I'm almost finished with my first semester of college and I don't think I have ever felt so many different emotions at one time before! I've come to the realization that everything I need to accomplish may not allow time for the things I want to accomplish.
This time last year I pictured my college life so differently. I thought I would be studying abroad this summer and then I would be preparing for a year abroad during the '08/'09 academic year but it turns out that those goals will be a lot harder to reach than I originally thought.
I want nothing more in my life than to travel, and the window of time in which I can travel is slowly shrinking. I want to experience different places and people and cultures when I'm young and able to do so without hesitation. I want to eat the strange and disgusting foods that are commonplace in different areas of the world. I want to stay in cramped dirty hostels with people I don't know but who share my same passion for culture. I want to run with the bulls in Spain, bungee jump in New Zealand and get a tatoo from a tribe in Samoa... who has heard of an 85 year old doing these things?
I feel as if I only have about 10 years to do these things before the responsibilites of adulthood and family really settle in and 10 years is by no means long enough.
I've had my first taste of serious responsibility these past few months... and I don't think I like it.
