"Now what?"

Today marked the first day that I am officially living at Saint Mary’s full time.

Excitement. Joy. Fear of the unknown. I have a lot of different emotions swirling around which I am sure will settle in a few days.

My mom has said for years that when her parents dropped her off at college she sat on her bed and wondered, “Now what?” I don’t think I really had that experience at Chapman, since it was only a few miles from home, but tonight that hit me dead on. After spending a few days in Halifax and helping me move in, my parents headed back to the United States today (In fact, they are on a plane right now. Fly safe Mom and Dad!). And so the question remains, “Now what?”

Saint Mary’s starts classes tomorrow and I am sure the campus will be a-buzz. I am excited to see what the campus is like on a regular schedule. It is odd to think that despite living on a college campus, I will not be taking classes this next year. Instead, I will be conducting research full-time on my own schedule.

This year will provide a new amount of challenges and opportunities that I look forward to encountering. How do I meet students, gain friendships, and get involved without having classes to aid me or a program I am enrolled in? How do I conduct an intensive research project on my own time and pace over a 9 month period?

Overall, I am incredibly excited for the next 9 months. I look forward to the opportunities awarded to me this next year through Fulbright and settling down more into the campus. I am also thrilled that this weekend I will be in Ottawa for Fulbright orientation and have the opportunity to meet the other Fulbright scholars and students.

Cheers to a great year.

Today’s quote of the day I pulled from “The Optimism Revolution:”

Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it’s more like a cha-cha.

Below are some photos of my room: