Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

A few weeks ago, I promised I'd share exciting news and then callously left you all hanging.  Such a tease.  But, I'm happy to share now that my the changes in my life have been made official.  So, without further ado, the changes are as follows...

1.  I've changed my major!  As much as I love studying Latin and as certain as I was that I wanted to pursue a related career, when I got back to campus after winter break I started realizing that that wasn't where my greatest passion was.  I was struggling to finish my Off Campus Studies application to study Latin in the United Kingdom and knew as I was writing it that it was weak and my heart wasn't in it.  So, two days before the OCS deadline, I scrapped my application, wrote a new application to a different program and drafted a proposal for a synoptic (self-created) major.  Now, after months spent rewriting proposals, creating my own curriculum, and going to meeting after meeting with my advisers and the associate provost, I've been granted a synoptic major in Performing Arts Administration and Rural Community Development.  My goal is to study how the arts affect rural communities and how such communities can benefit from strong arts initiatives as well as to prepare for a career in arts administration.  After spending the past two years working in the Front of House and Box Office departments for Kenyon and Interlochen, and having spent most of my life involved in music and theatre, it's become clear to me that I want to continue in a line of work that allows me to use my creative and administrative skill sets to promote the arts.  If you're interested in reading the proposal email me at myersblogs@gmail.com.

Winter Break Bucket List: Wrap Up

So, in my last week at home...I slept a lot, went to more basketball games, worked on my OCS Proposal, and didn't really do a whole lot else.  And then I got on a plane, flew back to Kenyon, and dove into the first week of class.  It was a pretty productive break and has been a very productive (and exhausting) first week back.  Things are hopefully going to start moving forward with my application for study abroad, the deadline is coming up on the eighth so when I'm not in class, doing homework, working, or watching Downton Abbey, I'll be putting in the hours on my proposal...which is actually what I should be doing now.  Have a good weekend!

Growing Pains and Practice Rounds

This was probably my favorite Christmas and New Years to date, it was just so good to be home and see family and go through the familiar rituals of the holidays.  It's always nice to be home but when you've had a roller coaster year there's something very comforting about Christmas and something very reassuring about ringing in a brand New Year.  The only remotely jarring part of this Holiday Season was the sudden realization that if I got the okay to go abroad for a full year, I wouldn't be home the next Christmas.  After a few minutes I was okay with not being home for Christmas 2012 because I'd be home for the next one!  But then I realized that the next one would be the Christmas of my senior year and the one after that I would have a job, be living who knows where, and have little to no break to come home and see my family because I would be an actual adult.  Then the tears started.

I wish someone could've video taped me sobbing about growing up and sent back in time to my nine-to-eighteen-year-old selves and said, "Look, look at this sobbing, wretched little creature!  This is what you're going to look like when you realize you only have two years of any kind of childhood left so CHILL OUT and stop wishing your youth away."  Even with that proof in front of them, I doubt my nine-to-eighteen-year-old selves, who always tried so hard to make themselves seem older, would have believed that the moment they truly realized how close they were to being a grown up would be filled with tears rather than gleeful jumping and shouting and clapping of hands.

Thankfully, two years is still a lot of time and I've got a lot to keep me busy during it, like going abroad.  Yes, it means one less Christmas with my family, but going abroad will be really good practice for being an adult.  I'll still have that nice little cushion of childhood around me but I'll have to make my own decisions about what I do and how I respond to things and I'll be held absolutely accountable for those actions by myself and others.  And then I'll come home and be safe in my Kenyon Bubble for one more year and then I'll graduate, get a job, and move out of the house.

And then I'll be an adult?  Sort of.  Graduating from college, turning twenty-two, and getting a job won't magically flip a switch that will make me act and think more maturely, instead, the experiences that accompany those actions will gradually shape me into an adult.  That's where having gone abroad will come in handy, it'll be like having a practice round.  If I've already got experience being independent, having to make my own choices, and holding myself accountable, then when it comes time to apply that in the real world, making tough choices and responding to tricky situations appropriately will come a little easier.  I think...

Status Update

On Thursday, I had my interview with a representative of Kenyon's Off Campus Studies Office.  My interviewer and I got along very well and while some concern was expressed over my GPA I was still given permission to move forward as planned.  In short, it went very well and confirmed my belief that I should stop stressing over interviews because I've never had a single one that I didn't enjoy.

