My brother has a joke with our family that when making plans, everyone needs to remember to convert to Grace Standard Time: to estimate when Grace will arrive, take the agreed meeting time and add 30 minutes. Punctuality has never been a strength of mine. My mom says that when I was little, walking anywhere with me would take forever because I had to stop and investigate everything, pick up pretty rocks and such, and I'm still a stop-and-smell-the-flowers kind of person. So, it seems appropriate that I'm writing a blog post I've been meaning to write for a while as I wait to board a flight I was supposed to be on five days ago. I'm going to Ghana; this flight from St. Louis to Dallas will be the first leg of about 24 hours of travel. This trip (and another upcoming study abroad in Argentina) are the reason I decided to breathe some new life into this blog (also, my aunt Sarah asked me to).
In the three years since I last wrote here, I've been taking my time. I won't write now about the end of my incredible experience in Ecuador because that really deserves its own post (which may or may not ever appear). Coming home was strange. As hard as adjusting to Ecuador was, adjusting to "home" might have been even harder. I was certainly less prepared. All my friends had gone on to college and I had no idea what I was supposed to do next. In the fall, I did a semester at community college and worked two jobs. I felt directionless but kept my schedule busy to feel like I was doing something. I thought about going abroad again; I wanted to go away to school in Europe. Then, at the movie theater where I worked, I was lucky enough to meet Andy. He nervously asked me out while I cleaned the soda fountain; we were deep in love soon after. I decided to take a semester off of school, not wanting to study before I knew what I wanted. Andy made me promise me that I wouldn't stay home and put dreams on hold because of him.
That January (2015) I spent a few days in New York with friends and family. Between wine and Netflix binges, my aunt Katie and I browsed college websites. I looked into going to Spain and realized that my dreams had changed. I settled on Webster University, got a solid scholarship, and decided to major in anthropology. I spent that spring going from shift to shift, 14 hour days on my feet. Andy and I got an apartment; it was my first taste of bills and the adult world. I loved the responsibility, but I came to yearn for the feeling of going somewhere. I missed school.
That summer, Andy and I went back to Ecuador to visit my host family and travel around. It was great to be back and see them and share it with him. I was fortunate enough to get to go to Europe that summer as well and visit friends I had made on exchange in Belgium, Germany and Austria. I was more than ready when school began and found that anthropology was about much more than I thought and I loved it more than I imagined I ever would. I studied German too; I loved the way it sounded when my friends spoke it. I was ahead on credits and so decided to try some programming classes. All the while, I kept taking Spanish. I had no plans to study abroad again.
Fast forward to January 2017. I was about to begin my 4th semester at Webster and first without a class in Spanish. At the last minute, I decided I couldn't do it and signed up for a Spanish Literature seminar. I realized that I desperately missed speaking another language and that I was ready for a change. I had the opportunity to apply for a TA position at a university in Mendoza, Argentina in the fall semester and went for it. Soon after, I found out about a scholarship to study during the summer at one of Webster's campuses in Accra, Ghana. I got lucky and was accepted to both programs.
I was supposed to leave for Ghana on May 11th, but my visa didn't arrive in time. After a pricey cancellation fee, I had five extra days with my friends and family in St. Louis. I got to watch my brother/best friend graduate from high school. I sat with my mom and grandma on the porch on Mother's Day, eating watermelon. I had lunch with a friend and enjoyed resting at home with Andy. All around the country, my former classmates graduated college. There were photos of them as little kids and clinging to their college friends, posts about starting careers and how quickly time has disappeared. I just finished my sophomore year. Those five days of waiting made me realize how incredibly lucky I am. They made me glad for my delays, for my tardiness, for my meandering through life. Sometimes you have to trade off taking your time and being on time.
Assuming I have no problems traveling. I'll arrive tomorrow evening in Accra and I'm eager to get there. I can't wait to dive into the experience and make new friends. I'll be the last in the group to arrive but I'm not worried; I like to think there's something to be said for being late.
