Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Did you ever think maybe you packed too much?
I just completed the packing process. I think..... My mind is moving at a mile a minute trying to think if I forgot anything. Tickets? Check. Money? Check. Underwear? Check. Tons of Gadgets I don't really need? Check.
I can't believe that I really leave to go to England in a little more than 12 hours. I know that I have enough though. I think my backpack weighs a hundred pounds. Or should I say 45.3592 kilograms? Blasted Metric.
This is an event that has been years in the planning. I still remember sitting in my dorm room sophomore year (queue haze and flashback...)
Shortly after I took an exam my freshman year, which of course I thought I had bombed, I thought to myself that I have to make the most of my college experience. Obviously I'm not going to have the world's highest GPA and I need to set myself apart from everybody else in my class. I set down a list of goals, which I thought would accomplish both goals:
1. Get Work Experience. This was accomplished through the Coop program. I really think I made the right decision here. Although I am now a full year off the normal schedule that the rest of my graduating high school class is on, I gained experience working in the real world, which is invaluable, along with some cold cash, which is valuable.
2. Get involved in a student organization. I started working on this goal last year. I moved my way up in the ranks in IIE and also in the Industrial Engineering Honor Society, APM. I should have an office in both next semester. I also worked as a Peer Mentor for freshman engineering students. That was a blast. This semester I would like to get more involved in church activities. Probably at a local church called Campus House.
3. Study Abroad The most recent of my goals. I have very little foreign language experience. This limited my choices for a program. I chose the Oxford program because of it's relationship with the University and I mean, it's freakin Oxford. Although the Study Abroad office is full of idiots, I do think this trip will be a blast. I am just starting to get a little bit nervous though. :-)
So, am I going to have the job of my dreams after completing all of my goals stated above? Maybe. Am I going to take advantage of every single minute that I have in College? Definitely.
I can't believe that I really leave to go to England in a little more than 12 hours. I know that I have enough though. I think my backpack weighs a hundred pounds. Or should I say 45.3592 kilograms? Blasted Metric.
This is an event that has been years in the planning. I still remember sitting in my dorm room sophomore year (queue haze and flashback...)
Shortly after I took an exam my freshman year, which of course I thought I had bombed, I thought to myself that I have to make the most of my college experience. Obviously I'm not going to have the world's highest GPA and I need to set myself apart from everybody else in my class. I set down a list of goals, which I thought would accomplish both goals:
1. Get Work Experience. This was accomplished through the Coop program. I really think I made the right decision here. Although I am now a full year off the normal schedule that the rest of my graduating high school class is on, I gained experience working in the real world, which is invaluable, along with some cold cash, which is valuable.
2. Get involved in a student organization. I started working on this goal last year. I moved my way up in the ranks in IIE and also in the Industrial Engineering Honor Society, APM. I should have an office in both next semester. I also worked as a Peer Mentor for freshman engineering students. That was a blast. This semester I would like to get more involved in church activities. Probably at a local church called Campus House.
3. Study Abroad The most recent of my goals. I have very little foreign language experience. This limited my choices for a program. I chose the Oxford program because of it's relationship with the University and I mean, it's freakin Oxford. Although the Study Abroad office is full of idiots, I do think this trip will be a blast. I am just starting to get a little bit nervous though. :-)
So, am I going to have the job of my dreams after completing all of my goals stated above? Maybe. Am I going to take advantage of every single minute that I have in College? Definitely.
Europe Bound and Down
The time is fast approaching. It is officially Wednesday June 23 in the Eastern Standard Time zone (No Daylight Savings in the Hoosier state, like the good Lord intended). I officially have one day left till I leave this home country of mine, the good ole' US of A and head across the pond to the land of tea, crumpets, and those crazy queens guard guys with the big furry hats. Yep Jolly old England. And I still don't have anything packed....
It's sort of in my nature really. I just couldn't plan far enough ahead to start packing for a trip that will last nearly a month and a half on the other side of the globe. I'll hopefully start tomorrow. If not, maybe early on Thursday before the flight leaves.