So what's next?  A lot.  Because the OCS office is concerned that the program I'm applying to might not take my application because of my GPA, I've decided that, after I've gotten my semester grades, I'm going to call the program's offices to find out exactly what their policy is on GPA.  If they will still consider my application even though my current 3.06 falls below their minimums of 3.2 and 3.3, then I'm going to continue as planned.  If under absolutely no circumstances will they even view my application, then I will make the appropriate adjustments and apply elsewhere.

In the meantime, I have to work on my Off Campus Studies Proposal for Kenyon.  Before I can apply to the specific program, I have to first apply to Kenyon and get their permission to study abroad next year.  In addition to the Proposal, I also have to submit an Advisor Confirmation/Departmental Approval form and a Letter of Recommendation.  GPA isn't a problem when applying to Kenyon so my main concern is making a strong case for myself on paper, especially because I'm asking to go abroad for the full year.

It's all due in early February so I'm really glad I'm able to work on it over break because I'm not sure how I'd get it done otherwise!

GPA: A Cautionary Tale

Once there was a girl named Elizabeth.  She was always a good student and worked very hard for her grades.  When she got to college she still worked hard but she overloaded her schedule and didn't apply herself quite as well as she had in the past.  She didn't get bad grades, they just weren't as good as they could've been.  At the end of her freshman year she had a 3.06 GPA.  A year later, near the end of the first semester of her sophomore year, Elizabeth was getting ready to study abroad.  She was worried because the programs she wanted to go on required 3.2 and 3.3 GPAs.  She went to talk to an advisor at the Off Campus Studies office and was told to go ahead and apply but to make sure she had second choices ready.  Her advice sounded logical so Elizabeth started looking for alternate programs.  Then, several weeks later she spoke with a different advisor who told her, as nicely as possible, that she shouldn't even bother applying to her first choice schools.  This angered Elizabeth for two reasons.  First of all, she'd never liked being told no and, second of all, she knew it was her own fault that her GPA was so low and so it would be her own fault if she couldn't get into the programs.  But, Elizabeth was a very stubborn girl.  VERY stubborn.  She decided that she was going to play the game her way.  Just like she did when applying to college, she would apply to the programs she wanted first and worry about finding a second choice later.  Will Elizabeth's stubbornness serve her in the end?  We'll just have to wait and see.

Unfortunately, this is a true story and, clearly, it's mine.  It looks like I'll be able to work things out but who knows.  The point is, learn from my mistake and keep on top of your grades.  Don't think, like I did, that because a class is easy you can slack off, don't procrastinate, and don't pretend that the adjustment period after entering college excuses you from putting in your best effort.  I regret having done all of that not only because it might make getting abroad a little more difficult, but also because I didn't get as much out of my classes as I could have.  Kenyon is an amazing and incredibly difficult school but instead of focusing on how great it is, I stressed about how hard it was, put myself in an "I can't achieve anything here" mindset, and, for the first time in my life, underachieved.  Big, big, big regret.  So now I've got two resolutions for the upcoming semester:

1. Work around my mistake to get myself abroad.
2. Appreciate Kenyon more and have enough confidence in my intelligence to push myself to excel again.

Exciting.  Also exciting...next week's post includes a big announcement!

At a Safe Distance

In the last year, I've spent eight months in Ohio, two in Michigan, and two (split between Christmas Break, Spring Break, and the first half of June) at home.  Living eight to ten hours from home is painful at times.  I've missed out on my brother's sixteenth birthday, his football games, his many, many growth spurts, and the very handsome long hairstyle he sported this fall.  I've missed my mother's birthday and Mother's Day, my father's preaching and Father's Day, my friends, Thanksgiving, Easter, weddings, funerals, new cousins, theater productions at my old high school, and so much more.  As much as it hurts, missing out on those experiences makes me so much more thankful for the opportunities I do have to come home.  My family has done a lot to work around the distance.  For example, this Thanksgiving I had a change of plans that freed up my break.  I wanted to be with my family so they spent their time, money, and gas driving out to Ohio to pick me up and bring me home for the first time since June.  Additionally, when I'm at school, I can call my parents at any time and they'll talk to me even when I'm just being ridiculous or goofy.  Really, I live at a safe distance.  I'm very far away and miss out on a lot but that distance lets me have my independence and my own experiences while still being close enough to get home fairly easily if I need to.

