Elementary School

As I go through this process of stripping down all that I know and rebuilding it I can't help but notice I am in 'elementary school mode' again. The other day there we got a nice, sunny, warm day and there was a slight air conditioning like draft in the computer lab. I got that overwhelming exciting feeling that school is almost out, it is almost summer. It wasn't just almost summer though, this was that sort of excitement you only get (often) when you are little. In class minutes later, I was drawing one of my deer to pass the time and I notice the table shaking a bit. I look left and notice Akihisa, my Japanese friend, shaking with laughter and his eyes were watering. I lost it...but when the teacher came over to see what was so funny she lost it too. It was classic, but I thought haven't I had this happen before? Mr. Pete's 6th grade class?

Everyone touts studying abroad as one of those 'magnificent wonderful amazing' (insert another overused adjective here) type experiences. The whole first month I sat there waiting for it to kick in. Okay this building is old and that one is pretty, but magnificent? It begun last weekend as I took a slow train to a nearby town to rendez-vous with Katherine. I was listening to a Neil young CD my friend made me and I was able to feel what everyone talks about. Finally, yesterday, as I had a long conversation with some friendly people from Venezuela and Vietnam that feeling came rushing in. As I sat in class comprehending everything like it was my own language and watching how quickly my brain is taking in the littlest details I realized I am living the life I imagined.

Sometimes I try to pose new interesting questions to people to switch up the "How's it going?" phrases that are too vague to get a good answer. The other day I brought up what is one of the best feelings you can think of quickly? I thought: That feeling when you have either had an idea or plan and it is in fruition, happening at that moment. Accompany that with having it be something you picture your life as in the most detailed of your imaginative sketches and there you have a very good feeling.

Right now, I am really enjoying myself here. Sure I am no longer looking at things in Angers with new eyes or trying to wrap my head around what people are saying on the bus next to me. I am in the groove I need to be in and it seems like I've laid the blueprints for adapting anywhere else I go to in my life and for now, and for now a little extra recess.