I'm also going to have to leave with out my computer. I haven't been away from that for this long in my entire life. I'm taking the approach that I'm on vacation. It's all part of my Summer of Marc philosophy.
This philosophy, which was actually born last summer and revised this summer into the Summer of Marc, Part Deux, is that I will start to try new things. I have a certain comfort zone that I really enjoy being in, and I don't think that there is anything on the surface that is wrong with that. But, of course, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with communism on the surface... So anyways, I have taken to the mindset that I will try new things even if I don't feel overly comfortable doing them at first.
So the point of this post, in the beginning at least is that I'm leaving the freakin country in less than 48 hours and I haven't even started packing yet. Am I nuts? Probably.
It's sort of in my nature really. I just couldn't plan far enough ahead to start packing for a trip that will last nearly a month and a half on the other side of the globe. I'll hopefully start tomorrow. If not, maybe early on Thursday before the flight leaves.
I'm also going to have to leave with out my computer. I haven't been away from that for this long in my entire life. I'm taking the approach that I'm on vacation. It's all part of my Summer of Marc philosophy.
This philosophy, which was actually born last summer and revised this summer into the Summer of Marc, Part Deux, is that I will start to try new things. I have a certain comfort zone that I really enjoy being in, and I don't think that there is anything on the surface that is wrong with that. But, of course, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with communism on the surface... So anyways, I have taken to the mindset that I will try new things even if I don't feel overly comfortable doing them at first.
So the point of this post, in the beginning at least is that I'm leaving the freakin country in less than 48 hours and I haven't even started packing yet. Am I nuts? Probably.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
We Were Students
I just watched a good movie called We Were Soldiers . It stars Mel Gibson as a Lt. Col. in US Army during Vietnam. He starts the first Air Cavalery division in the Army that utilizes the new technology of helicopters. It might be a little too bloody in parts for some, but I respect it for "Keeping it Real" as Oprah fans would put it. It doesn't try to dramitize the gory horrible parts of war. Yet it shows the courage of the men that fought for in a war in a distant place. Memo to self: I really don't know as much as I should about the Vietnam war. It's one aspect of history that I need to bone up on. It seems like there were lots of stupid mistakes made that costed thousands of American lives. But I do think that we as a country have learned from them.
But that's not what this Blog was going to be about. (Veiled reference to Alice's Resturant). It's about the transition from College to the "Real world". I've seen friends of mine in the midst of this transition. It's amazing to watch from the sidelines. I've seen friends of mine that would have stayed up till 4 in the morning just watching movies or playing cards wither at the sight of the late hour of 1 AM. I suppose that this change in attitude comes with a drastic change in responsiblity. I can see myself warping into an über-responsible person one day. Even right now I have my responsible tendencies. But I have this need, almost what you would call a drive, to try lots of new things and not to have a closed mind.
There are times that this attitude can get me in trouble. There are times when I don't follow this mantra to a "T". But I can see the end of my freewheeling life ahead. There will be a time in the relitivley near future when I will have a steady job that I have to be at. I'll devote myself to my work and try to do the best job that I can. I won't have time to stay out late or just watch TV. The unfortuante part is that with the job comes money to do wild and crazy things. Yet the money costs time. For without working what could be long and horrible hours, I won't have the money to do what I want when I want. It places a person in quite a quandry.
So the moral of this story is don't let an oportunity pass you by. I need to take the chance when it is presented to me. It may never be presented again. This is the motto of the "Summer of Marc, Part Deux". It is why I am going to a tanning bed, working out, and going to England. If I've got the chance to do it, I better take advantage of my time here.
But that's not what this Blog was going to be about. (Veiled reference to Alice's Resturant). It's about the transition from College to the "Real world". I've seen friends of mine in the midst of this transition. It's amazing to watch from the sidelines. I've seen friends of mine that would have stayed up till 4 in the morning just watching movies or playing cards wither at the sight of the late hour of 1 AM. I suppose that this change in attitude comes with a drastic change in responsiblity. I can see myself warping into an über-responsible person one day. Even right now I have my responsible tendencies. But I have this need, almost what you would call a drive, to try lots of new things and not to have a closed mind.