Over break, I think my parents realized that this wouldn't be the case next year.  After our guests left on Thanksgiving we sat down to discuss my study abroad options.  The conversation revolved exclusively around my safety.  At the time, I was irritated because, as my parents pointed out, they were exposing my subconscious insecurities about studying abroad.  In retrospect, I see that the conversation was less about whether or not I could handle myself and be safe abroad and more about my parents' concern that if something should happen to me while abroad, they couldn't get to me quickly.  The reverse is true as well, if something should happen at home, I wouldn't be able to get back quickly.  That's terrifying for all of us, I think.  While my parents probably did, I certainly didn't realize just how alone I'll be next year.  Of course the study abroad programs all have excellent support networks and I'll make friends and have the best time of my life but it's not going to be the same.  Because of the time difference, I won't be able to call my parents whenever I want and if I feel homesick I can't just ask to come home over a break.  Essentially, I'm going to be stranded but I'm going to be fine and I'm going to love it.

This fall, a friend from home explained that the distance is only as great as you make it.  You can let it interfere and become this overwhelming, depressing thing or you can accept it as a challenge.  As usual, I plan to do the latter and I'm sure my family feels the same way.  It's going to be very different, I'll be living at a pretty unsafe distance, but as scary as that is it's also exciting!  This is an opportunity for so much creativity and fun in the way we keep in touch and support each other, there's so much possibility here and, trust me, I've already got more than a few tricks up my sleeve.  So, Mom, Dad, Will, Everybody, Me...don't worry.  Yes, the safety net is going away but the support system will still be there, stronger than ever, and that's really all I need!  There's going to be a lot of adjusting and probably more than a few nervous moments but we're all going to be just fine.  I know I never learned to ride a bike but just pretend I did and let me use this analogy: The training wheels are coming off but I'm still wearing my helmet!  I'll always wear my helmet.

The Basics

We started our study abroad process at Kenyon a little over a month ago.  At the time, I was actually considering not going abroad because of several personal and academic issues.  Fortunately, my inner child would have none of that and kept poking at me until I agreed to work through or around everything that was troubling me and start the process.  As usual, my inner child was right and it took no time at all for those issues to resolve, get tucked safely away, and/or disappear completely.  Moral of the story: Listen to your inner child and If you have (or have had) even the faintest desire to study abroad, start the process.  I cannot stress this enough.  It is so much easier at any point in the process to decide  that you don't want to go after all and drop out than to realize too late that you wish you had applied.  John Greenleaf Whittier said, "For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.'"  True for life, true for study abroad.  Even if you have reservations, if you've never thought about studying abroad, or don't think you can afford it I encourage you to at least get through the very basics of the process.
   
At Kenyon, the basics start with an informational meeting.  it's a pretty standard part of the process at a lot of schools and it's really very simple.  You go, you sit, they hand you an info sheet, and then give a brief overview of your school's programs and resources.  Quick, easy, and painless.  If it's offered, go to it.
   
For us, this meeting was followed a week later by a programs fair.  If your school offers a fair, the best way to approach it is to keep an open mind.  While it's good to have done a little research and have a general idea of what you're looking for, use that information as a guideline only.  Although I've known for a long time that I want to study Classics in the United Kingdom, I tried not to pigeonhole myself. At the fair, I picked up brochures from programs offering experiences in places I hadn't originally considered and collected information on Internship programs and programs for Arts Management as well as Classics.  While I've ended up sticking with my original plan, getting information on programs I hadn't considered before allowed me to think outside the box and reassured me that I was choosing to study Classics in the UK because I really wanted to and not because it was my only option.

Since the fair, I've been narrowing down program providers from that huge pile pictured above.  Hopefully, when I return to campus after Thanksgiving Break I'll have my first and second choice programs selected and be able to do my interview with the Off Campus Studies Center.
 
In the meantime, expect more updates here and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Latitude

Latitude refers both to the horizontal lines used to determine a point's position North or South of the equator and an allowance for freedom of thought or action.  With greater latitude comes a broader range of possibilities and perspectives.  Study abroad gives you greater latitude in both senses.  As the process of applying to go abroad is currently a high priority for me, that will be the main focus of this blog.  For now, you'll mostly find updates on where I'm at in the application process.  Once I've gotten into a routine, I hope to add other resources including interviews with other students who are at various points in the study abroad process.  And then, provided that everything goes smoothly and I'm accepted into a program, I'll share my own experience abroad with you.
             
Be looking for a post on starting the application process in the next week!