Big Girl School

Once upon a time I had a plan. I was going to work hard on my language skills and go to school at the American University in Paris. I was going to major in International Business and come back to the States to work at the U.N. as an interpreter. Eventually, I'd get picked up by a multi-national corporation and spend my time jet-setting around the world. I'd live out of hotel rooms and a suitcase and never have to worry about mowing my own lawn.

So much for dreams.

Instead I had a baby and just managed to graduate, escaping from my parents house as soon as I possibly could. My first husband was unemployed, abusive and unfaithful, quickly pushing me to divorce. My second husband, while certainly a much better human being, had trouble keeping a job for very long and I found myself needing to work to support us and the baby. There never really was time to do much more then survive.

Eventually, the baby went to school and the husband got a better job. After serious consideration, I started back to school at the local community college. I'd go for a semester, then quit because of lack of money. A short-term job later and I'd go back, still trying to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up. I found out that in spite of my fondness for it, I wasn't very good at learning languages, so the interpretor thing wasn't going to work out.

Over time, thanks to an understanding husband and the ability to go to school on my lunch break, I managed to get two full years (and a little extra) of college at the small-time community college. I was given the choice and transferred to a state university nearby in order to finish up a Bachelor's degree in History with a minor in Theater. I've got several of the history-specific course already done thanks to the years of not knowing what I wanted to do and I'm going to attempt to talk the dean of the theater department into giving me credit for all the work I've already done. Being on the Board of Directors for a non-profit theater troupe will come in handy for that.

Tomorrow, I go to a real university for the first time as a student. I'm not sure I can explain how excited I am. I have always craved more knowledge, seeking out books and teachers on my own for topics that interest me. I get to start my morning with British Lit and then indulge in a History of Tudor and Stuart Britain. Yum! I've also got yet another round of French in the hope that something will stick this time, and some Biology which I have no opinion on as yet. I've taken bio from some very good teachers and done well, some very bad ones and done poorly. I hope this is one of the good ones. I'm going to work as hard as I can to make sure this semester is as perfect as possible.

While I'm not looking forward to getting up at 5:45am for my hour long bus ride every morning, I'm excited about everything else. I hope I'll have some wonderful new books to talk to you about soon.