about my preparation for two months on the road. I'll be packing books, travel gear, clothes for all weathers, UO Health Clinic-prescribed drugs (plus the innumerable travel vaccinations), the pictures of family and friends, and the little things I've collected from a mom that loves to make travel easier. I'll blog about packing up my house of three years, moving into a storage unit to prepare for a year living on my own. I'll blog about the summer that's finally arrived in Eugene, and these last minutes racing around town to prep for months away.

But for now, let's just stick with how things end. I've already written about graduation, and about the combined sense of happiness and loss that accompanies this year's graduations. I'm looking forward to a year without a clan, as roommates and undergraduate friends are moving on. I'm also preparing for a new round of scholarship and work: to really come into my own as a mature academic and a key piece of the group of UO affiliates working for social justice issues. Every ending looks forward to the future, and for me there is the broad scope of next year's promise, and the inspiring question mark that starts in June, 2012 with my own graduation.

I'm performing the rituals of leaving. I'm calling friends to catch up before leaving for the summer. I'm packing up pictures and mementos, trying to imagine folding this life into a new space. I'm cleaning the kitchen and basement and the corners of my closet, getting ready to move out and pass this space on to someone new. I'm meeting with my professors and the various members of my ongoing projects, making sure that everything will continue to function without my presence.

Looking back, this has been quite a year. I've learned so much in so many ways. I've come into my own as a burgeoning teacher, as well as entering into a new field of Conflict and Dispute Resolution. Remember my blogs back in August? I have a whole new vocabulary now, which I will take forward into my broader experiences to help shape my future. I've struggled and grown; have met new people and made new friends; and believe firmly that this year's adventures will continue forward to new opportunities.

So be on the lookout for blogs this summer. This week I'll be writing about my final week in Eugene. Then I'll be writing you from the road--from internet cafes in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, before arriving in Tegucigalpa for my summer internship.

There is much to do, and much to look forward to. This moment--this deep breath before the dive--is precious. Can you feel the future, rushing in? It is arriving, and so am I.