Changing Course
My much needed trip home during the July 4th session break put my plans into perspective. I spent most of the week relaxing and absorbing as much as I could of Ohio’s cornfields, hometown stores, and livestock. One of my favorite past-times while home is spending as much time as possible with my little cousin. This five year old is way too smart for his own good and we share an extremely tight brother-sister bond. While visiting him, he lamented how he never saw me now that I was working “on the top of a hill” (his version of my family’s description of me working on the hill). The statement on its own doesn’t hold much weight but the fact of the matter was I couldn’t face him and tell him that I was loving my work and that I’d be back soon enough. Don’t get me wrong, I love the people I work with and have been able to work on projects that most interns don’t even get knowledge of, but slowly I realized this work wasn’t what I wanted to do for my future career. By the time I had flown home I had fully realized this position wasn’t the one for me and had decided I needed to re-evaluate my plan for next semester. Anden’s simple statement wishing I was home was in a way a vocalization of my inner self. Inside, I was lamenting my plan. D.C. had captured my heart, but I realized I was nowhere near ready to actually settle into one place. There was so much more of the world that I wanted to see! I felt that if I committed myself to staying in D.C. I would somehow miss out on all my crazy dreams and schemes.