There are times that this attitude can get me in trouble. There are times when I don't follow this mantra to a "T". But I can see the end of my freewheeling life ahead. There will be a time in the relitivley near future when I will have a steady job that I have to be at. I'll devote myself to my work and try to do the best job that I can. I won't have time to stay out late or just watch TV. The unfortuante part is that with the job comes money to do wild and crazy things. Yet the money costs time. For without working what could be long and horrible hours, I won't have the money to do what I want when I want. It places a person in quite a quandry.
So the moral of this story is don't let an oportunity pass you by. I need to take the chance when it is presented to me. It may never be presented again. This is the motto of the "Summer of Marc, Part Deux". It is why I am going to a tanning bed, working out, and going to England. If I've got the chance to do it, I better take advantage of my time here.
Friday, June 11, 2004
Europe Prep
Well, I'm currently uploading the Macintosh version of the Ultima 5: Lazarus Remake. A good friend of mine from school, Ian Frazier, has been working on this for quite a while. In fact, I remeber the early days of Lazarus. The project was dreamed and created while he was living in Purdue University Housing. Good old Wiley SW 455. Now it has grown from it's humble beginings to a multi-national scale. I'm proud to at least contribute a little to a project like this, and especially to be able to help out with the Mac version.
The actual point of this post was supposed to be about the planning for my Europe trip in a few weeks. I've decided that I'm a bit crazy when it comes to planning certain things out. It is hard to imagine that I can be the same person that has a room that appears to be in a total state of disarray when I organize this much for a trip. Somebody once stated that I was "The most organized disorganized person" that they knew. I take some compliment by that. :-)
The travel calendar homepage for the Europe Trip is here. I will update this one last time soon with all of the hotel information. I just got in my backpack that I will be using. It is an Eagle Creek New World Journey. I think it will work pretty well for my needs. It's not too big, yet I think it will fit everything. We'll see if I can fit everything in later. I also have a new pair of New Balance shoes and a new pair of Chaco Sandels to wear. I'm trying to wear both of these as much as possible to "break" them in.
I guess overall, I'm just hoping that the trip goes well. I don't know if this is going to be one of those stereotypical "Go and find yourself" backpacking through Europe or not, but I do hope that I'm exposed to different cultures and people during the trip. I'm going to try to practice what I've read from Rick Steves in his book about France. He advocates a strategy where a traveller tries to join and meld with the local culture. His so called "Europe through the Backdoor" policy. I hope to not be the stereotypical loud American tourist that eats at every McDonalds in the area. If I find myself on the way, then so be it... :-)
The actual point of this post was supposed to be about the planning for my Europe trip in a few weeks. I've decided that I'm a bit crazy when it comes to planning certain things out. It is hard to imagine that I can be the same person that has a room that appears to be in a total state of disarray when I organize this much for a trip. Somebody once stated that I was "The most organized disorganized person" that they knew. I take some compliment by that. :-)
The travel calendar homepage for the Europe Trip is here. I will update this one last time soon with all of the hotel information. I just got in my backpack that I will be using. It is an Eagle Creek New World Journey. I think it will work pretty well for my needs. It's not too big, yet I think it will fit everything. We'll see if I can fit everything in later. I also have a new pair of New Balance shoes and a new pair of Chaco Sandels to wear. I'm trying to wear both of these as much as possible to "break" them in.
I guess overall, I'm just hoping that the trip goes well. I don't know if this is going to be one of those stereotypical "Go and find yourself" backpacking through Europe or not, but I do hope that I'm exposed to different cultures and people during the trip. I'm going to try to practice what I've read from Rick Steves in his book about France. He advocates a strategy where a traveller tries to join and meld with the local culture. His so called "Europe through the Backdoor" policy. I hope to not be the stereotypical loud American tourist that eats at every McDonalds in the area. If I find myself on the way, then so be it... :-)
