A quick update on my life...this ends the travel bit for now as I embark upon learning a new culture:business.
This summer I started rereading “A Million Miles in a
Thousand Years” by Donald Miller. I read
it the first time in that terrible period when I came home from Russia and felt
like my awesome life had suddenly stopped and I didn’t know how to get it started
again. It really resonated, because the
book’s about your life as a story, and in your life, to make a good life, like
a good story, you need a character who wants something and overcomes conflict
to get it. I’m not sure why I decided to
reread it, but I brought it to Georgia.
At first, I read about a chapter a day (they’re short). Then, after a few weeks, when the book was
starting to tell me I had to stop reading and start living, I stopped
reading.
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| This encapsulates Georgia on so many levels |
I wanted to ease into the comfortable
routine of class, homework, watching the Turkish soap opera with my host
family, reading some fiction, and then crashing before doing it all over
again. I mixed it up with some friends,
but the workload was enough that I could easily ignore all the rest Tbilisi had
to offer.
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| This summer, I really realized how beautiful Tbilisi really is. |
The weeks went by too quickly. I knew they would. My bucket list is far from complete. Time with friends was too short. But, I realize, in those eight weeks, my
story entered a new chapter. I climbed a
mountain with a friend after two other attempts went wrong. I had conversations that stayed in
Georgian. I became part of a family in
Tbilisi. I finally made it Shatili, the
place at the top of my bucket list. I
laughed with friends a lot. I discovered
new parts of Tbilisi I didn’t even know. I spent two months indulging my love
of languages. I fell more in love with
Georgia and Tbilisi.
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| My host sister gave me a special tour of the Art Academy, with this gorgeous lobby. |
It all ended too quickly and the next chapter began
immediately, before I had a chance to recover from the jet lag. Somehow, I managed to make friends even when
I’m pretty sure every sentence didn’t make sense those first days. In the last week, I’ve made a few friends
that I think will see me through my MBA.
I’ve met a lot of fascinating people.
I’ve gotten to make friends with several international students.
At the same time, watching all these people
move and start over, I realize that I’ve done this for the last two years. It gives me a leg up, but it also makes me a
little tired. As much as I love going
and moving and trying something new, I miss having friends who know me enough
to call me out when necessary, who really know me. I’m starting to realize that while I’m making
friends all over the globe, I need quality time in one location to develop
those deep friendships. I hope I make
them in the next two years, since the sheer quantity of forced socialization
means I’ll be doing a lot of “networking”.
Even though I’ve lived in Bloomington for a year, it’s still
an entirely new experience. My program
can consume my entire life. But, after
this, I’ve finally got to grow up and maybe even settle in one place, so for
now, I’m going to try to enjoy it. I see
a lot of conflict (forcing myself out of my comfort zone is going to become a
daily occurrence), so I’m hoping my character grows and gets whatever I’m
seeking from the MBA. For starters, a
clarification of what exactly that is would be nice…
